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Our understanding of the prehistoric background for the Delta industry leaped forward with the discovery of 360 jars buried in a tomb of one of Egypt's first kings at Abydos. Tomb U-j is dated to about 3150 B.C., according to radiocarbon determinations. The tomb included a burial room and 11 storage rooms for various items of funerary importance. Three of the rooms are estimated to have originally contained as many as 700 jars. Many small clay sealings found associated with the vessels had jar rims and string impressions on their backs. They were probably once pressed onto covers made of an organic material, such as leather, that were tied over the jar mouths with string. On the sealings were hitherto unknown and extremely fine-cut cylinder seal impressions. Only three seal motifs of the same general type are attested for the numerous wine jars, possibly indicating a common registration procedure.
None of the written signs on the sealings can be related to winemaking or viniculture; however, once the sand filling had been removed from the jars, rings of a yellowish crusty residue were seen on the interiors. They are best interpreted as the remains of a liquid that had gradually evaporated, with materials on the surface of the liquid agglomerating to form the rings. Forty seven jars contained grape pips, generally between 20 and 50 each, and several completely preserved grapes were also recovered. The archaeobotanical remains of grapes and the likelihood that the jars had once contained a liquid and been sealed were presumptive evidence that the vessels were originally filled with wine. Chemical tests conclusively indicated the presence of both tartaric acid and its salt, calcium tartrate (organic compounds specific to wine) in three Aybdos jars, only one of which contained grape pips. The tests also showed a tree resin additive (similar to the terebinth tree resin found in the Neolithic wine from Hajji Firuz) was present. |
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