[evgen]

I believe you are incorrect and have the causality backwards. Gold has several characteristics that, when combined, make it an ideal material for ancient jewellery and whose properties remain to this day. It can be found in its elemental form and is easy to refine using primitive technology. It is extremely malleable and easy to shape for artistic purposes. It’s ductility makes it easy to draw through a die or pound into leaf so it can be made into chain links or leaf to be applied to another material. It resists tarnish and is non-reactive in the presence of most acids. It is rare compared to most other metals available to pre-industrial societies so it has scarcity value. All of these properties make it better than alternatives for jewellery and for thousands of years gold was valuable because it could be made into appealing jewellery while metals of equal rarity were not hoarded and made into jewellery.