Posted on 10/30/2005 2:38:20 AM PST by nickcarraway
LONDON -- A University of Barcelona research team has discovered Egypt's King Tutankhamen was partial to wine, preferring red over white.
The mystery of exactly what was kept inside jars found in the tomb of the Egyptian king (1336-1327 BC) was solved by the Spanish scientists who analyzed scrapings from eight jars found in Tutankhamen's tomb.
They presented their findings on Wednesday at the British Museum in London, The Times of London reported.
"Wine jars were placed in tombs as funerary meals," Maria Rosa Guasch-Jane, a master in Egyptology at the university, told The Independent.
"The ... wine jars were labeled with product, year, source and even the name of the vine grower, but they did not mention the color of the wines they contained," she said.
The researchers developed a technique involving liquid chromatography with mass spectrometry to determine the color of the wine that had been stored in the jars, The Independent reported.
Tutankhamen became king at the age of about 8 and is believed to have been about 17 when he died.
The earliest knowledge of wine cultivation comes from Ancient Egypt, where the process was represented on tomb walls dating to 2500 BC, The Times said.
ping
luxor 1428 b.c. was the best year for reds, fruity and bold with a hint of walnuts and raspberry on the tongue.
Are we supposed to believe a bunch of wild anthropologists on safari when they tell us the wine jars were already empty when they found them? Sure we do.
It was probably the ancient version of Boone's Farm...
why bury a drinkable vintage?
What, no 21 or over to purchase!? Obviously the reason their empire collapsed.
I'm switching today. It preserved old Tut pretty well.
You are SO wrong! I get so fed up with people ignoring the 1369 B.C., which was clearly superior in every way. I didn't expect to find such mindless heresy here of all places.
I'm extremely disappointed. Take it back!
Buried with a donkey.
I had been holding my breath that he had a bottle of 1330 BC Thunderbird.
I guess Steve Martin will have to change his song...
Nonsense...King Tut, lived till he was only 17 y.o.
OTOH...Ol' Chivas has kept, "the Old B@st@rd SOT"...Sen. Edward (HIC!) "Swimmer/RAdm. Green Oldsmobile" Kennedy going for 6+ decades. :/
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He's my favorite honky!
LOL
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