Food and History

Smithsonian Magazine has a great profile of Patrick McGovern, a 66-year-old University of Pennsylvania archaeologist, who is considered to be the world's foremost "expert on ancient fermented beverages." Using old ceramic shards and other clues, McGovern has gone about recreating the world's oldest barley beer (from the Zagros mountains area in Iran) and the brew favored by antiquities King Midas. The story, well worth reading, can be found here.

Although there isn't a lack of wineries around the world with impressive historical pedigrees, the Washington Post reports today about an Armenian winemaking "facility" that may put all the rest to shame. As the Post reports, archeologists in Armenia have discovered inside a remote cave what may be the world's first winery, dating back some 6,000 years. From the article:

Scientists have unearthed a surprisingly advanced winemaking operation, surrounded by storage jars, and say it dates back 6,000 years, making it the earliest known site in the world for wine-making with grapes, by far.

Its presence, along with the recent discovery of the world's oldest leather moccassin in the same cave outside the small town of Areni, is requiring professionals in the field to broaden and, to some extent reexamine, exactly what constituted early civilization and where it occurred.

"This is the oldest confirmed example of winemaking by a thousand years," said Gregory Areshian, an archaeologist and co-director of the dig. "People were making wine here well before there were pharaohs in Egypt."