Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. Space Industry and Business News .




FARM NEWS
Archaeologists discover largest, oldest wine cellar in Near East
by Staff Writers
Waltham MA (SPX) Nov 29, 2013


Ancient wine jugs were unearthed at Tel Kabri. Credit: Eric Cline.

Would you drink wine flavored with mint, honey and a dash of psychotropic resins? Ancient Canaanites did more than 3,000 years ago.

Archaeologists have unearthed what may be the oldest - and largest - ancient wine cellar in the Near East, containing forty jars, each of which would have held fifty liters of strong, sweet wine. The cellar was discovered in the ruined palace of a sprawling Canaanite city in northern Israel, called Tel Kabri. The site dates to about 1,700 B.C. and isn't far from many of Israel's modern-day wineries.

"This is a hugely significant discovery - it's a wine cellar that, to our knowledge, is largely unmatched in age and size," says Eric Cline chair of the Department of Classical and Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations of at The George Washington University. Cline and Assaf Yasur-Landau, chair of the Department of Maritime Civilizations at the University of Haifa, co-directed the excavation. Andrew Koh, assistant professor of classical studies at Brandeis University, was an associate director.

The team's findings will be presented this Friday in Baltimore at the annual meeting of the American Schools of Oriental Research.

Koh, an archaeological scientist, analyzed the jar fragments using organic residue analysis. He found molecular traces of tartaric and syringic acid, both key components in wine, as well as compounds suggesting ingredients popular in ancient wine-making, including honey, mint, cinnamon bark, juniper berries and resins. The recipe is similar to medicinal wines used in ancient Egypt for two thousand years.

Koh also analyzed the proportions of each diagnostic compound and discovered remarkable consistency between jars.

"This wasn't moonshine that someone was brewing in their basement, eyeballing the measurements," Koh notes. "This wine's recipe was strictly followed in each and every jar."

Important guests drank this wine, notes Yasur-Landau.

"The wine cellar was located near a hall where banquets took place, a place where the Kabri elite and possibly foreign guests consumed goat meat and wine," he says.

At the end of the season, the team discovered two doors leading out of the wine cellar-one to the south, and one to the west. Both probably lead to additional storage rooms. They'll have to wait until 2015 to find out for sure.

Funding for this research was provided by GW, the University of Haifa, Brandeis University, the National Geographic Society, the Israel Science Foundation, the Institute for Aegean Prehistory, Bronfman Philanthropies, and private donations.
.


Related Links
Brandeis University
Farming Today - Suppliers and Technology






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle








FARM NEWS
The mushrooms, my friend, are blowing in the wind...
Washington DC (SPX) Nov 28, 2013
Plants use a variety of methods to spread their seeds, including gravity, forceful ejection, and wind, water, and animal dispersion. But what of the mushrooms, whose spores also need to be strewn far and wide to ensure their propagation? Biologists have long thought that the spores produced by a mushroom's cap simply drop into the wind and blow away. The problem with that notion, said Emil ... read more


FARM NEWS
Use of ancient lead in modern physics experiments ignites debate

Crippled space telescope given second life, new mission

Scientists create perfect solution to iron out kinks in surfaces

What might recyclable satellites look like?

FARM NEWS
Boeing Tests Validate Performance of FAB-T Satellite Communications Program

Intelsat General To Provide Satellite Services To US Marines

Manpack Radios in Arctic Connect with MUOS Satellites Orbiting Equator

Self-correcting crystal may unleash the next generation of advanced communications

FARM NEWS
SpaceX postpones first satellite launch

Second rocket launch site depends on satellite size, cost-benefit

Private US launch of satellite delayed

Stepping up Vega launcher production

FARM NEWS
'Smart' wig navigates by GPS, monitors brainwaves

CIA, Pentagon trying to hinder construction of GLONASS stations in US

GPS 3 Prototype Communicates With GPS Constellation

Russia to enforce GLONASS Over GPS

FARM NEWS
US telling airlines to stay safe in East China Sea

The secrets of owls' near noiseless wings

Japanese airlines say will obey China's air zone rules

Peru boosts defense with tactical aircraft, helos

FARM NEWS
Chips meet Tubes: World's First Terahertz Vacuum Amplifier

NIST demonstrates how losing information can benefit quantum computing

Chaotic physics in ferroelectrics hints at brain-like computing

Nature: Single-atom Bit Forms Smallest Memory in the World

FARM NEWS
Satellite map to help assess threats to Australia's Great Barrier Reef

Google Earth reveals untold fish catches

Satellite trio to explore the Earth's magnetic field

Cameras for high-res images of Earth's surface on way to space station

FARM NEWS
Madrid street-sweepers call off strike: union

Everyday chemical exposure linked to preterm births

Albania refuses to host Syria arsenal destruction

Protests grow in Albania against Syria weapons destruction




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement