Washington - (AP) - The earliest known gold jewelry made in the Americas has been discovered in southern Peru. The gold necklace, made nearly 4,000 years ago, was found in a burial site near Lake Titicaca.

The discovery "was a complete shock," said Mark Aldenderfer, an anthropologist at the University of Arizona.

There is no evidence at the site that shows how it was made, he said. But it looks like a nugget of native raw gold, which occurs near the area, was pounded flat in a stone mortar and pestle.

Then the gold was probably wrapped around a piece of wood and pounded until it was folded into a tube, he said.

The researchers restrung the necklace, alternating nine small gold tubes with a series of round stones, identified as either greenstone or turquoise, with holes in them that were found in the same grave.

The next oldest gold ornaments found in this hemisphere, also located in Peru but farther north, date to about 600 years later than this necklace, Aldenderfer said.

The oldest previously known worked gold was found in highland Peru and dated to about 3,500 years ago.
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