Image courtesy of Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports
In 2017, we featured on Open Culture the world’s oldest unopened wine bottle. Discovered in 1867 in Speyer, Germany, it dates to 350 AD – certainly a venerable vintage – but it was recently overtaken by a bottle first found five years ago in Carmona, near Seville, Spain. “At the bottom of a shaft discovered during construction works,” the excavation team “discovered a sealed burial chamber dating to the early 1st century AD, which had remained untouched for 2,000 years.” Lars Fischer of Scientific American writes:Inside was a “glass jar in a lead case, filled to the brim with a reddish liquid” that has recently been identified as wine — some three centuries older than the Speyer bottle.
You can read about the related research in this new paper. Published in Journal of Archaeological Sciences: Reports By chemist José Rafael Ruiz Arebola and his team, “the wine from Carmona is no longer suitable for drinking, nor was it ever made for that purpose,” Fischer writes.
“Experts found bone remains and a gold ring at the bottom of the glass vessel. The burial chamber was where the remains of the dead were placed, cremated according to Roman custom.” Only through chemical analysis could the researchers finally determine that the liquid was, in fact, wine, and piece together evidence that it was a lavish farewell gift for a Roman wine lover.
The funeral ceremony “involved two men and two women,” CBS News saysonly one of the men was left in the wine. This makes sense, since “research shows that in ancient Rome, women were forbidden to drink wine.” What a change in a few millennia! Today, cultural imagery is somewhat biased toward the feminine, especially when it comes to white wine. Even though the liquid excavated at Carmona “had a reddish color,” it was chemically determined to be white wine. Now that summer is in full swing, this story may inspire you to put your favorite Chardonnay, Riesling, or Pinot Grigio in the fridge to beat the heat, a convenience that even the wealthiest, wine-loving citizens of the Roman Empire would never have thought of.
Related content:
Bars, Beer and Wine in Ancient Rome: An Introduction to Roman Nightlife and Spirits
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Explore Roman cookbooks, De Re Coquinariathe oldest surviving cookbook
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The world’s oldest unopened wine bottle (circa 350 AD)
Based in Seoul, Colin MaOnershall Writing and broadcastingHe has written papers on cities, languages, and cultures, and his projects include the Substack newsletter. Books about cities And books A city without a state: Walking through 21st-century Los Angeles. Follow us on Twitter CollinhamOnershall or Facebook.
