Slashdot Mirror


Scientists Uncover 3,700-Year-Old Wine Cellar

Taco Cowboy writes in with a link about the remnants of some well-aged wine recently uncovered in Israel. "Scientists have uncovered a 3,700-year-old wine cellar in the ruins of a Canaanite palace in Israel, chemical analysis from the samples from the ceramic jars suggest they held a luxurious beverage that was evidently reserved for banquets. The good stuff contains a blend of ingredients that may have included honey, mint, cedar, tree resins and cinnamon bark. The discovery confirms how sophisticated wines were at that time, something suggested only by ancient texts. The wine cellar was found this summer in palace ruins near the modern town of Nahariya in northern Israel. Researchers found 40 ceramic jars, each big enough to hold about 13 gallons, in a single room. There may be more wine stored elsewhere, but the amount found so far wouldn't be enough to supply the local population, which is why the researchers believe it was reserved for palace use. The unmarked jars are all similar as if made by the same potter. Chemical analysis indicates that the jars held red wine and possibly white wine. There was no liquid left; analyses were done on residues removed from the jars. An expert in ancient winemaking said the discovery 'sheds important new light' on the development of winemaking in ancient Canaan, from which it later spread to Egypt and across the Mediterranean."

9 of 122 comments (clear)

  1. ... a short while later ... by DavidClarkeHR · · Score: 5, Funny

    Shortly after discovering a 3,700 year old wine cellar, scientists declare:
    Ish totally ... not *hic* full of ... wine ... s'all empties, i sh-wear.

    --
    - Nec Impar Pluribus, or so I'm told.
    1. Re:... a short while later ... by mjwx · · Score: 5, Funny

      Shortly after discovering a 3,700 year old wine cellar

      Scientists discover the demented writings of a 3,700 year old wine snob.

      --
      Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
  2. Re:This was news two weeks ago by spmkk · · Score: 5, Insightful

    What's the point of posting it now?

    So that those of us who go to "mainstream" websites for geopolitical news rather than scouring them for science/tech developments, and therefore might have missed this (as I did), can learn about it?

  3. those ingredients by FudRucker · · Score: 4, Interesting

    cedar, cinnamon bark, honey, etc...

    sounded like the ancient relatives of whoever invented Jaegarmeister http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%A4germeister

    --
    Politics is Treachery, Religion is Brainwashing
  4. Sophisticated? by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Do you add 'honey, mint, cedar, tree resins and cinnamon bark' to your wine because your technique is "sophisticated" or because you are trying to restore some semblance of drinkability to the result of a really dreadful fermentation process?

    1. Re:Sophisticated? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      "Glühwein (the word for mulled wine) "

      Jesus Christ. OK, look, I've lived years in Germany, I've spent the last week drinking a lot of Gluehwein, but saying that "Gluehwein" is "the word for mulled wine" just makes you look like a cretin. Is "Gluehwein" what we call mulled wine in Britain? No. Is Britain part of Europe? Yes. We call it, err, mulled wine. It even tastes slightly different from Gluehwein, and I say that as a man who has lived many years in Britain and many years in Germany. So let's go north, to Scandinavia. Do they drink Gluehwein in Scandinavia? OH FUCK NO THEY DON'T DRINK ANY GLUEHWEIN. They drink gløgg in Norway, which last time I looked was in Europe, gløgg in Denmark which last time I looked was in Europe *and* the EU (holy shit!), and glögg in Sweden which, oh my God, is in Europe and the EU.

      OK, so let's go away from Scandinavia and into France. Surely they must drink Gluehwein, right? Right? Surely! I mean, France is central to the EU, right? Right? Oh, fuck. Gluehwein is a German word. The French don't drink Gluehwein. They drink vin chaud. Shit.

      OK, Spain! Come on, Spain! You can prove KingOfBLASH right and not a cretin! What do you drink, Spain? Gluehwein! Gluehwein! Gluehwein! Oh. No. You drink vino caliente. Cunts.

      Italy. You're one of our last hopes. We've lost Britain, we've lost Scandinavia and we've lost France. Come on, Italy! You drink... oh god you drink vin brulé. How could you?

      I knwo for a fact I'll be modded to oblivion for mocking you on this point, but honestly, try and say something serious rather than talking out of your arse. Gluehwein is very clearly not "the word" for "mulled wine" in Europe. Fuck's sake, Ireland both speaks English and uses the euro, and they call it fucking "mulled wine".

  5. Re:Miraculous! by DarkOx · · Score: 4, Informative

    So you could add it to water and turn it into wine?

    No probably just some nasty brownish sludge. All of the volatiles including the alcohol will be gone. The rest of the what was once there will probably be heavily oxidized and taste pretty nasty too. Its not instant coffee ( which is generally pretty bad itself).

    --
    Repeal the 17th Amendment TODAY! Also Please Read http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
  6. Actually... No. by gwolf · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Canaanites are known to come from Sumerian-Accadian roots (just as Hebrews, later turned Jews). You can look, as an example, as their cosmology. Summerian goddess Inanna (and the whole pantheon around her, being she not the only but a very important goddess — And yes, I know the word pantheon _is_ Greek) is replicated in Canaan. Some Canaanite tribes were known to also worship trees as gods (and that's why the names for many trees in Hebrew include the particle "El" — Ilan, alon, ela, etc.), and that's why the old testament specifically forbids making altars to (the only, Israelite) God "under big trees and in high places".

    As for Philistines, there might be some link to Greeks: After all, the main Philistine god was "the lord of the flies" (Baal Zvuv — One of the names of the devil, "Belcebu" stems from it). From the composed name, "Baal" means basically "the lord, and Zvuv has an ethimological closeness to "Zeus". The theology is, however, quite different.

  7. Re:This was news two weeks ago by Chris+Mattern · · Score: 5, Funny

    It's 3700 years old. What difference does two weeks make, fer cryin' out loud?