Georgia is considered one of the oldest centers of mining and processing of precious metals in the world. This is confirmed by the reports of Strabo, Marcus Ternetius Varon, Pliny the Elder, Appian, Eustathius of Thessalonica, etc. On the example of Svaneti, it is visible the ancient empirical knowledge in collecting of precious metals using sheepskin. Apparently, knowledge similar to those is widespread in the civilizations of both the Ancient Near East and the Aegean world. On this matter there are interesting the lines 420-434 of the Sumerian epic Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta (ca. 21st century BC), which still remains obscure for researchers. Based on the context of the existing text, where only the presented words can be recovered from the damaged line: the king picked up an unknown object covered with hair - munšub. After twisting the munšub, he crushes the obtained material in a pestle like a plant. Here it becomes obvious that we are dealing with an unknown ritual of alchemy which is intertwined with the method of crushing metals. The next lines of the text tell us about the knowledge of obtaining certain materials, admixtures and chemical processes.
Emzar Kakhidze (Thu,) studied this question.