'Oldest known wine-making facility' found in Armenia

[Melvadius]

The BBC is carrying an announcement made by National Geographic that the worlds oldest complete wine making facility has been discovered in Armenia:

 

The world's earliest known wine-making facility has been discovered in Armenia, archaeologists say.

 

A wine press and fermentation jars from about 6,000 years ago were found in a cave in the south Caucasus country.

 

Co-director of the excavation Gregory Areshian, of the University of California, Los Angeles, said it was the earliest example of complete wine production.

 

The findings were announced by the National Geographic Society.

 

They have been published in the online edition of the Journal of Archaeological Science....continued

 

Further details on National Geographic site article here

 

As if making the oldest known leather shoe wasn't enough, a prehistoric people in what's now Armenia also built the world's oldest known winery, a new study says.

 

Undertaken at a burial site, their winemaking may have been dedicated to the dead

[Viggen]

Chemical analysis confirms discovery of oldest wine-making equipment ever found

 

Analysis by a UCLA-led team of scientists has confirmed the discovery of the oldest complete wine production facility ever found, including grape seeds, withered grape vines, remains of pressed grapes, a rudimentary wine press, a clay vat apparently used for fermentation, wine-soaked potsherds, and even a cup and drinking bowl.

 

...via UCLA