2. An Ancient Heritage

People in the Peruvian Andes began making articles of beaten gold around 2000 BC. Over the next 2700 years, gold technology developed as it spread northward. By the time it reached Mexico, around 700 AD, gold working was fully evolved. Long before the European arrival in America, native communities in Colombia participated in a well-established gold industry. Articles of gold and tumbaga (a mixture of gold and copper) were used for public rituals and ceremonies, for domestic activities, for personal adornment, and for burial of the dead.