system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: Why is gold valuable? Also, why was gold important to ancient civilizations?

I know it has good conduction properties and doesn't deteriorate, but there are other similar elements. Why was it important for ancient civilizations, especially ones that didn't use currency?
gpt
It's shiny, doesn't oxidize, yellow is rather unique as metallic color. It's also relatively soft and malleable with a low melting point (for a metal) that makes it a pretty nice material to work with and create art/religious symbols and being not that common makes it special, too.