5 thousand years old wine
An international team of archaeologists from Egypt, Germany, and Austria uncovered hundreds of jars with wine residues during digs in central Egypt. This finding was reported by the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities through RIA Novosti.
Archaeologists working in the tomb of the First Dynasty queen Merneit at the Umm El-Kaab site in Abydos, Sohag, opened hundreds of previously sealed jars. The ministry confirmed traces of wine in these vessels, suggesting a royal feast or ceremonial use spanning millennia.
Mustafa Waziri, the Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, noted that the jars were sizable and remarkably well preserved. He estimated the wine’s age at roughly five thousand years, a testament to the durability of these ancient containers and the care with which the burial goods were stored. In addition to the wine jars, the excavations yielded several pieces of funeral furniture, painting a broader picture of royal funerary practices.
A Queen’s Life
The ministry also shared new insights into Merneit’s life gleaned from the tomb. Inscriptions on a tablet indicate that the queen managed central government institutions, including the treasury, signaling a position of high authority in the realm. Dietrich Raue, director of the German Archaeological Institute, suggested Merneit may have been the only woman in Egypt’s early royal cemetery at Abydos to command a monumental tomb, highlighting her potential influence as a pivotal figure of her era.
Scholars continue to debate Merneit’s exact identity, with some considering her a predecessor to later pharaohs and possibly the first prominent queen of Ancient Egypt. A group of 41 graves near Merneit’s tomb may belong to her courtiers or attendants. Lead archaeologist Christiane Köhler described the burial complex as built from unbaked adobe, clay, and wood, noting that the tombs appeared gradually over an extended period. This pattern has led Köhler to speculate about ritual practices that may have included human sacrifice during the First Dynasty, a hypothesis that invites further study and verification.
Temple of Aphrodite and the “golden city” in Egypt
An international team, including researchers from Egypt and France, reported the discovery of a sunken temple dedicated to Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of beauty, love, and fertility. The find emerged from underwater exploration off the coast near Alexandria, a city in the Nile Delta close to the Mediterranean Sea.
Earlier, in 2021, a team led by Zahi Hawass, a renowned Egyptologist, uncovered a city described as the lost “city of gold.” The site is believed to have flourished more than 3.5 millennia ago and was abandoned before being buried by desert sands. Its age places it within the era of the late Middle Kingdom or early New Kingdom, a period marked by significant administrative and urban development in Upper Egypt.
Scholars propose that the ancient metropolis flourished under the reign of a pharaoh from the 18th to 15th centuries BCE, a time when the administrative center of the region spanned vast networks of governance. The discovery of this urban hub provides clues about economic organization, resource management, and religious life during a dynamic chapter of Egypt’s long history.