Allah be praised.
Posted on 05/30/2005 6:36:03 PM PDT by nickcarraway
TEHRAN -- Archaeologists digging in southern Iran have found a pool and pots that they believe were used some 1,800 years ago for large scale wine production, reinforcing the now-Islamic nation's status as the cradle of wine drinkers.
"We have found an almost intact pool with a canal in the middle of it. This is where the juices from crushed grapes would flow and be collected later in pots for fermentation and turning into wine," said Ali Asadi, the head of the excavation team.
The team, which includes a group of Polish archaeologists, is digging at a site called Tange Bolaghi, near the southern city of Shiraz - a name also associated with fine wine.
Asadi said that the team has also unearthed grape seeds, huge clay pots and remains of other similar pools in the area.
"The size of the pots and abundance of grapes in the area suggests wine could have been produced for commercial purposes at the facility," Asadi said.
Iran is already believed to be the country where wine was first made - a jar containing the remains of a 7,000-year-old wine was found some 30 years ago in the kitchen area of a mud-brick building in Hajji Firuz Tepe, a Neolithic village in Iran's Zagros Mountains.
The country may have a winemaking heritage that is second to nobody, but alcohol manufacture and consumption has been banned in the country since the 1979 Islamic revolution.
Allah be praised.
ping
Well, there's the problem. None of them have gotten drunk and laid in 26 years. We just need to flood them with several hundred thousand gallons of our finest Night Train, and the next thing you know, they'll be fighting over who gets the first Hooters franchise in downtown Baghdad. LMAO
Long live Shiraz!
Wine is good. Damn, those mullahs are really a drag.
They've come a long way, from wine drinking to Shiite abstainers. Proof positive that evolution can go backwards.
The Persians actually had a culture and a civilization.
Gee, what went wrong in Iran?
Click to be added or removed.Wine ping.
It's called Islam.
Zoarastrianism, which was there first, is actually a decent religion.
Wine bump!
Thanks!
“There is evil in every berry of grape” – The Koran (Quran). And this is why I cannot stand very many Muslims, besides their whole suicidal sammy terrorism. What is funny about it all is that, one of the earliest copies of the Koran is written in an “ink” which we now know from analysis consisted of rose, juice of the mint, wine juice of the white grape and grease. I have a copy of the Koran in my garage, I did read it once and found it very boring. As far as Iran is concerned, I love the Iranian people, especially since I am a history buff and love their past, the word “Iran” is a corruption of the word “Aryan”, which actually is a form of the word “Iron” in relation to a several tribes of peoples who came down from the Caucasus, Indo-Arya peoples who used chariots and used “iron” as weapons both of their own making an metal from meteorites. Jimmy the peanut Carter helped over-throw the Shah, thus in a sense Jimmy was a “founding father” of state sponsored terrorism because thanks to the peanut we got the Ayatollah dictatorship in Iran and today under the Ayatollahs, Iran is one of the leaders of state sponsored terrorism, assisting Hamas, the so-called “insurgents” (terrorists) in Iraq, Hezbollah, and the ACLU. In the eight chapter of Genesis, Noah’s ark was said to have come to rest on Mount Ararat, which is in the Caucasas Mountains fittingly enough, in Turkey. And the first think Noah did after surviving the flood is, Genesis 9:20-21 “and Noah began to be a husbandman, and he planted a vineyard” … he did get drunk from it, but wine is very old and is ordained by God even if you do believe that there is evil in every berry of the grape. Certainly some of the earliest wine (some of which survived as “vintage” into the Roman period) came from Northern Iran, but actually more between the Black and Caspian seas than Iran proper, and the people were Neolithic, Indo-Aryan. Iran has had wine for many centuries, and “Shiraz” is actually a town in Iran which seems likely the origin of the “Shiraz” or “Sirah” grape. In America, we have the mysterious Zinfandel, which may be native but looks like it came from a region in Russia. As far as quotes about the berry, as a lover of vino-culture I prefer the quotes of fellows such as Sir Alexander Fleming who discovered penicillin, “If penicillin can cure those who are ill, Spanish sherry can bring the dead back to life”. Of course, Spanish Sherry (Jerez) is a queen, too bad the way Spain is going they could be retaken by the Muslims and bingo the evil berry is doomed. Let us quote my favorite, Shakespeare, “Come, come, good wine is a good familiar creature if it be well used – exclaim no more against it!” … He also said, “there are sermons in the stones”. What a man. I love him! As for wine, my favorite is the “pirate juice”, a good glass of port (fortified). Of the grapes, even though today frowned upon, I love two grapes or berry if you will – the “little princess” my lady Pinot Noir, and of course that other little princess of California the “Mission grape” from Father Serra which brought us “Angelica” and the brandy or yore. Ever have some mead of honey? Defeat the terrorists, long live the berry!
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Thanks for the information, Brian. I made some mead from honey last year. I haven't tried it yet. I'll probably open a bottle next year. Cheers!
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