Old Gold

Troy Gold from Penn Museum Is the Daily Pic by Blake Gopnik

These gold earrings came from Troy, 4,400 years ago, then landed at the museum at Penn 46 years ago, and are now on their way back to Troy again - as I wrote about in the latest international issue of Newsweek. What I didn’t get to mention is that they bear a striking resemblance to jewelry of that same date found at Ur, now in Iraq, some 2,500 km away. Some archaeologists think there were itinerant goldsmiths who covered that kind of ground, but at very least it proves that globalization dates back more than a few years. And that international fashion trends do too. Imagine Vogue published on clay tablets; the scent strips alone could break your toe.

For a full visual survey of past Daily Pics visit blakegopnik.com/archive.

See more of our coverage in your search results.

ADD THE DAILY BEAST ON GOOGLE

Blake Gopnik

Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here.