Archaeologists
digging in southern Iran have found a pool and
pots they believe were used about 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,
are digging at a site called Tange Bolaghi, near
the southern city of Shiraz - a name also
associated with fine wine.
Mr Asadi
said the team have 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," he
said.
Iran is
already believed to be the country where wine was
first made. A jar containing the remains of
7,000-year-old wine was found about 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
none but alcohol manufacture and consumption has
been banned in the country since the 1979 Islamic
revolution.
Source: ABC
News
