Jun 06, 2015 10:59 AM EDT By Russell Westerholm, UniversityHerald Reporter

In analyzing ancient artifacts, a team of scientists detailed a route in southwest England by which gold was traded thousands of years ago.

According to the Independent, researchers at the Universities of Bristol and Southampton charted the route between Ireland, Devon and Cornwall. They estimated the gold that traveled the trading route could have been as much as 440lbs and was worth $7.6 million by today's standards.

"This is an unexpected and particularly interesting result as it suggests that Bronze Age gold workers in Ireland were making artefacts out of material sourced from outside of the country, despite the existence of a number of easily-accessible and rich gold deposits found locally," lead researcher Chris Standish said in a press release. "It is unlikely that knowledge of how to extract gold didn't exist in Ireland, as we see large scale exploitation of other metals. It is more probable that an 'exotic' origin was cherished as a key property of gold and was an important reason behind why it was imported for production.

"Perhaps what is most interesting is that during this time, compared to Ireland, there appears to be much less gold circulating in Cornwall and southern Britain. This implies gold was leaving the region because those who found it felt it was of more value to trade it in for other 'desirable' goods - rather than keep it."

The new discovery suggests southwest England had its own gold rush between the 17th and 22nd centuries BC, the Early Bronze Age.

"The results of this study are a fascinating finding," Alistair Pike, a research collaborator, said in the release. "They show that there was no universal value of gold, at least until perhaps the first gold coins started to appear nearly two thousand years later. Prehistoric economies were driven by factors more complex than the trade of commodities - belief systems clearly played a major role."

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