Researchers conclude that the drink they found is similar to sherry
When archaeologists excavated an ancient Roman tomb in Spain, they found a burial urn with a strange mixture inside: in addition to cremated bones, it was filled with a reddish-brown liquid. It is the oldest liquid wine ever found.
After conducting laboratory tests on the unusual liquid in the vessel, researchers concluded that it was once white wine, although over two thousand years it had darkened to black.
The tomb, located in Carmona, was discovered in 2019 during the construction of a house. According to the study, the Romans built this site in the first half of the first century AD.
“The Romans were proud even in death and usually erected funerary monuments, such as towers, over their graves so that people could see them,— says organic chemist José Rafael. — But this particular tomb was hidden, which protected it from looters for thousands of years.
Inside, researchers discovered eight burial niches, or loculi, carved into the walls of the tomb. According to the study, six of these niches contained urns made of glass, lead, limestone or sandstone. Each urn contained the remains of one person, and two of them were engraved with the names of those who were in them: Senicio and Hispanae. In one of the pots they found a small jar that had once been filled with patchouli-scented perfume. The researchers discovered the wine in another vessel, which was made of glass.
«The news that this urn was full of liquid was an even bigger surprise. The urn, filled with nearly five liters of red-brown liquid, contained the cremated bones of a man, as well as a gold ring adorned with the two-headed Roman god Janus,” — reports the Guardian.
This was the first time something like this had been discovered. So far, all the burial urns found have contained only cremated bone remains and various items associated with funeral offerings.
In the laboratory, the researchers discovered that the liquid had a similar pH value to water. Meanwhile, its chemical composition resembled that of wine.
“We were looking for biomarkers, which are chemical compounds that clearly indicate what a particular substance is. — explains the chemist. — In this case, we looked exclusively for polyphenols in wine and found seven. We compared them with the components contained in wines from this part of Andalusia, and they matched. Thus, we confirmed that it was wine.”
Due to the absence of syringic acid — a by-product of the decomposition of red wine — researchers determined that this wine was made from white grapes.
Before this discovery, the world's oldest known liquid wine was a bottle found in another Roman tomb near Speyer in 1867. According to Jelisa Castrodale of Food & Wine, wine was made around 325 AD, and the bottles were buried with the dead so they could quench their thirst in the afterlife. The oldest remains of wine ever found are about 8,000 years old, but these are just chemical traces recovered from Georgian pottery.
Researchers say the liquid from Carmona is technically drinkable.
“It is completely non-toxic,” — says researcher Ruiz Arrebola. Nevertheless, the scientist refused the sample, «because the wine spent 2000 years in contact with the cremated body of a Roman.»
His colleague Daniel Cosano decided to try the ancient wine: “It has a salty taste, which is not surprising given its chemical composition.”