Although prehistory facts and figures are spotty, gold is considered one of the first metals humans ever worked, along with silver and copper. These three metals established value to human art and skill, and their own value grew exponentially, despite being nothing more than elemental metals extracted from the ground. These metals in particular possibly made us everything we are today, good or bad.

Many RPG systems of high fantasy and medieval worlds use these three metals as a fundamental base for economy. In order to have a gold piece to bargain with, you need a source. Those sources are rife with possibilities for adventure and campaigns, so here’s a study of precious metals and the many ways to utilize them both in fantasy and historic era worlds as well as modern-day adventures.

Gold

Gold is already established as an ornamental metal by the time the Egyptians developed the hieroglyphics to talk about it. Primitive people most likely found their first nuggets in the old stream beds and were attracted to its malleability and apparent immortality. Metal working may have pre-dated flint mining in some regions. The site at Varna (Bulgaria) revealed a 5th millennium cemetery filled with gold ornaments. The gold had been panned from the rivers nearby, melted down, and hammered into jewelry and ornaments. Excavations of the Sumerian city of Ur revealed gold chains, earrings, and shaped ornaments of leaves, flowers, and crescents. By the time of the earliest empires (Indus, Sumerian, and Egyptian), gold already signified social status and in many early myths the discovery of gold was traced to the gods. Early on, in the Code of Menes (3100 BCE), one part gold is estimated at “two and one half parts silver.” The lands of Egypt, especially Nubia, produced a vast majority of gold and, between the gold and the salt, pulled Egypt together to be one of the earliest, most fantastic Empires.

Ancient Gold Locations: Egypt, Spain, France, Great Britain, ex-Yugoslavia, Romania, Greece, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Iran, India, China, Japan, and the former Russian Empire. The aborigines of North and South America did not hold gold as esteemed as the Europeans but the Spaniards were excited when they found a mother lode in Columbia. Later Minas Geraes was shown to be a large producer of gold nuggets as well. Other gold producers of the New World are Mexico, California, Colorado, South Dakota, Nevada, British Columbia, Nova Scotia, and the Yukon. Finally, Australasia was found to be a gold hoard waiting to happen, and was attacked by gold-mad prospectors from 1851 on.

Types of Gold Deposits

Placer Deposits: A placer deposit is an accumulation of valuable minerals formed by the deposition of dense material phases in a trap, such as along the bend of a curving creek, in a natural hollow, the base of a waterfall, or whatnot. Placers were the key ingredient to providing gold to the ancient world. Excavation of these traps was accomplished through hydraulic mining (water pressure), first used by the Romans.

The gold usually rests on or near bedrock or on some stratum above the bedrock. After some time the placers can be buried after their formation and not seen on the surface. Usually buried under are such deposits as volcanic deposits, glacial deposits, slope deposits, aeolian deposits, alluvial sands and gravel, and marine and lacustrine deposits

Ancient Known Placers: Ancient placers have yielded gold from the rivers Tagus, Guadalquivir, Tiber, Po, Rhone, Rhine, Hebrus (Maritsa), Nile, Zambezi, Niger, Senegal, Pactolus (ancient Lydia), Oxus (Amu Darya of Samarkand), Indus, Ganges, Lena, Aldan, Amur, and the Yangtze.

From the lode source the gold is deposited in an eluvial gold placer, then an alluvial gold placer (conglomerates, usually with quartz). Quartz conglomerates with gold and other precious metals are some of the largest producers of gold

Lode deposits: Lode gold occurs within the solid rock in which it was deposited, usually in cracks or veins.

Veins are widely seen in the folded and relatively flat-lying volcanic terrains of the earth, deposited throughout the ages; favorable host rocks include basalts, andesites, latites, trachytes, and rhyolites, all commonly referred to as greenstones. Another place lodes and veins are found is in metamorphic sedimentary from marine regions and in zones of complexity where metamorphic, sedimentary, and volcanic rocks are mixed. Igneous, volcanic, and sedimentary bedrock often contain low-grade mixtures of gold and silver.

Silver

Often found in its natural state or alloyed, silver is another metal known since ancient times. There is evidence that silver was collected as early as the 4th Millennia BCE along the Aegean Sea. The principal sources of silver are the ores of copper, copper-nickel, lead, and lead-zinc obtained from Peru, Mexico, China, Australia, Chile, and Poland. Peru and Mexico have been mining silver since 1546 and are still major world producers. Top silver-producing mines are Proaño / Fresnillo (Mexico), Cannington (Queensland, Australia), Dukat (Russia), Uchucchacua (Peru), and Greens Creek mine (Alaska).

Copper

Although considered the “cheapest” of the three traditional metals found in high fantasy gaming, it is also one of the most valuable when it comes to civilization. One of the few metals to often occur uncompounded, its history of mining is at least 10,000 years old, with earliest estimates placing it at 9000 BCE in the Middle East. By 5000 BCE there is evidence of smelting with copper throughout Europe and Asia. Copper can be considered readily available, mainly through open-pit mining, in Europe, Asia, and Mesoamerica.

Bronze

A mixture of copper and tin, bronze workers made their mark on the world, creating both weapons and armor for their countries. A shortage of tin, starting in the18th century BCE forced various civilizations to seek out an alternative. In the meantime many bronze items were recycled, either willingly or stolen from neighboring countries.

Iron

The first iron used by humans came from the stars. Iron was already being smelted and used for tools by the 12th century BCE in Sub-Saharan Africa, with Asia and Europe following soon after. Iron is one of the most abundant metals within the earth but is not as readily available, requiring many alterations before it becomes usable. The first wrought iron was weaker than bronze, but iron could be sharpened, whereas bronze had to be reforged. As smelting techniques were improved, cast-iron was invented and the world swiftly moved into an iron-driven millennium.

So ... what does this all mean?

Characters should be able to find gold, silver, and copper readily enough the earlier in history you set your world. Characters that take any sort of ranger or rogue skills that involve the outdoors will understand placers and what to look for when in a region that may have gold, silver, or copper. In other words, characters don’t HAVE to wander into dungeons and dragon’s dens for gold; they can probably find it in the hills as they pass. Sorry if this ruins your game play, but it can lead to some interesting new adventuring aspects as well.

When it comes to cities and special kingdoms, you also have to consider that any place that is an old kingdom probably has access to a lode or two. Almost all ancient kingdoms had a commodity such as this, whether it is gold, silver, or even salt. But a Kingdom that has knowledge of the locations of these precious metals on their lands will probably try to drain them dry. Now you have mines—big ones. These mines are the banks of prehistory, ready to be robbed by some enterprising hoods. And we all know your players are really enterprising hoods just waiting to be born….

When playing in a fantasy world that is similar to Earth, try playing it out where such metals’ abundance and locales are more accurately portrayed; it may add a whole new aspect to your game.