Page "Golden Fleece" Paragraph 9
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A more widespread interpretation relates it to a method of washing gold from streams that is well attested ( but only from c. 5th century BC ) in the region of Georgia to the east of the Black Sea.
Sheep fleeces, sometimes stretched over a wood frame, would be submerged in the stream, and gold flecks borne down from upstream placer deposits would collect in them.
The fleeces would then be hung in trees to dry before the gold was shaken or combed out.
Alternatively, the fleeces would be used on washing tables in alluvial mining of gold or on washing tables at deep gold mines.
Judging by the very early gold objects from a range of cultures, washing for gold is a very old human activity.
Thus Strabo describes the way in which gold could be washed:
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