3,700-year-old Wine Cellar

January 31, 2014

The cellar, which was located next to a huge banquet hall, contained forty intact ceramic jars. Each of the jars would have contained fifty liters (over 13 US gallons) of wine. Analysis of the residue has resulted in a remarkable consistency between the jars, indicating a fixed recipe and level of sophistication in the process of making wine.

Photo by Eric H. Cline, George Washington University According to an article written by the Associated Press, “Patrick McGovern of the University of Pennsylvania, an expert in ancient winemaking, said the discovery shed important new light on the development of winemaking in ancient Canaan, from which it later spread to Egypt and across the Mediterranean.”