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…

Using climate services to project grapevine varietal adequation under climate change – application to cv. Tempranillo in the Douro wine region

Vine growth circumstances are becoming warmer and drier because of climate change. Higher temperatures advance ripening to a point in the season less conducive to the production of fine wine, while drought reduces yields (Van Leeuwen et al., 2019). Several wine-producing regions around the world have already recognized threats to their viticultural viability (Santos et al., 2020). An economical and cost-effective strategy for adaptation is the employment of late-ripening, drought-resistant plant material (varieties, clones, and rootstocks).

Read More

Application of antagonistic Metschnikowia strains against Botrytis cinerea in vineyards 

Less and less chemical plant protection products are approved by the E U. Plant pathogenic fungi become increasingly resistant to the active ingredients that have been around for a long time. Besides, there is a valid demand for effective products that can be applied in organic cultivation.
We examined Metschnikowia strains under laboratory conditions in order to find effective strains against B. cinerea. The antimicrobial mechanism of these yeasts is based on the competition for the ferric ions from the environment. Metschnikowia cells release the pulcherriminic acid which chelates with Fe3+, forming the pigment pulcherrimin.

Read More

Characterization of a Sémillon clonal population: exploring genetic diversity, metabolomic profiles, and phenotypic variations

Sémillon is a cultivated grape variety known for contributing to dry and sweet white wine production. However, only seven approved clones have been officially recognized in France[1]. In this study, we aimed to characterize the genetic diversity and metabolomic profiles of a Sémillon clonal population, shedding light on the potential variations within this important grape variety.

Read More

Culturable microbial communities associated with the grapevine soil in vineyards of La Rioja, Spain

The definition of soil health is complex due to the lack of agreement on adequate indicators and to the high variability of global soils. Nevertheless, it has been widely used as synonymous of soil quality for more than one decade, and there is a consensus warning of scientists that soil quality and biodiversity loss are occurring due to the traditional intensive agricultural practices.
In this work we monitored a set of soil parameters, both physicochemical and microbiological, in an experimental vineyard under three different management and land use systems: a) addition of external organic matter (EOM) to tilled soil; b) no tillage and plant cover between grapevine rows, and c) grapevines planted in rows running down the slope and tilled soil.

Read More

Uncovering the interplay between Copper and SO2 tolerance in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

[lwp_divi_breadcrumbs home_text="IVES" use_before_icon="on" before_icon="||divi||400" module_id="publication-ariane" _builder_version="4.20.4" _module_preset="default" module_text_align="center" module_font_size="16px" text_orientation="center"...
Read More