Archaeologists at the site of Sardis have uncovered a 3,000-year-old industrial quarter dedicated to the refining of electrum and gold. The excavation revealed several intact cupellation vats and bellows nozzles, providing a rare glimpse into the metallurgical processes that allowed the Lydians to mint the world's first standardized coins.
The workshop site also yielded tiny fragments of gold leaf and specialized clay crucibles. Researchers state that the scale of the facility confirms Sardis as the premier economic hub of the Iron Age Mediterranean, where the transition from a barter system to a coin-based economy was physically forged.