Why was gold discovered before iron?

Gold is a very inert metal, and so would be found in nature are gold nuggets.

Iron on the other hand is found as iron oxide. The oxide has to be heated to e very high degree, befire the liquid iron is released.

So in ancient times the technology would have found the gold lying on/in the ground as nuggets. However, they may not have been able to build furnaces hot enough to release iron from its oxide.