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…

Oenological compatibility of biocontrol yeasts applied to wine grapes 

Antagonistic yeasts applied to wine grapes must be compatible with the thereafter winemaking process, avoiding competition with the fermentative Saccharomyces cerevisiae or affecting wine flavour. Therefore, fifteen epiphytic yeasts (6 Metschnikowia sp., 6 Hanseniaspora uvarum, 3 Starmerella bacillaris) previously selected for its biocontrol ability against Alternaria on wine grapes were evaluate for possible competition with S. cerevisiae by the Niche Overlap Index (NOI) employing YNB agar media with 10 mM of 17 different carbonate sources present in wine grapes (proline, asparagine, alanine, glutamic acid, tirosine, arginine, lisine, methionine, glicine, malic acid, tartaric acid, fructose, melibiose, raffinose, rhamnose, sucrose, glucose).

Symbiotic microorganisms application in vineyards: impacts on grapevine performance and microbiome

Microorganism-based inoculants have been suggested as a viable solution to mitigate the adverse effects of climate change on viticulture. However, the actual effectiveness of these inoculants when applied under field conditions remains a challenge, and their effects on the existing soil microbiota are still uncertain. This study investigates the impact of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi inoculation on grapevine performance and microbiome. The study was conducted in a vineyard of Callet cultivar in Binissalem, Mallorca, Spain. Two different treatments were applied: control and inoculation with commercial mycorrhizae complex of Rhizoglomus irregulare applied to plants through irrigation.

Metabolomic insights into wine’s sensory identity: unveiling climate-driven changes in aroma composition

Wine, a sensitive and intricate agricultural product, is being affected by climate change, which accelerates grapevine phenological stages and alters grape composition and ripening. This influences the synthesis of key aroma compounds, shaping wine’s sensory attributes [1]. The complex aroma profile, resulting from compound interactions, presents a metabolomics challenge to identify these indicators and their environmental change responses, which is being addressed using diverse analytical techniques.

A novel approach for the identification of new biomarkers of wine consumption in human urine using untargeted metabolomics

Wine is one of the most representative components of Mediterranean diet. Moderate wine intake together with food, has been positively correlated with reduced risk of many chronic diseases. This beneficial effect seems to be ascribed to elevated polyphenolic content of wine [1]. Traditional approaches for the identification of wine biomarkers consumption include targeted metabolomics that focuses on the quantification of well-defined metabolites, losing a valuable information about a massive number of compounds. On the other hand, untargeted metabolomics can disclose a large quantity of signals corresponding to potential biomarkers in a single analysis with high sensitivity and resolution.

Phenolic composition and chromatic characteristics of blends of cv. Tempranillo wines from vines grown with different viticultural techniques in a semi-arid area

The quality and color stability of red wines are directly related to content and distribution of phenolic compounds. However, the climate change produces the asynchrony between the dates of technological and maturity of grapes. The crop-forcing technique (CF) restores the coupling between phenolic and technological ripeness while limits vineyard yields. Blending of wines is frequently used to equilibriate composition of wines and to increase their stability, color and quality. The aim of the present work is to study the phenolic composition and color of wine blends made with FW (wines from vines subjected to CF) and CW (wines for vines under the usual cultivation practices).