Editing Sheep shearing (section)

===Pre-Industrial Europe===
[[File:Flock Of Sheep In Omalos Plateau.jpg|thumb|Sheep in modern Crete]]

Europe's oldest city, [[Knossos]], derived its wealth from the sheep wool industry. The largest group of [[Linear B]] tablets is the great archive principally of shearing records though also of sheep breeding.<ref>J. T. Killen, "The Wool Industry of Crete in the Late Bronze Age". The Annual of the British School at Athens, Vol. 59 (1964), pp. 1–15 Published by: British School at Athens. {{doi|10.1017/S0068245400006031}}{{JSTOR|30103132}}</ref>

The [[medieval English wool trade]] was one of the most important factors in the English economy. The main sheep-shearing was an annual midsummer (June) event in medieval England culminating in the sheep-shearing feast.{{Citation needed|date=January 2012}} It had always been conventional practice to wash sheep.<ref>Preparing Wool for Market. p. 34, col 3,''The Scientific American'', Vol 1, No 3. published 16 July 1859. [[:File:Scientific American - Series 2 - Volume 001 - Issue 03.pdf]]</ref>