Vanilla wine reassessed

[guy]

 

There have been previous discussions about the use of vanilla in the wine of the Kingdom of Judah. Vanillin is an organic substance that is extracted from the vanilla bean. It can also be found in lower concentrations naturally in grapes and other organic substances. However, the higher concentration of vanillin found in at least five recovered ancient jars can only be attributed to the import of the distant spice vanilla.

Here are good articles on the findings.

 

 

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The most surprising results were the profiles obtained from the two jars from the second site and three jars from the first, indicating the presence of vanillin.

“Vanilla had to be imported from the tropic environments of India or east Africa,” they said.

“Control over the spice trade routes connecting east and west has often been seen as a prime motivator for the Assyrian expansion to the southwest.”

“The identification of vanilla as one such exotic and prestigious product having been brought over by the desert caravans highlights the economic value of this trade.”

“We demonstrate that vanilla used as a wine additive by the kings of Judah and their entourage.”

“The royal elite of the kingdom, residents of Jerusalem, webbed into this trading network, serving as clients of the Assyrian and later Egyptian empires.”

 

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 Mapping the possible sources of vanilla cords imply that they were imported from either India or east Africa. Both areas were connected to the Levant by the desert roads which originated ether in South Arabia or Egypt. Archaeological and textual evidence show that the Southern Arabian trade network flourished throughout the 7th century BCE, first under the Assyrian empire and later under their successors, the Egyptian 26thDynasty and Babylonia. The main Arabian trade route to the northwest passed in the Beer-sheba Valley in the territory of Judah, and the kingdom probably provided shelters and supplies to the convoys.

Finding vanillin in Jerusalem is an indication that the city was one of the destination of some of the elite products which were transported from Arabia. This is supported by earlier finds, such as the three inscribed sherds written in South Arabian script found in the “City of David” Jerusalem excavations and in Tel ʽAroer in the Beer-sheba Valley, as well as by the Sabaean inscription from ca. 600 BCE, referring to the "towns of Judah". This trade system is also mentioned in the biblical texts, especially in the second book of Kings and the book of Jeremiah (e.g., "To what purpose cometh there to me incense from Sheba, and the sweet cane from a far country?", Jer. 6:20). The story of the visit of the Queen of Sheba to Jerusalem, bringing exotic gifts to Solomon (I Kings 10:2), may reflect realities of the 7th century BCE–the incorporation of Judah into the Assyrian-led Arabian trade.

 

 

http://www.sci-news.com/archaeology/ancient-vanilla-wine-10794.html

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0266085

 

 

 

Edited June 22 by guy