Wine gets better with age, the adage goes, but this is just ridiculous!
Recently, the oldest wine on record was believed to have been discovered in a 2,000-year-old Roman tomb in southwestern Spain. And astoundingly, it’s purportedly still in liquid form. While that’s unusual indeed, the strange revelations that emerged from this ancient booze get even stranger—and creepier.
One of several funeral urns found in the tomb, this one contained reddish liquid—now said to be wine—sealed inside with the cremated bones of a human male found lying at the bottom. The urns and tomb itself first came to light in the town of Carmona, reportedly after a homeowner stumbled upon an underground chamber while renovating in 2019, and reported the find to town officials.
Scientists say it had remained undisturbed and unlooted, keeping its contents pristine for two millennia.
While the tomb itself presents manifold wonders to examine—several urns, more remains, and ritual objects—the contents of the urn in question were simply mindboggling. Scientists have tried to shed light on some of its mysteries.
“For reasons unknown to us, possibly by chance, there was a perfectly hermetic seal between the urn and its lid, preventing evaporation,” José Rafael Ruiz Arrebola, an organic chemistry professor at the University of Córdoba, told The Epoch Times. This seal also prevented oxidation from fully breaking down the wine, even though it had decayed significantly.
“Additionally, the urn containing both wine and the cremated remains of a body represents a previously unknown practice—leaving bones with wine for eternity is entirely novel,” he said, adding that Romans may have used wine to cleanse the bones of their deceased, though no physical evidence has shown it until now.
While Mr. Arrebola called the find a “thrilling” and “historic” moment, celebrations were saved until after they passed their biggest challenge: stepping into the lab first to prove it was wine.
Chemical analysis found bio-markers, plant compounds called polyphenols, and thus the proof they needed to legitimately call it wine (while ruling out that the liquid might have been from seepage or condensation); yet the high pH value and presence of little organic compound in the reddish liquid were quite unlike wines today.
Despite the anomalies, they still found it quite similar to contemporary wines produced in the Baetic region today.
The wine might have been used in a libation ritual by the Romans, sending off their dead with drink to tide them over into the next world. This particular Roman was a male of about 40, Mr. Arrebola says. Another burial in the tomb lacked wine but contained feminine belongings such as perfume—not liquid—in a bottle, along with a necklace of amber beads and the bones of a human female.
“It is known that during this period of the Roman Empire, wine was prohibited for women,” Mr. Arrebola told the newspaper. “So it’s possible that this prohibition extended into the afterlife as well.”
The tomb had more occupants and ritual belongings. The rectangular chamber and its round, vertical access shaft were carved out of the rock, though the chamber walls were built of cut stones and dressed to form the rectangular arched vault. Geometric motifs are painted throughout.
Along either side, there are eight niches hewn into the wall, though only six contained urns housed in sandstone or limestone boxes. The remains of three women and three men were found in all, and more contents: a bag made of plant-based fabric, probably flax or hemp; a bowl containing bits of amber; oil lamps that helped date the find to the 1st century; some minor ceramic utensils; and a glass mosaic plate that must have held food offerings long ago.
Besides the liquid wine that was found, the aforementioned perfume found with the female bones marked another novel discovery: Inside a rock crystal bottle, sealed tightly with either pitch or tar, there were solidified traces of perfume from 2,000 years ago, which allowed the researchers to discover its chemical composition—an essential oil called patchouli.
Because the tomb had lain tightly sealed for so long, there were other organic materials, such as vestiges of fabric stuck to various objects, preserved to the present day.
“When the tomb was discovered, it was intact, meaning it had not been looted or altered since it was sealed. This allowed all the objects that were placed inside to still be there,” Mr. Arrebola said. “The Carmona town council is planning an exhibition for next October where this wine, along with the other objects found in the tomb, will be showcased.”
“The restorers and conservators of the Carmona City Museum will be responsible for determining the conditions in which the wine will be stored,” Mr. Arrebola said.
