And here is another account of the phenomenon: a summary of an article called Golden Fleece - vishap: from myth to archaeology by Arsen Bobokhyan and Aram Gevorgyan:
"The territory of Armenia and neighboring culturally-related Southern Caucasian regions are characterized by active cultural interactions with the Aegean world during the period of the Middle Bronze Age (XXIV-XVI centuries BC) and partially during the Late Bronze Age (XVI-XIII centuries BC).
"Some scholars mention real historical and economical presuppositions in ancient myths, and consider that these relations are also re?ected in the legend about the Golden Fleece or Argonauts, which is seen as an expres-sion of economical relations (gold and wool trade) in the legend. The ?eece symbolizes the method of washing alluvial gold using a ram hide.
"On the other hand, some scholars have already paid attention to the similarity of one peculiarity of the Golden Fleece story with the iconography of vishaps. The matter concerns the ?eece/hide of the animal (in Greek myth - a ram, in the case of vishaps - a bull or a ram) which was on the tree/stele. If this comparison has a ground, an interesting chain can be created which gives an opportunity to discuss the abovementioned problem on a more generalized historical-archaeological basis. These links are reinforced by other archaeological data and written sources that are taken on one the hand from Anatolian, Mesopotamian and the Aegean and on the other hand from Caucasian cultural worlds."
This and the preceding synopsis are taken from THE VISHAP STONE STELAE, Editors Armen Petrosyan, Arsen Bobokhyan, «GITUTYUN» PUBLISHING HOUSE YEREVAN 2015
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