Troy Gold

I quote from the Penn site: Pair of "basket" earrings, not quite matching. Each basket of wires looped in back and soldered together; wires centrally divided on each by vertical strip with incised cross-hatching. Basket of "a" has double row of granulation along upper edge; grains of "b' stuck on top of applique pierced discs to give appearance of two rows of rosettes. Below each basket two suspension plates somewhat longer than their baskets. Each frontal plate has five rings from which hang short loop-in-loop chains (3 links in each) ending in single leaves. Longer chains, with leaves attached along their lengths, hang from the five holes in the rear plate of each; these chains are connected at two points by thin strips of metal pierced with holes. Each of the chains ends in a sheet metal "idol," decorated with repousse and chased dots; three of these idols are missing from "b," as is one of the leaves from the shorter chains. Similar to Early Bronze Age jewelry of Troy, Lemnos (Poliochni), and Ur.

2400 BC

One of small group of a special exhibition: These valuable artefacts were brought to Turkey thanks to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the University of Pennsylvania’s Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. I found more information at the site of Penn State University: “SEPTEMBER 4, 2012— Penn Museum (the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology) announces a landmark agreement with the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism for an indefinite term loan to the Republic of Turkey of a collection of 24 gold jewelry pieces, dating to circa 2400 BCE. The agreement reached between Penn and Turkey includes identification of the “Troy Gold” as being on indefinite loan from the Penn Museum; a commitment by the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism of strong support for the University’s excavations at Gordion, in central Turkey; the loan of a group of remarkable artifacts excavated in a series of royal tombs at Gordion and in Lydia for a future major exhibition at the Penn Museum; and a pledge for increased cultural collaboration between Penn and Turkey. […]When the “Troy Gold” assemblage was carefully examined again in 2009 by Ernst Pernicka, a professor at the University of Tübingen in southern Germany and director of the Troy Excavations, and Hermann Born, archaeologist at the Museum für Vor und Frühgeschichte in Berlin, a particle of soil was found lodged inside one of the gold pendants. The use of a technique called neutron activation analysis revealed that the particle’s composition was consistent with the soil in the Trojan plain. Toward the end of 2011, the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism contacted the Penn Museum regarding the potential transfer of the gold to Turkey, and a series of discussions subsequently took place between the University of Pennsylvania and the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism. A joint decision was reached wherein the gold would travel to Turkey on indefinite loan. The expectation is that the gold will eventually be displayed in a new museum that is planned for the archaeological site of Troy. “