Prologue

1.
The Birth of Golden Culture

Human History and Gold | Gold Mining and Artisan Groups | Grave Robbing: Another Means of Obtaining Gold | Processing Techniques of Ancient Gold Cultures | Why Does Archaeology Focus on Gold?

2.
Eurasia, shining in gold

The Formation of the Eurasian Golden Culture | The Development of the Scythian-Saka Golden Culture (9th-3rd centuries BC) | The Xiongnu Period (2nd-1st centuries BC) | The Great Migration Period (The Huns, 3rd-5th centuries AD)

3.
East Asia, bathed in gold

The Early Emergence of Gold: From the Andronovo Culture to the Shang Dynasty | The Spread of Gold through the Jin Dynasty, Manchuria, and Pipa-Shaped Bronze Dagger Culture | The Emergence of the Great Wall and the Spread of Gold | The Spread of Gold Culture to the Korean Peninsula

4.
The Encounter of Eurasian and East Asian Golden Cultures

The Birth of Eurasian Golden Culture | Fire and Ice: The Encounter of Eurasian and East Asian Golden Cultures | Saka Golden Culture and the Re-examination of the Silk Road | The Cultural Exchange between Warring States-era China and Central Asia | Golden Men Worshipping Heaven: Interpreting the Xiongnu Golden Man of Heaven | Monopoly of Sacrificial Power and the Origin of Silla's Gold Crowns

5.
Gold, light and shadow surrounding beauty

Trojan gold artifacts that became spoils of war | The golden man who became the national symbol of Kazakhstan | The female shaman with the golden mask who became the symbol of Kyrgyzstan | The controversy surrounding the Oxus Treasure (Takhti-Kuwad) | The situation in Afghanistan and the gold of Tilia-Tepe | The conflict over Scythian gold between Ukraine and Russia | The duplicity of the excavation of Silla gold crowns during the Japanese colonial period

6.
Immortal Beauty, Rediscovering Gold

epilogue

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References

From the birth of ancient golden culture to modern-day conflicts over golden artifacts,
Almost all history surrounds immortal beauty

Chapter 1 (The Birth of Golden Culture) examines the birth of gold and gold-using cultures throughout human history and examines why archaeology focuses on golden culture.
The following chapter 2 (Eurasia, Shining in Gold) discusses the origins of golden art that began to shine in the Eurasian steppe.
In particular, we will examine the process by which the golden art of the northern nomadic culture, centered around the Saka (Scythian era) culture and the Huns, spread to East Asia in earnest.
Chapter 3 (East Asia, Dyeing in Gold) organizes the characteristics of the gold culture that spread from Eurasia through northern China to the Korean Peninsula, step by step.
Through this, we will learn about the process of gold being introduced to the Korean Peninsula under the influence of Eurasian gold culture.
Chapter 4 (The Encounter of Eurasian and East Asian Golden Cultures) explains the process of the spread of golden art beyond a simple diffusionist approach, and instead considers it as a diverse regional network formed between the steppes and East Asia via the Silk Road.
This study examines how the newly introduced gold combined with and spread the tradition of jadeware, a traditional favorite in East Asia, and reveals the process of the spread and establishment of gold culture.
In the Korean Peninsula, gold culture reached its peak during the reign of King Maripgan of Silla.
Here, we take a fresh look at the gold crowns and gold masks from the Great Eurasian Migration Period (3rd to 6th centuries AD) from the perspective of monopolization of power and rituals.
Finally, Chapter 5 (Gold, Light and Shadow Surrounding Beauty) goes beyond simple ancient culture and addresses the fate of gold artifacts that are being excavated and exhibited in conflict situations in modern society.
The aesthetic value of gold has hardly changed over thousands of years.
This paradoxically means that ancient gold artifacts were intensively used in regional conflicts and to shape national ideologies.
We reexamine the value of gold artworks from ancient to modern times, confirming that they are not simply ancient relics but continue to have influence in 21st-century modern society.

'The most splendid art, found at the most explicit scene of death.'

Archaeologists find golden artifacts among the skeletons, signs of death in the tomb.
What is eternal is gold, not man.
What makes the aesthetic value of the golden artifacts discovered by archaeologists all the more dramatic is that they are the most splendid works of art discovered at the most explicit scenes of death.
The world has been interacting and moving with human longing for eternity and beauty.
This is the true value of the golden culture of Eurasia.
The beauty of Asia is now moving the world.
The golden culture that was introduced from Eurasia flourished in Silla and is now once again representing Korean beauty around the world.
Beauty blossoms not in isolation but in diverse interactions.
The greatest message that Eurasian golden culture gives us as we explore the beauty of Asia.

This book seeks to explain the social context in which Eurasian people, fascinated by the immortal beauty of gold, create and consume it, and the current conflicting values ​​that arise from owning it.
And even now, many golden relics are being excavated.
New excavation technologies and analytical techniques are enabling a surge of new research that moves beyond the traditional focus on form to uncover the uses, production methods, demand, and material value of each ornament.
By uncovering networks of exchange based on archaeological methods and data and studying the transmission of aesthetic values, this book, while insufficient, will hopefully help revitalize research on beauty, which is primarily conducted from the perspective of art history and aesthetics.
_ In the epilogue