The Origins and Ancient History of Wine
This academic site strikes a really good balance between scientific and historical detail, and telling the dramatic, human story of how and why the culture of wine making and wine drinking spread across the globe from its Middle Eastern origins. Illustrations are excellent.
You can't argue with the authority of this site. McGovern is a Senior Research Scientist who has published articles in Nature and Expedition on the archaeology of food and wine, and his book The Origins and Ancient History of Wine is the basis for this web site. Indeed, McGovern's discovery of one of the world's oldest wine jars, now listed in the Guinness World Book of Records, broke ground in the scientific understanding of how, when and where wine first developed.
The home page features a table of contents with links to about half a dozen chapters within. Beside the Intro button in Chapter One, you will see a small marker: this indicates your current location. When you click on any other chapter, the same table of contents will appear, with the current chapter indicated. Below is the content of the chapter. Scroll down to read the text. Often, links within the text will take you to other associated sections of the University's web site, but there are no return buttons; it is simply a matter of using your browser's Back button.
SPECIAL FEATURES
The Story of Wine is told in the site's first four sections: Living Out Our Past Through Wine; Château Hajji Firuz; Wine for the Afterlife and Under the Grape Arbours. The story is truly fascinating and well-told, with a sprinkling of humour and a lightness of touch that help explain the ancient origins of wine without the subject appearing at all dry. Photographs, diagrams and graphs are used effectively and all the really low-level scientific evidence is presented in separate pages, which you may or may not choose to visit. For example, Read About The Chemical Analysis is a sidebar to the story of the discovery of ancient wine jars. Take the link and you can see a Spectrum Analysis of the jars, and a mass of scientific data, if that's your sort of thing.
Map A colourful map of the middle and near East with symbols indicating the places where evidence has been found, both of wine grape growing, and of the storage jars which prove that wine was actually made from them.
Take the wine challenge is an interactive quiz that tests whether or not you have been paying attention! Your answers will be scored instantly. Just below this is a comments box, where you are invited to share your wine experiences: ‘What's the best vintage you've ever tippled? the worst? Did you have good psychotropic effects? Or bad?' The entries from previous visitors are displayed just below and make for a diverting few moments of browsing. One participant, describing his time in the Sahara says: ‘There was an unfamiliar wine served. Upon my inquiring as to its origin I was shocked to find out it was made entirely from fermented camel dung. The bouquet was unforgettable.' Yes...
OTHER FEATURES
Glossary covers not only some common wine terms, but most of the archaeological and scientific jargon used in the text. A Links page has connections to other wine and food archaeology sites, as well as a substantial selection of more general wine resources.
Credits lets you meet the team behind the research and gives you the opportunity to buy the complete story in the form of Dr McGovern's book.
You can't argue with the authority of this site. McGovern is a Senior Research Scientist who has published articles in Nature and Expedition on the archaeology of food and wine, and his book The Origins and Ancient History of Wine is the basis for this web site. Indeed, McGovern's discovery of one of the world's oldest wine jars, now listed in the Guinness World Book of Records, broke ground in the scientific understanding of how, when and where wine first developed.
The home page features a table of contents with links to about half a dozen chapters within. Beside the Intro button in Chapter One, you will see a small marker: this indicates your current location. When you click on any other chapter, the same table of contents will appear, with the current chapter indicated. Below is the content of the chapter. Scroll down to read the text. Often, links within the text will take you to other associated sections of the University's web site, but there are no return buttons; it is simply a matter of using your browser's Back button.
SPECIAL FEATURES
The Story of Wine is told in the site's first four sections: Living Out Our Past Through Wine; Château Hajji Firuz; Wine for the Afterlife and Under the Grape Arbours. The story is truly fascinating and well-told, with a sprinkling of humour and a lightness of touch that help explain the ancient origins of wine without the subject appearing at all dry. Photographs, diagrams and graphs are used effectively and all the really low-level scientific evidence is presented in separate pages, which you may or may not choose to visit. For example, Read About The Chemical Analysis is a sidebar to the story of the discovery of ancient wine jars. Take the link and you can see a Spectrum Analysis of the jars, and a mass of scientific data, if that's your sort of thing.
Map A colourful map of the middle and near East with symbols indicating the places where evidence has been found, both of wine grape growing, and of the storage jars which prove that wine was actually made from them.
Take the wine challenge is an interactive quiz that tests whether or not you have been paying attention! Your answers will be scored instantly. Just below this is a comments box, where you are invited to share your wine experiences: ‘What's the best vintage you've ever tippled? the worst? Did you have good psychotropic effects? Or bad?' The entries from previous visitors are displayed just below and make for a diverting few moments of browsing. One participant, describing his time in the Sahara says: ‘There was an unfamiliar wine served. Upon my inquiring as to its origin I was shocked to find out it was made entirely from fermented camel dung. The bouquet was unforgettable.' Yes...
OTHER FEATURES
Glossary covers not only some common wine terms, but most of the archaeological and scientific jargon used in the text. A Links page has connections to other wine and food archaeology sites, as well as a substantial selection of more general wine resources.
Credits lets you meet the team behind the research and gives you the opportunity to buy the complete story in the form of Dr McGovern's book.
COMMENTS
login to add a comment...That an academic institution and a learned team of researchers should present their work in such an open and enjoyable format is highly commendable. This site is well worth a visit if you are at all interested in the origins of wine. The story itself is quite absorbing, and it is told in a totally approachable and entertaining manner.
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