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Pans and sluices are recorded back as far as we have history on the subject, and yes the Romans used pans and sluices. The Golden Fleece is thought to possibly have been a sheep’s hide used to line and capture gold in a sluice box.

From De Re Metallica, by Georgius Agricola, First Latin edition 1556, picture of gold pan and sluice box in use. Not any different than early scenes in California 300 years later.

gold-pan-sluice-box-de-re-metallica-wikipedia-commons.jpg

 

Interestingly the first English translation was by Herbert Hoover, who later went on to be President of the United States. It also is one of the first written accounts to describe dowsing. It is also interesting that one of the first things discussed in the book are the environmental impacts of mining. Things we think are new to our times have been discussed for centuries if not millennia. The translated text is below but for as easy overview skip to the Wikipedia article at bottom.

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/38015/38015-h/38015-h.htm

Wikipedia - about De Re Metallica

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3 hours ago, Steve Herschbach said:

The Golden Fleece is thought to possibly have been a sheep’s hide used to line and capture gold in a sluice box.

I also had found articles that stated the same thing, but one of them said that the sheep had some hair growth (length) on them. The length of hair was heavy then shorter towards the end of the sluice.

With all the different stories I have read on this I just don't know which one to believe, but I would think this would be close to what they would have done.

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On 1/10/2020 at 9:37 PM, tvanwho said:

And a panning question?

Why do the bigger bits of gravel work their way to the surface as we pan instead of sinking?

Isn't it just about density?  Big pieces of gravel are typically (at least in the US Midwest) limestone with a specific gravity around 2.7.  That's kind of typical of common rocks/minerals, including quartz.  Magnetite and hematite are in the 5.2 - 5.3 s.g. range.  Native metals (and especially the noble metals we all lust for) are much higher.

 

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