14 DAY TRIAL // A group of investigators from the George Washington University announce the discovery of a massive stash of wine jugs, dating back to 1,700 BC, in a cellar beneath the ruins of an ancient palace, in Israel.
The group, led by archaeologist Eric Cline, says that more than 500 gallons of wine must have been stored in these impressively-large jugs, which were most likely manufactured during the Bronze Age.
This wine cellar, the largest ever discovered, contained enough wine to fill around 3,000 bottles, the researchers said at a conference held yesterday, November 22, in Baltimore, Md., NPR reports.
Cline said that an analysis of the residues found in the ancient containers revealed that the wine was filled with various types of oils and herbal resins. This manufacturing process is similar to the one used in Ancient Greece to create wine retsina.
Infusing wine with various other compounds and chemicals was a common practice during the Bronze Age, and even during the first millennia or so. Wine back then was very thick, and people who drank it usually had to water it down before consumption.
Working together with Israeli colleagues at the Tel Aviv University, the GWU researchers spent the past eight years excavating the ruins of the palace that revealed the cellar. The ancient Canaanite palace is located in Kabri, northern Israel, about 6.5 kilometers (4 miles) away from the Mediterranean coast.
Archaeologists believe that the impressive mansion, estimated to cover 743 square meters (8,000 square feet), was destroyed during an as-of-yet-unidentified natural cataclysm, which occurred in northern Israel some 3,700 years ago.
Earlier this summer, the researchers found a cellar next to the palace, which featured pottery jugs around 1 meter (3 feet) long, and capable of storing nearly 50 liters (13 gallons) of wine each. A total of 40 such containers were unearthed from amidst the ruins.
“This wasn't moonshine that someone was brewing in their basement, eyeballing the measurements. This wine's recipe was strictly followed in each and every jar,” Brandeis University chemist Andrew Koh said in a statement.
Researchers are now hopeful that they will be able to recreate the Bronze Age recipe, and create a sample of the wine that ancient Canaanites consumed so long ago.