Chemical Analysis of Pottery Reveals First Winemaking in Italy Nearly 4,500 Years Ago

Copper Age people living in Sicily, Italy, were making wine nearly 4,500 years ago, according to a team of archaeologists led by Dr. Davide Tanasi of the University of South Florida.

Chemical traces of wine were found on these storage jars from the Bellitti gallery, Monte Kronio, Sicily. Image credit: Davide Tanasi, University of South Florida.

Dr. Tanasi and his colleagues from the United States and Italy conducted chemical analysis of residue on unglazed pottery unearthed at the Copper Age site (3500-2300 BC) of Monte Kronio in Agrigento, located off the southwest coast of Sicily.

The researchers determined the residue contains tartaric acid and its sodium salt, which occur naturally in grapes and in the winemaking process.

“It’s very rare to determine the composition of such residue as it requires the ancient pottery to be excavated intact,” the scientists said.

“The finding is significant as it’s the earliest discovery of wine residue in the entire prehistory of the Italian peninsula,” they added.

“Traditionally, it’s been believed wine growing and wine production developed in Italy in the Middle Bronze Age (1300-1100 BC) as attested just by the retrieval of seeds.”

Dr. Tanasi and co-authors are now trying to determine whether the wine was red or white.

The study was published online August 12, 2017 in the Microchemical Journal.

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Davide Tanasi et al. 1H-1H NMR 2D-TOCSY, ATR FT-IR and SEM-EDX for the identification of organic residues on Sicilian prehistoric pottery. Microchemical Journal, published online August 12, 2017; doi: 10.1016/j.microc.2017.08.010