How much gold did humans possess by century starting with Neolithic?
Upvote:1
The wonderful thing about gold is that it is completely indestructible and imperishable. The gold we see today is the same gold that existed bilions of years ago. The same goes for silver. Even though gold has a boiling point, the vapor created is still gold.
A count of gold in possession by humans would be impossible. There have been large ships of gold that have sank to the bottom of the ocean during the Spanish Conquests for example. Also, such chart would require that every human possesing gold throughout the history of the world would have had to reveil it. Humans are fallible and have their own thoughts, so there is a very likely chance that a lot of these gold census reports, if such reports even existed, lack a few people due to them not wanting to participate.
Upvote:6
I found some relevant information in the following reference:
R W Boyle: Gold: History and Genesis of Deposits
The estimates only go up to 1985, when the total gold mined worldwide would fit into an 18.5m cube. Of this,
2% was mined prior to 1492;
8% between then and 1800;
20% from 1801 to 1900, and
70% 1901-1985.
The figures are rough estimates according to the author, but show how rare gold was in ancient times.
Upvote:12
I know, it's an ancient question, but maybe somebody might still be interested in some ballpark estimates. According to the World Gold Council about 200,000 tonnes of gold have been mined in human history. Most of it in the last 70 years. Almost half of it exists in form of jewellry.
The best estimates currently available suggest that around 197,576 tonnes of gold has been mined throughout history, of which around two-thirds has been mined since 1950. And since gold is virtually indestructible, this means that almost all of this metal is still around in one form or another. If every single ounce of this gold were placed next to each other, the resulting cube of pure gold would only measure around 21 metres on each side.
Total above-ground stocks (end-2019): 197,576 tonnes
Jewellery: 92,947 tonnes, 47.0%
Private investment: 42,619 tonnes, 21.6%
Official Holdings: 33,919 tonnes, 17.2%
Other: 28,090 tonnes, 14.2%
Below ground reserves: 54,000 tonnes
Source: Metals Focus; GFMS, Thomson Reuters, US Geological Survey, World Gold Council
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