terclim by ICS banner
IVES 9 IVES Conference Series 9 International Congress on Grapevine and Wine Sciences 9 2ICGWS-2023 9 Investigating the Ancient Egyptian wines: The wine jars database

Investigating the Ancient Egyptian wines: The wine jars database

Abstract

In Ancient Egypt, wine was a luxury product consumed mainly by the upper classes and the royal family and offered to gods in daily religious rituals in the temples.

Since the Predynastic (4000-3100 BC) period, wine jars were placed in tombs as funerary offerings. From the Old Kingdom (2680-2160 BC) to the Greco-Roman (332 BC-395 AD) period, viticulture and winemaking scenes were depicted on the private tombs’ walls. During the New Kingdom (1539-1075 BC), wine jars were inscribed to indicate: vintage year, product, quality, provenance, property and winemaker’s name and title. The inscriptions reveal that the ancient Egyptians considered this information relevant and necessary to be able to distinguish between wines.

Interdisciplinary research on Ancient Egyptian wines included several studies and projects: [1,2] the study of the colour of wine and the origin of the Shedeh, the corpus of viticulture and winemaking scenes in the ancient Egyptian tombs and the archaeological map with the location, among others.

To explore how the Egyptian wines were made, the wine jars typology and production is investigated, and the wine inscriptions to know the ancient winemaking procedures. Moreover, through the study of the main concentration of the Egyptian wine jars from the Pre-dynastic to the New Kingdom period and the research in the museums archives (Egyptian Museum in Cairo, Ahsmolean in Oxford, British Museum in London, Louvre in Paris), the database of the wine jars and wine inscriptions has been created.

The Ancient Egyptian wine jars database and the archaeological map of Egypt with the location of each item will be presented, and it will available in the dedicated website [www.wineofancientegypt.com].

To transfer the knowledge and disseminate the scientific research results, we are also developing a virtual exhibition on the Ancient Egyptian wine culture.

References:

1)  Guasch-Jané M.R. (2016) An Interdisciplinary Study on the Ancient Egyptian Wines: The Egywine Project. M Ioannides, et al. (eds.) Proceedings of the 6th International Conference EUROMED 2016, Nicosia (Cyprus) October 31-November 5 2016, Digital Heritage. Progress in Cultural Heritage: Documentation, Preservation and Protection, EuroMed 2016, Part I, LNCS 10058: 737–748, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-48496-9_59

2)  Guasch-Jané M.R. (2019) Grape Archaeology and Ancient DNA Sequencing. In: Cantu D., Walker M. (eds) The Grape Genome. Compendium of Plant Genomes. Springer, Cham: 57-75, DOI 10.1007/978-3-030-18601-2_4

DOI:

Publication date: October 5, 2023

Issue: ICGWS 2023

Type: Article

Authors

Guasch-Jané M.R.1*, Socorregut-Domènech J.2

1Mondes pharaoniques (UMR 8167‘Orient et Méditerranée’), Sorbonne University
2Prehistory and Archaeology department, University of Barcelona

Contact the author*

Keywords

Ancient Egypt, archaeological map, database, winemaking, wine inscriptions, wine jars

Tags

2ICGWS | ICGWS | ICGWS 2023 | IVES Conference Series

Citation

Related articles…

Possible methods of adaptation to the effects of climate change in the Tokaj Wine Region 

Viticulture’s adaptation to the harmful effects of climate change is globally the biggest challenge of the near future. Short, extremely intensive rainfalls and longer periods of drought are getting more frequent in the Tokaj Wine Region, where the majority of the vineyards are cultivated on steep slopes. Hence, erosion has high risk, especially when combined with the loess-based soils on about ten percent of the region. The environmentally beneficial cover crop and mulch usage can effectively reduce the risk of erosion, according to research done by the Tokaj Wine Region Research Institute of Viticulture and Oenology.

Green pruning of shoots to force new sprouting of buds, in fruit set and in pea size: vegetative, productive and maturation effects, in cv. Verdejo

The context of climate crisis leads to the acceleration of technological ripening of grapes, with unsuitable loss of acidity, so various vineyard management alternatives are being considered to delay the grape ripening. The delay of the vegetative cycle towards a period of milder temperatures affects ripening, but vine behavior can vary according to the area, conduction, watering, variety, etc. A work is proposed to know the response to the green pruning of shoots, executed in fruit set and in pea size, in cv. Verdejo.

Model-assisted analysis of the root traits underlying RSA genotypic diversity in Vitis: a promising approach for rootstock selection?

By dissecting the root system architecture (RSA) into its underpinning components (e.g. root emission, axial growth, radial growth, branching, root direction or tropism) and identifying the relationships between them, functional-structural 3D root models are promising tools for analyzing the diversity and complexity of root system phenotypes with Genotype × Environment interactions. The model parameters are assumed to be synthetic traits, less influenced by the environment, and consequently with less polygenic architectures than the integrative RSA traits they drive. Root models can serve as a basis for in silico development of root system ideotypes by highlighting the developmental processes and parameters that most likely influence RSA fitness.

Identification of important genomic regions controlling resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses in Vitis sp. through QTL meta-analysis

In the context of global change, the environmental conditions are expected to be more stressful for viticulture. The choice of the rootstock may play a crucial role to improve the adaptation of viticulture to new biotic and abiotic threats (Ollat et al., 2016). However, the selection of interesting traits in rootstock breeding programs is complex because of the combination of multiple targets in a same ideotype. In this sense, the integration of studies about the genetic architecture for desired biotic and abiotic response traits allow us to identify genomic regions to combine and those with interesting pleiotropic effects.

Applicability of spectrofluorometry and voltammetry in combination with machine learning approaches for authentication of DOCa Rioja Tempranillo wines

The main objective of the work was to develop a simple, robust and selective analytical tool that allows predicting the authenticity of Tempranillo wines from DOCa Rioja. The techniques of voltammetry and absorbance-transmission and fluorescence excitation emission matrix (A-TEEM) spectroscopy have been applied in combination with machine learning (ML) algorithms to classify red wines from DOCa Rioja according to region (Alavesa, Alta or Oriental) and category (young, crianza or reserva).