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Read more at https://archaeologynewsnetwork.blogspot.com/2014/11/legend-of-golden-fleece-based-on-fact.html#t5OiX5rpTVKjtXDD.99 Geologists have uncovered evidence that a mountainous area of Svaneti in what is now northwest Georgia was the country ‘rich of gold’ described in the legend. They claim that villagers that were part of the wealthy Kingdom of Colchis, which existed from the sixth to the first centuries BC, used sheepskin to capture gold from mountain streams in the area. The fleece was used to line the bottom of the sandy stream beds, trapping any tiny grains of gold that built up there. The technique is a variation on panning used elsewhere in the world. This, they say, would have lead to sheepskins that were imprinted with flakes of gold and could have given rise to stories of a golden fleece. Historic artifacts, including a bronze sculpture of a bird with a ram's head, that were found in the villages of Svaneti also lend support that the kingdom was the source of the myth. ...............Geological surveys by Dr Okrostsvaridze and his team reveal that gold deposits in many areas that were historically mined have been replenished as streams have continued to wash them down the mountainsides. Indeed, he said that some locals still use traditional techniques to obtain gold from the rivers in the area and it may even be possible for modern day Argonauts to find a golden fleece of their own today. He said: ‘Our work has confirmed that Svaneti is a region, uniquely, where the locals still wash gold from alluvial placers through modern domestic, wooden vessels or pans with holes in the bottom and unto a sheepskin or fleece which collects the fine particulate gold.’

Jason bringing Pelias the Golden Fleece; a winged victory prepares to crown him with a wreath. Side A from an Apulian red-figure calyx crater. 340-330 BC. Louvre Museum. The famous myth of the Golden Fleece, Jason and the expedition of the Argonauts had a –literally- “golden” background. This has to do with the fact that this area of the Black Sea (modern Georgia) was rich of precious metals particularly gold. There a sheepskin technique was used by the natives for recovering placer gold: the fine gold particles that flowed in the rivers were “trapped” in the sheepskins. The skins would then be dried and beaten to shake out their contents. This is probably how the image of a skin full of gold particles was generated; an image which led to the myth of the “Golden Fleece”.

Surveys by the geologists show that gold ore veins (marked with orange ovals) and stream beds that contain rich gold deposits (marked with yellow ovals) exist today and have been replenished after historical mining

A collection of ancient gold bracelets and necklaces found in Vani, Western Georgia.

Monument in Batumi, Georgia, to the Kolkhetian Princess Medea holding the Golden Fleece of Greek Mythology http://www.geauga4h.org/sheep/sheep_wool.htm ....Wool is a modified hair structure. It is more fine in diameter and more elastic than hair. Wool has a crimpy, wavy appearance.Wool is elastic. It holds its shape and will regain its shape after stretching. It resists sagging and wrinkling, and is soft, light in weight, and absorbent.Wool absorbs water more readily than any other textile fiber. (Q always says things have double meaning. Golden Fleece-Literally Extracting gold using sheep wool to pan for it and then of course working the human sheep in field and extracting taxes from them. Also when panning gold one must "watch the water")