Current:Home > InvestArchaeologists find 2,000-year-old wine in Spanish tomb: "Oldest wine ever discovered" -NextFrontier Finance
Archaeologists find 2,000-year-old wine in Spanish tomb: "Oldest wine ever discovered"
View
Date:2025-04-12 10:38:38
Archeologists have found an urn of wine that is more than 2,000 years old, making it the "oldest wine ever discovered," researchers said in a new study. The glass funerary urn was found in a Roman tomb in Carmona, Spain, that archeologists first uncovered in 2019.
A team of chemists at the University of Cordoba recently identified the wine as having been preserved since the first century, researchers said in a study published June 16 in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports. The discovery bested the previous record held by a Speyer wine bottle discovered in 1867 that dated back to the fourth century.
The urn was used in a funerary ritual that involved two men and two women. As part of the ritual, the skeletal remains of one of the men was immersed in the wine. While the liquid had acquired a reddish hue, a series of chemical tests determined that, due to the absence of a certain acid, the wine was, in fact, white.
"At first we were very surprised that liquid was preserved in one of the funerary urns," Juan Manuel Román, the city of Carmona's municipal archaeologist, said in a news release.
Despite millennia having passed, the tomb had been well-sealed and its conditions were therefore extraordinarily intact, protected from floods and leaks, which allowed the wine to maintain its natural state, researchers said.
"Most difficult to determine was the origin of the wine, as there are no samples from the same period with which to compare it," the news release said. Still, it was no coincidence that the man's remains were found in the wine. According to the study, women in ancient Rome were prohibited from drinking wine.
"It was a man's drink," the release said. "And the two glass urns in the Carmona tomb are elements illustrating Roman society's gender divisions in its funerary rituals."
- In:
- Wine
- Rome
- Spain
S. Dev is a news editor for CBSNews.com.
veryGood! (9)
Related
- Macy's says employee who allegedly hid $150 million in expenses had no major 'impact'
- SEC, Big Ten domination headlines US LBM Coaches Poll winners and losers
- Social media pays tribute to the viral Montgomery brawl on one year anniversary
- Gunmen kill New Zealand helicopter pilot in another attack in Indonesia’s restive Papua region
- Average rate on 30
- Olympics surfing winners today: Who won medals Monday in the 2024 Paris Games in Tahiti?
- Olympics 3x3 basketball is a mess. How to fix it before the next Games.
- Is this a correction or a recession? What to know amid the international market plunge
- Highlights from Trump’s interview with Time magazine
- RHODubai: Why Miserable Caroline Stanbury Was Called Out During Cast Healing Trip
Ranking
- Arkansas State Police probe death of woman found after officer
- Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz's Daughter Lucie Shares Rare Photo With Brother Desi Jr.
- Algerian boxer Imane Khelif in Olympic women's semifinals: How to watch
- Travis Kelce Credits Taylor Swift Effect for Sweet Moment With Fan
- Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow owns a $3 million Batmobile Tumbler
- Serena Williams Calls Out Parisian Restaurant for Denying Her and Her Kids Access
- Chiefs make Harrison Butker NFL's highest-paid kicker with contract extension, per reports
- Fast-moving San Bernardino wildfire torches hillside community, forcing evacuations
Recommendation
Paige Bueckers vs. Hannah Hidalgo highlights women's basketball games to watch
Transition From Summer To Fall With Cupshe Dresses as Low as $24.99 for Warm Days, Cool Nights & More
Horoscopes Today, August 5, 2024
CrowdStrike and Delta fight over who’s to blame for the airline canceling thousands of flights
Pressure on a veteran and senator shows what’s next for those who oppose Trump
Army offering $10K reward for information on missing 19-year-old pregnant woman
Louisiana AG asks court to dismiss lawsuit against new Ten Commandments law
Family of 4 from Texas missing after boat capsizes in Alaska, report says