Teaching in the Exhibition

Explore the Key Concepts with your students using the following objects and questions. Refer to the Map of the Exhibition as you tour through each area.

1. AURUM NATURAE
This area showcases stunning natural gold specimens and introduces the variety of forms gold can take.

Newmont gold mass
(click to enlarge) ©AMNH/Craig Chesek

The Newmont gold mass, the "Boot of Cortez" nugget, and a gold and quartz vein in metamorphic rock: No matter what form it takes, gold is a mineral, an element, and a metal. Have students observe, compare, and contrast these three natural specimens.

Theater: To give students a sense of the exhibition's scope, have them watch this six-minute video.

Key Concept: Gold is a mineral, an element, and a metal.

2. INCOMPARABLE GOLD
This area explores gold's properties and its geologic formation, as well as gold rushes and mining.

Display case of gold's properties ("No Other Metal or Mineral Measures Up to Gold"): What is gold most frequently used for? What are its other uses?

Apollo 11 space helmet
(click to enlarge) ©NASA

- Apollo 11 space helmet: When does gold both transmit and reflect light?
- Computer PCI card: Copper is a better conductor than gold. Why is gold, the more expensive material, used in this chip?
- 1/2 oz gold and 1/2 oz quartz crystal: Compare the density of these two specimens.

Gold room: Why do you think that nearly pure gold (and not an alloy) was used to decorate this room?

Panel and wall case of gold charms ("The Language of Gold"): What accounts for the different colors of gold?

Display case of gold crystals ("Wire, Leaf, Branch, and Tree"): Have students describe the different shapes of gold crystals. If all gold is made of crystals, what accounts for the differences in appearance?

Porphyry copper-gold ore (Argentina)
(click to enlarge) ©AMNH/James Webster

Display case of gold ore and veins ("Hydrothermal Cocktail") and wall illustration of "Forming Earth's Gold Deposits": Have students observe the gold deposits in this case and look at the illustration. Where does the heat come from? What role do hydrothermal fluids play in the formation of gold deposits?

Platform of ore boulders ("Squeezing Gold from Rocks") and wall panel on "Gold Mining and the Environment": How do you think gold mining affects the surrounding environment and human beings that live there?

The Summitville Gold Boulder and wall case and graphic on gold rushes ("Chasing Gold, Then and Now"): To what lengths do people go to acquire gold? Do you think it would be as easy for you to find gold today as it was for prospectors during the gold rushes? Why or why not?

Sluice box: What property of gold makes it possible to separate gold from gravel with this tool?

Key Concepts: Gold's combination of physical and chemical properties is unique. Minerals form by geologic processes. Acquiring natural resources affects the environment.

3. GOLDEN AGES
This area features human-worked gold objects from all over the world.

Iranian gold mouflon
(click to enlarge) ©AMNH/Jackie Beckett

Tiffany baby rattle
(click to enlarge) ©Tiffany & Co. Archives

All objects: Have students observe gold artifacts in this room (suggested highlights, in chronological order, are listed below). Why do you think gold appears across many different cultures and time periods? Who do you think owned these objects? How are the objects used to signify status?

- Gold sheet mouflon (Iran; c. 2500-2000 BC)
- Stirrup spout bottle (Chavin cult, South America; c. 900-200 BC)
- Gold helmet with crocodile deity (Sitio Conte, Panama; c. 700-900)
- Gold bell (Mixtec/Aztec, Mexico; c. 1200-1521)
- Sword, sheath, and guards (Japan; c. late 1800s)
- Buddha (Tibet; c. late 1800s-early 1900s)
- Cuff links (England; c. 1885)
- Tiffany baby rattle (U.S.A.; c. 1890)
- Gold mask pendant (Asante, Ghana; c. early 1900s)

Case with Incan figurine and Spanish escudo coins: Why do Spanish gold coins appear in a case of Incan artifacts? This figurine is considered the rarest artifact in the exhibition. Why do you think that is so?

Key Concept: Natural resources are valuable to civilizations.

Spanish coins recovered from a shipwreck - Click to enlarge

4. LOST AND FOUND
This area showcases gold as treasure: coins, bars, and shipwreck contents.

$3,000 Treasure Box: What physical and chemical properties of gold are responsible for the shininess of these coins, even after 130 years underwater?

Key Concepts: Gold's combination of physical and chemical properties is unique. Natural resources are valuable to civilizations.

5. GOLD STANDARD
This area displays gold currency throughout the ages.

All coins: What symbols appear on the coins? Why do you think these symbols were chosen?

Key Concept: Natural resources are valuable to civilizations.

6. GOLDEN ACHIEVEMENT
This area features gold awards for cultural achievement.

All objects: Why do you think gold was the metal of choice for these objects? What does gold symbolize? If these were objects of a culture unknown to you, what would they tell you about the society?

Key Concept: Natural resources are valuable to civilizations.