Goldsmithery
The Gauls were passionate goldsmiths.
Countless items of jewellery, such as torques, reflect their skilled craftsmanship and the quality of their work.
Where did the gold come from?
Gaul was famously rich in gold. Several rivers of its rivers had gold-bearing sands, including the Ariège, Salat and Garonne in the Toulouse region.
Talented gold diggers used the sheepskin technique whereby women and old men would “lay fleeces in the rivers and the wool would collect nuggets carried by the rivers or deposited in their sands” Posidonius, (Athenaeus VI). They would also use gold panning which involved washing the sand to sieve out the ore
Gold was also mined in open pits, trenches and galleries. The biggest gold mines at the time were in the Limousin region.
The fired ore was then ground using fixed and then rotating millstones.
The resulting sediment was then sieved and the gold particles would fall to the bottom of basins that were probably lined with sheepskin; the fleeces were then rinsed.
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