Archaeologists make incredible discovery after opening world’s oldest bottle of wine | World | News
Archaeologists made a striking discovery after opening the world’s oldest bottle of wine. The bottle, which dates back 2,000 years, was discovered six years ago by archaeologists during an excavation of a Roman tomb in Carmona, Spain.
Researchers discovered a liquid inside the urn, and after a series of tests, it was revealed that the liquid was a sherry-like wine dating back to the 4th century, making it one of the oldest ever found. However, something even more remarkable was discovered when the bottle was opened – it contained the cremated remains of a man.
José Rafael Ruiz Arrebola, an organic chemist at the University of Córdoba who led the analysis of the wine, said: “There was an even greater surprise when the archaeologists opened the urn and saw that it was full of liquid.
“The urn also contained the cremated bones of a man and a gold ring decorated with a two-headed Janus. It was put in afterwards and the dead man wasn’t wearing it when he was cremated.
“There was also what could be the metal feet of the bed on which the body was cremated.”
The Spanish urn was uncovered by chance when a family stumbled upon a sunken tomb while working on their property in 2019.
The tomb contained eight burial niches, six of which were filled with urns made from limestone, sandstone, or glass and lead. Each contained the cremated bone remains from a single individual, while two were also inscribed with the names of the deceased: Hispanae and Senicio.
One of the urns contained the remains of a woman, along with three amber jewels, a bottle of perfume with a patchouli scent, and fragments of silk fabric.
The artefacts placed in the tomb were done according to a Roman belief that the dead would need them on their journey to the afterlife.
Roman funerals had five stages: a procession, cremation and burial, an eulogy, a feast, and a commemoration. It was believed that proper practice of the ceremonies and burial was crucial to prevent a malicious spirit from rising from the underworld.
