Ancient Gold Necklace

The Ancient Gold Necklace is a piece of gold jewelry dating back to the first millennium BCE. It was discovered in the Thaj area, the largest Hellenistic site in the Eastern Province, located approximately eighty-five km southwest of al-Jubail City in the Eastern Province of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The gold necklace features a circular piece adorned with gemstones, beads, and crescent-shaped pearls. At its center lies a dotted oval-shaped circle with a black gemstone engraved with a raised depiction of a human face. The piece also has two perforated, ear-shaped structures to which two connectors are affixed. Two gold chains, each measuring seventeen cm, extend from the opposite ends of these connectors. Each chain ends with a strand that culminates in a circular piece with a central perforation designed for suspension. The necklace, used as an ornamental accessory, measures 38.5 cm in length, while the diameter of the central circular piece is 5.5 cm.

The artist combined excellence in design, precision in detailing, and skill in using and employing colored gemstones to inlay the pendant. This distinctive ornament indicates the emergence of refined artistic workshops that subjected their production to advanced professional standards and affirms the high economic status that the Thaj civilization once enjoyed.

The gold necklace is preserved at the ‏Saudi National Museum‏ in ‏Riyadh‏. It was selected as part of a diverse collection of archaeological discoveries from Saudi Arabia showcased in the Saudi Archeological Masterpieces Through the Ages Exhibition‏. Its discovery is among the findings from archaeological surveys and excavations conducted by the antiquities and museums sector in Saudi Arabia over the past years, as well as discoveries made by Saudi archaeologists and scientific expeditions. The gold necklace is registered under number 2059.