5,000 Year Old Wine and the Remains of 41 People Discovered in the Tomb of Woman Believed to Be Egypt’s First Female Pharaoh
An excavation at Dayr-al-Barsha, Egypt. (Photo: ERIC LALMAND/Belga/Sipa USA)(Sipa via AP Images)
On Oct. 1, Ahram Online reported that an archaeological dig helmed by an Egyptian, German and Austrian team unveiled 5,000-year-old wine jars in the tomb of Meret-Neith in Egypt. Meret-Neith was considered quite possibly the most powerful woman of the first dynasty and was believed to be Egypt’s first female ruler — predating the legendary Queen Hatshepsut of the 18th Dynasty.
The archaeological dig site of what the University of Vienna refers to as the tomb of Queen Meret-Nieth in Abydos. (Photo: The University of Vienna)
The burial site was found in Um Al-Qaab in Abydos. During the dig, the teams found grave offerings, including large wine jars with stoppers.
Abhram Online reports that inside the jars was the “well-preserved” remains of 5,000-year-old wine. The New York Post reported on Sunday that one of the archaeologists who led the team, Christiana Köhler from the University of Vienna, claimed that some of the jars were sealed in their original state.
“The wine was no longer liquid, and we can’t tell if it was red or white,” Köhler said in a statement last week, per the New York Post.
In addition to finding the wine, Köhler claims the team found, “a lot of organic residue, grape seeds and crystals, possibly tartar.”
What Köhler refers to as “tartar” is crystalized tartaric acid. VinePair cites tartaric acid as a naturally occurring element in wine. It is highly suggestible to shifting temperatures and solidifies into crystal form quite easily.
Köhler allegedly claims that the find is potentially the second oldest evidence of wine.
A photo of the 5,000-year-old wine from the archaeological dig site. (Photo: The University of Vienna)
According to inscriptions on the tomb, Meret-Neith made leadership decisions for the Egyptian government and treasury around 3,000 B.C.
In addition to the jars of wine, the archaeological team helmed by Köhler found the remains of 41 people, who were identified as courtiers and servants. They discovered the graves were built in multiple iterations over a long period, suggesting that there was no mass sacrifice at the time of Meret-Neith’s death.
“This observation, together with other evidence, radically challenges the oft-proposed but unproven idea of ritual human sacrifice in the first dynasty,” Köhler concluded.
It appears female rulers have had their favorite tipples throughout the ages, as one can imagine ruling a country — especially in an era that didn’t take too kindly to women in leadership positions — would be quite stressful.
In September, bottles of what is believed to be the world’s oldest scotch whisky were discovered hidden in a castle. The whisky was purported to have been enjoyed by Queen Victoria, who ruled England from 1837 until 1901.
Historians claimed the whisky was distilled in 1833, and the bottles are slated to go up for auction on Nov. 24.
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