El Vi a l'antic Egipte

" SUMMARY: Wine was a highly appreciated drink in Ancient Egypt. Since the Early Dynastic period (3150-2900 BC), wine jars were placed in royal tombs as funerary meals. Wine offerings to deities performed by the Pharaoh were often shown on the walls of Egyptian temples. From the Old Kingdom period (2700-2200 BC,) Egyptian private tombs were decorated with daily scenes like the grape harvest and the winemaking. The color of the wine was not referred to on texts, papyrus or inscriptions on amphorae.A new method for the identification of tartaric acid, as a wine marker, and for the first time syringic acid, as a red wine marker, in archaeological samples from Egyptian vessels has been developed. The technique used combines the liquid chromatography with the mass spectrometry in tandem (LC/MS/MS). Owing to the special characteristics of the samples, such as the dryness and the small quantity available for analysis, it was necessary the method to be very sensitive and highly specific to detect these compounds at trace levels in the residues.Samples of residues found in wine jars belonging to king Tutankhamuns collection, at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, have been analyzed. The results reveal that red and white wines were made at the end of the 18th Dynasty (about 1400 BC).Moreover, the botanical origin of the "shedeh" drink has been studied using the new method for archaeological samples. The analysis of a residue inside a well-preserved shedeh amphora from Tutankhamuns Burial chamber, revealed that the "shedeh" drink was made from red grapes, confirming the characteristic of "shedeh" was its particular elaboration. "