Discovery of a Sasanian Wine Production Workshop in Firuzabad - Archaeological and Cultural News of the Iranian World

LONDON, (CAIS) -- Archaeological excavations behind Tangab dam in Firuzabad region in Fars province have led to discovery of a wine production workshop dating back to Sasanian dynastic era (224-651 CE).

Announcing this news, Hossein Tofighian, head of excavation team behind Tangab dam in Fars province told Persian service of CHN: “The discovered constructions are consisted of three sections including a place for drying raw materials, a storing place, and a place for extracting grape juice. Contrary to our previous beliefs, instead of mortar, plaster and stone were used in these constructions. ”

Head of excavation team behind Tangab dam further explained that the discovered industrial centre must have been 7 hectares in area, parts of which have been demolished during road construction activities to get access to the dam. “Therefore, we have managed to conduct our excavations only in some parts of the hill,” added Tofighian.

Existence of vineyards which can still be seen only in 20 kilometres distance of the discovered constructions, indicate that this part of Fars province was a suitable place for growing grape from very ancient times. This is while the newly discovered industrial centre is somehow close to the historic city of Gur, the first seat of Sasanian dynastic Empire.

Considering that Fars province was one of the main origins of Sasanian dynasty, discovery of any evidence in this regard has a special importance in archaeological researches. This is while so far archaeological excavations in Fars province were mainly focused on historical evidence belonging to Achaemenid dynastic era (550-330 BCE) in Persepolis and Pasargadae.

World's Oldest Wine Jar

One of six jars once filled with resonated wine from the "kitchen" of a Neolithic residence at Hajji Firuz Tappeh. Patches of a reddish residue cover the interior of this vessel. Height 23.5 cm.

Prior to this, some two years ago, Iranian-Polish joint archaeology team succeeded in tracing evidence of wine production workshops belonging to Sasanian dynastic era during their RESCUE excavations in Bolaghi Valley during their efforts for saving historical evidence behind Sivand Dam in Fars province prior to its inundation by the Islamic regime.

All of these discoveries bring into light that Iranians have enjoyed wine consumption and deployed a sophisticated technology to extract wine from the ancient times, particularly during the Sasanian era.

The world’s oldest wine was discovered from Haji Firuz site located in the northern region of the Zagros mountains in Iran, dated to 5000-5500 BCE. Discovered wine jars contained once was filled with resonated wine.

The first season of archaeological excavations behind Tangab Dam took two months. Now archaeologists are determined to resume their excavations in Tangab plain in a near future.

Extracted From/Source*: Cultural Heritage News Agency (CHN)

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