World’s oldest wine cellar unearthed in Israel
A team of archaeologists has unearthed the world’s oldest wine cellar in the ruins of a palace in Israel. It dates back at least 3,700 years.
Talk about vintage vino.
Archaeologists say they have discovered the world's oldest wine cellar in Israel.
The cellar, dating back to 1700 B.C., was located near a hall where banquets take place in the ruins of a Canaanite palace.
And chemical analysis reveals it held some primo wine — a blend of ingredients that may have included honey, mint, cedar, tree resins and cinnamon bark.
"It's not wine that somebody is just going to come home from a hard day and kick back and drink," Andrew Koh of Brandeis University told The Associated Press.
The wine cellar was found this summer in palace ruins near the modern town of Nahariya in northern Israel.
Researchers discovered 40 ceramic jars, each big enough to hold about 13 gallons, according to USA Today.
The cellar and banquet hall were likely destroyed about 1600 B.C. in what researchers called "a violent event, perhaps an earthquake."
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