Ancient Wine Cellar Discovered: Archaeologists Find 3,700-Year-Old Royal Tastes

What were the ancient Canaanites drinking more than 3,000 years ago?

Of course, we can't be entirely sure, but thanks to archaeologists from George Washington University, they've discovered a wine cellar in the Near East that contains remnants of the ancient civilizations dinner plans.

According to findings, researchers found forty jars in the cellar that would have contained up to fifty liters of strong, sweet wine. The cellar was discovered in the ruined palace of the Canaanite city located in northern Israel, known as Tel Kabri. The site dates back to 1,700 B.C. and isn't located too far from several modern-day wineries throughout Israel.

"This is a hugely significant discovery-it's a wine cellar that, to our knowledge, is largely unmatched in age and size," Eric Cline said, the chair of the Department of Classical and Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at the university, via a press release. 

Researchers believe that as the jars were found broken, they were likely destroyed along with the banquet hall sometime in 1600 B.C. in what many believe to be "a violent event, perhaps an earthquake, which covered them with thick debris of mud bricks and plaster," according to Assaf yasur-Laudau of the University of Haifa in Israel via the release, who was also part of the team.

Yet one question remains for readers. How did the scientists know that the jugs contained any juices? (Wine in particular, of course...)

Assistant profess of classical studies at Brandeis University, Andrew Koh, points out that traces of tartaric and syringic acids were found in the containers-key ingredients found in the compounds of wine. Other hints also suggested alcohol was held in the jugs, such as traces of cinnamon bark, mint, honey and juniper berries, making a recipe that was similar to medicinal wines used 2,000 years ago in ancient Egypt.

"What struck us is that there is a great regularity in all of these jars; these aren't a sporadic enterprise. They consciously crafted and brewed these wines for a specific purpose," archaeological scientist from Brandeis University Andrew Koh said, via NBC news. "This in fact is not your average wine, but this this is some sort of special wine, which would fit a palatial context."

The findings regarding the study were announced Friday in Baltimore at the meeting of the American Schools of Oriental Research.