The earliest known winery has been uncovered in a cave in the mountains of Armenia, AP reports.<\/p>\n
A vat to press the grapes, fermentation jars and even a cup and drinking bowl dating to about 6,000 years ago were discovered in the cave complex by an international team of researchers.<\/p>\n
While older evidence of wine drinking has been found, this is the earliest example of complete wine production, according to Gregory Areshian of the University of California-Los Angeles, co-director of the excavation.<\/p>\n
The findings, announced today by the National Geographic Society, are in the online edition of the Journal of Archaeological Science.<\/p>\n
“The evidence argues convincingly for a wine-making facility,” said Patrick McGovern, scientific director of the Biomolecular Archaeology Laboratory at the University of Pennsylvania Museum in Philadelphia, who was not part of the research team.<\/p>\n
According to the archeologists, inside the cave was a shallow basin about 3 feet across that was positioned to drain into a deep vat.<\/p>\n
The basin could have served as a wine press where people stomped the grapes with their feet, a method Areshian noted was traditional for centuries.<\/p>\n
They also found grape seeds, remains of pressed grapes and dozens of dried vines.<\/p>\n
The earliest comparable remains were found in the tomb of the ancient Egyptian king Scorpion I, dating to about 5,100 years ago.<\/p>\n
Because the wine-making facility was found surrounded by graves, the researchers suggest the wine may have been intended for ceremonial use.<\/p>\n
In his books, McGovern has suggested that a “wine culture,” including the domestication of the Eurasian grape, was first consolidated in the mountainous regions around Armenia before moving to the south.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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