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Earliest Known Winery Found In Armenia, Home Of Some Early Wine Myth

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  • Earliest Known Winery Found In Armenia, Home Of Some Early Wine Myth

    EARLIEST KNOWN WINERY FOUND IN ARMENIA, HOME OF SOME EARLY WINE MYTHS

    Examiner.com
    http://www.examiner.com/culture-and-mythology-in-national/earliest-known-winery-found-armenia-home-of-some-early-wine-myths
    Jan 14 2011

    An international team of researchers have announced that they've
    discovered the earliest known winery to date in a cave in the
    mountains of Armenia. Among their discoveries is a grape press,
    several fermentation jars, grape seeds, and even a cup or two for
    enjoying the alcoholic beverage. The site they've discovered is about
    6,000 years old, fully a thousand years older than the now second
    earliest winery known to man.

    The discovery shouldn't, perhaps, come as too much of a surprise.

    Armenia, once part of the Persian Empire, is home to some of the most
    popular and earliest known myths about the discovery of wine. The
    most well-known of these stories concerns Jamshid, a legendary hero
    and king.

    In mythology Jamshid is the fourth great King of the world and is
    credited with many great inventions ranging from weapons to perfumes.

    As a King and as a high priest he had control over all the angels and
    demons that walked the Earth. Myth, however, does not credit Jamshid
    with the discovery of wine.

    In the Persian legend Jamshid banished one of his ladies from his
    harem. Distraught the women decided the only course left to her was to
    commit suicide. Late that night she snuck into the King's warehouse
    and sought out anything she could use to end her life. On one shelf
    she found a jar marked "Poison" that was filled with spoiled grapes.

    The harem girl swallowed the contents of the jar, the grapes having
    fermented into an alcoholic drink, and soon found herself in a much
    better mood. The girl brought her discovery to King Jamshid, who was
    as taken with the drink as she was. He took the women back into the
    harem and quickly decreed that all of the grapes grown in his kingdom
    should be used to make wine.

    The legend of Jamshid and his harem girl is, of course, just that-
    a legend. But some scholars, including Patrick McGovern who is the
    scientific director of the Biomolecular Archaeology Laboratory at
    the University of Pennsylvania Museum, have long theorized that the
    domestication of grapes for wine making purposes probably began in
    Armenia before spreading across the world. Finding this early winery
    may help prove, or disprove that theory, and could shed light on some
    of the wine mythology of this part of the ancient world.




    From: A. Papazian
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