Sealed 5,000-Year-Old Wine Jars From Ancient Egypt Unearthed

Archaeologists in Egypt have discovered hundreds of large ancient jars that contain remains of 5,000-year-old wine.

Researchers with a German-Austrian archaeological mission found a vast quantity of grave goods, including the wine jars, at a royal tomb in the Umm El Qa'āb necropolis, Egypt's Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities (MTA) announced in a statement Sunday.

Many of the wine jars are in a good state of preservation and some remain unopened with their stoppers still intact. Importantly, the jars were found to contain organic residue that the researchers interpreted as the remains of 5,000-year-old wine. The team also found a large quantity of well-preserved ancient grape seeds inside the jars.

The discovery of the preserved wine remains and ancient grape seeds is "unusual" at ancient Egyptian archaeological sites, Christiana Köhler, director of the mission with the University of Vienna (UV), Austria, told Newsweek.

The Umm El Qa'āb necropolis—located in the ancient Egyptian city of Abydos—is home to several royal tombs from the Early Dynastic Period, which spanned roughly four centuries from around the beginning of the 3rd millennium B.C.

The burial site has been the subject of repeated excavations by the German Archaeological Institute (GAI) in Cairo since the 1970s. The GAI forms part of the German-Austrian mission alongside the MTA, the UV, the University of Technology in Vienna and Lund University in Sweden.

"The discovery of sealed, intact wine jars at Abydos, along with well-preserved grape pips, has the potential to significantly build our understanding of some of the earliest wine production, use and trade in the ancient Mediterranean and North Africa," Emlyn Dodd, a lecturer at the Institute of Classical Studies—a research institution associated with the University of London in the U.K.—who was not involved in the discovery, told Newsweek.

"The exceptionally early date of this material situates it at a key chronological juncture, as knowledge of wine production and grapevine cultivation was spreading southwest, from its place of hypothesized origin in what is now Georgia, Armenia and Iran through the Levant and along the eastern coast of the Mediterranean and down into Egypt."

Discoveries of wine-related paraphernalia of this age in Egypt are "rare"—let alone sealed and uncontaminated wine jars, Dodd said. The fact that the jars were found in this state is an important consideration when it comes to gathering reliable scientific results from them.

Appropriate analysis of the vessels and their contents could reveal significant new data on wine-making knowledge in this period, and the spread of early grapevine cultivation and domestication, according to Dodd.

"Analysis of the residues left inside the jars, for example, could illuminate the chemical composition of the wine that was once inside, revealing its flavor profile and any additive ingredients that were used—for example, later Romans often added spices, honey, and seawater among other flavorants," Dodd said.

Abydos is one of the oldest and most important archaeological sites of ancient Egypt, with a history of occupation that stretches back as far back as 3300 B.C. Located around 7 miles of west of the Nile river, the sacred city overlooks a desert valley that the ancient Egyptians believed offered passage to the realm of the dead.

The city's necropolis served as a burial ground for the earliest ancient Egyptian pharaohs, and later became a center of worship for the cult of Osiris, the god of the underworld.

"With its valuable inscriptions and numerous funerary monuments, Abydos has perhaps contributed more than any other site in Egypt to our present understanding of the history of state formation, linguistic development, and architecture in ancient Egypt," the World Monuments Fund says.

The recently discovered wine jars were found at the tomb of Queen Merneith, a mysterious figure who was likely a woman of great significance from ancient Egypt's First Dynasty.

Very few details about her life are available. Some scholars consider Merneith to be the first female pharaoh of ancient Egypt, although it is unclear whether or not she reigned alone for a period of time. Her rule may have begun around 2950 B.C.—but the nature of her role and true identity remains a mystery.

The evidence uncovered to date suggests that Merneith was the only woman who had her own  monumental tomb in Egypt's first royal cemetery at Abydos. She was  also probably the most powerful woman of her era.

The recent archaeological work conducted at the tomb has indicated that it was built of raw bricks, clay and wooden planks.

Researchers have also uncovered more than 40 graves built for her servants and courtiers next to her tomb, which appear to have been constructed in several phases over a long period of time.

The excavations have unveiled new historical information about the life and reign of the queen, Dietrich Raue, director of the GAI, said in the statement.

A study of the inscriptions on one of the plaques found inside the tomb has shown that Merneith held a "great position" given that she was in charge of central government offices. This lends support to the hypothesis that she held a historically significant role.

"The mission is continuing its work in an attempt to uncover more secrets of the history and identity of this queen," he said.

Update 10/04/23, 6:11 a.m. ET: This article was updated with comments from Emlyn Dodd.

Update 10/09/23, 7:48 a.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information from the German-Austrian archaeological mission.