Are you a wine lover? If yes, then this piece of information is for you. As per reports, archaeologists in Spain have discovered the world's oldest known liquid wine mixed with ashes inside a Roman-era funerary urn.
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As per a new study, published in the Journal of Archaeological Science, archaeologists have found 'reddish liquid' in a roughly 2,000-year-old tomb during a house construction project in Carmona, a town in Seville, in 2019.
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The report states that the use of wine in Roman-era burial rituals is well documented, but discovering a wine sample this old, in its liquid state, was "rather exceptional and unexpected."
It is said that it's a sunken tomb that was excavated from the rock, which allowed it to remain standing for 2,000 years.
The report states that wine contains distinct chemical compounds that reflect not only its flavor and appearance but also its origins. But after many years, these chemicals often undergo substantial decay that makes them difficult to characterize. During the funerary ritual, cremated ashes were mixed with the liquid, making it murky, the report states.
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During the process of study, scientists found polyphenols in the liquid sample, which confirmed that the ancient liquid was indeed wine.
It is also said that despite decaying for years, the ancient wine isn't "the least bit toxic". During the study, scientists referred to historical text and found that the wine would have been similar to modern fino wines produced from regions in southern Spain. They also compared the polyphenol content of the ancient wine to today's wines to determine that the wine was likely from Doña Mencía, a city in southern Cordoba.
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The study says that the liquid lacked syringic acid, a compound that is produced by red wine when it decomposes, which confirmed that the original wine was actually white.
Thumb and Embed Image Courtesy: Juan Manuel Román/University of Córdoba and istock
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