( CNN ) -- Researchers have discovered the oldest piece of gold jewelry ever found in the Americas , an academic journal reported Tuesday . A gold and turquoise necklace , made 4,000 years ago , was found in a burial site near Lake Titicaca . A team found the gold necklace near Lake Titicaca in Peru , according to the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences . It 's 4,000 years old -- 600 years older than any other gold jewelry discovered in the Western Hemisphere . The anthropologist who discovered the gold , Mark Aldenderfer , told CNN on Tuesday night that he sensed the importance of his find after noticing a glint while excavating a site with human remains . `` It appeared to be gold . That 's when I knew we had something special , '' he said . `` This was a complete shock . '' He found the necklace about seven years ago , he said , but researchers kept quiet for fear that looters would raid the site . They also wanted to allow time for chemical analysis before announcing their discovery on Tuesday . Video footage from Peru shows a necklace of nine gold tubes separated by 10 stones . The find is important , Aldenderfer said , because it signals the early emergence of a desire for status among people who lived as relative equals without a formal leadership system . The Andean people of that time , Aldenderfer said , had recently settled down after many generations as hunter-gatherers . Formal kings would not emerge for hundreds of years . The person who wore the gold necklace may have sought to distinguish himself with a status symbol , Aldenderfer said . The artifact is in the custody of the National Institute of Peru and may be displayed in a museum , he said . E-mail to a friend .
A team finds the gold necklace near Lake Titicaca in Peru . Find is important because it signals the emergence of societal status systems . The Incas were a society that was very hierarchical and had an emphasis on wealth, power, prestige, and religion.