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. 2009 May 5;106(18):7361-6.
doi: 10.1073/pnas.0811578106. Epub 2009 Apr 13.

Ancient Egyptian herbal wines

Patrick E McGovern  1 , Armen Mirzoian, Gretchen R Hall
Affiliations

Ancient Egyptian herbal wines

Patrick E McGovern et al. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. .

Abstract

Chemical analyses of ancient organics absorbed into pottery jars from the beginning of advanced ancient Egyptian culture, ca. 3150 B.C., and continuing for millennia have revealed that a range of natural products--specifically, herbs and tree resins--were dispensed by grape wine. These findings provide chemical evidence for ancient Egyptian organic medicinal remedies, previously only ambiguously documented in medical papyri dating back to ca. 1850 B.C. They illustrate how humans around the world, probably for millions of years, have exploited their natural environments for effective plant remedies, whose active compounds have recently begun to be isolated by modern analytical techniques.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
Jar no. 115 [Hartung U, ed (2001) Umm el-Qaab II: Importkeramik aus dem Friedhof U in Abydos (Umm el-Qaab) und die Beziehungen ägyptens zu Vorderasien im 4. Jahrtausend v. Chr. (P. von Zabern, Mainz, Germany): cat. no. 156, pls. 25 and 79:156] from chamber 10 of the Scorpion I tomb. Swirling “tiger-stripes” in red paint and the form of this narrow-mouthed jar are paralleled by southern Levantine vessels of the same period (Early Bronze I, ca. 3300–3000 B.C.); the manufacture of the vessel in this region was borne out by instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA). The jar contained a yellowish flaky residue, which was analyzed by multiple chemical techniques, and several grape pips. Height: 31.7 cm. Drawing courtesy of German Archaeological Institute in Cairo.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 2.
Wine amphora from tomb 217 of cemetery 4 at Gebel Adda (Egypt), dated to early Byzantine times (the Ballana period of Lower Nubia, fourth to early sixth century A.D.). Height: 67.3 cm. With permission of the Royal Ontario Museum; photograph courtesy of W. Pratt (museum no. 973.24.1217).
Fig. 3.
Fig. 3.
MRM LC/MS/MS traces of L-tartaric acid. (A) Standard solution corresponding to m/z 149→87 molecular ion fragmentation. (B and C) Chromatograms for the aqueous extracts of the ancient Gebel Adda (Fig. 2) and Abydos (Fig. 1) samples, respectively.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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