Was This Noah’s Winery?

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Robert Mondavi may have been one of the best-known vineyard operators in recent years, but Noah was the first. This is often overlooked in the shadow of Noah’s deluge-defying ark accomplishment, but the Bible states very clearly in Genesis 9 that, after the ark ran aground in the mountains of Ararat, “Noah, a man of the soil, was the first to plant a vineyard” (Genesis 9:20), the wine from which unfortunately led to another of Noah’s more famous stories—of drunken exposure. And although many scholars would be tempted to dismiss claims of Noah’s original vineyard as lacking any historical merit, scientists are discovering evidence of ancient wine making in that very same region.

In a recent article in the Journal of Archaeological Science,¹ archaeologists from a joint Armenian, American and Irish expedition announced the discovery of the earliest known wine-making operation in an Armenian cave near the southern border with Iran. This site, which lies about 60 miles from Turkey’s Mt. Ararat, the traditional site of the Biblical ark’s grounding, contained well-preserved ancient remains thanks to a dry, consistent temperature and a layer of sheep dung in the cave that formed a protective layer over the artifacts and organic remains.

The excavation of the cave started after the discovery of a few ancient grape seeds in 2007. The team has since revealed more grape seeds, the remains of grape vines and pressed grapes, a wine press, a clay collection/fermentation vat, potsherds with wine residue, as well as a cup and a bowl. (Last year this 021 022 excavation also produced the oldest known leather shoe—laced cowhide about 5,500 years old.) Scientists date the wine-making facility to about 4100 B.C. based on the ceramic finds and radiocarbon dating of organic remains. The absence of a device for smashing grapes in the press was easily explained by Gregory Areshian, codirector of the excavation and assistant director of the UCLA Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, who said that these ancient people probably used their feet to stomp the grapes in the wide, thick-rimmed basin, as was standard wine-making practice throughout the Mediterranean world for most of history. The basin was positioned at an angle so that the juices would drain into the deep collection vat for fermentation. Areshian estimates the vat would have held 14–15 gallons. The grape remains were identified as belonging to Vitis vinifera vinifera, the domesticated grape species still used to make wine. Scientists also performed residue analysis on the potsherds and identified traces of malvidin, a plant pigment found only in grapes and pomegranates that gives red wine its color.

Although archaeologists claim to have evidence of wine dating back to at least 5500 B.C., before the Armenian cave complex, the earliest known example of a wine-production facility (found in an Egyptian tomb) dated to 3150 B.C., a thousand years later than this newest discovery. The archaeologists believe the wine produced here may have served a special ritual or cultic purpose, given the close proximity of ancient burials. They added that the relatively advanced setup indicates that wine production had already been developing here for quite some time.—D.D.R.

Robert Mondavi may have been one of the best-known vineyard operators in recent years, but Noah was the first. This is often overlooked in the shadow of Noah’s deluge-defying ark accomplishment, but the Bible states very clearly in Genesis 9 that, after the ark ran aground in the mountains of Ararat, “Noah, a man of the soil, was the first to plant a vineyard” (Genesis 9:20), the wine from which unfortunately led to another of Noah’s more famous stories—of drunken exposure. And although many scholars would be tempted to dismiss claims of Noah’s original vineyard as lacking any historical […]