The infrared spectrum of the organic
contents of one of the Neolithic Hajji Firuz Tepe jars is dominated
by the absorption peaks of both tartaric acid and calcium
tartrate. Tartaric acid occurs naturally in large amounts only in
grapes. The jar
contained a grape juice that quickly fermented to wine, and was
preserved by stoppering and adding terebinth
tree resin. Later wine jars samples from late 4th millennium
B.C. Egypt and upland and lowland Mesopotamia (Godin Tepe, Uruk, and
Susa) sometimes contain relatively more tartaric acid than calcium
tartrate.
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The battery
of infrared, liquid chromatographic, and wet chemical analyses that have
been carried out clearly showed the presence of calcium tartrate in the
jars. Tartaric acid occurs in large amounts in nature only in grapes.
Under normal conditions and at room temperature, grape juice quickly
ferments to wine. Because of slow pressing methods in antiquity and high
temperatures in the Middle East, fermentation had probably begun before
the liquid went into the jar. Clay stoppers of approximately the same
diameter as that of the jar mouth were found nearby, so the expertise was
available to seal the jar and prevent the wine from turning to vinegar.
The
high-performance liquid chromatographic results pointed to another
component that made it virtually certain that the jar originally contained
wine: terebinth
tree resin. In an upland region like Hajji Firuz, the wild grapevine
and the terebinth tree grew together and produced their fruit and resin
about the same time of year, so mixing these products together might have
occurred accidentally or as a result of an innovative impulse. Whatever
the case, the Hajji Firuz sample clearly was a mixture of a grape product
and terebinth
tree resin. And that grape product was most likely
wine.
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