Since the discovery of gold and how to refine and subsequently alloy it, i.e. mixing it with other metals to make it more workable, gold has become the stand-out material in the manufacture of precious jewellery. The superior properties of gold have contributed to its popularity in many cultures who set gold until the end of the middle ages didn't even have contact with each other, yet the same allure for the yellow metal existed. This metal has been a valuable and highly sought-after precious material for coinage, jewellery, and other arts since long before the beginning of recorded history.
Gold is the most malleable of all metals. One gram of it and this is not very much in volume due to its high density (19.3gm per cubic cm) can easily be beaten to a sheet of 1square meter or drawn to a wire 2km in length. Gold also does not tarnish and is inert, in its purest form it does not change colour in air or in water. Another advantage it had right from its discovery is that it was found almost pure. Silver and copper are just about the only elements in small quantities mixed with it. A relatively low melting point of 1064 degree Celsius meant that it could be melted down with 22ct gold jewellery the basic furnaces which were at early cultures' disposal.
So it is not a surprise that from all the metals available in the early days of civilization gold had all the advantages a metal smith or jeweller could hope for. It is very clean even during heating, oxidization is low and joining pieces with solders, gold alloys at a slightly lower melting point, is a much easier task as if it were, let's say, copper.
The oldest artifacts in gold were found on the Balkan and were dated back to the 4th millennium BC. The Egyptian treasures and hieroglyphs describing early refining and metal smith techniques are legendary. The Greek were the first to introduce gold as currency and the Romans advanced the technology and discovered new mining methods. Of course the Incas were the ones with the largest gold reserve the then known world had ever seen. Much indian gold jewellery of it melted down by the Spanish in their greed to enrich themselves and to prop up their empire.
It is worth considering that due to plundering, ignorance and disrespect to ancient cultures, gold that has been melted down over and over could in minute particles have ended up in anyone's jewellery today. So some jewellery that one wears today could easily contain traces of gold already worn by a pharaoh or an Inca high priest. This is of course not traceable but in theory quite plausible.
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