Wine of Egypt's Golden Age: An Archaeochemical Perspective

Abstract

Neutron Activation Analysis and selective organic contents analysis were carried out for a group of 50 Malkata wine, honey, ‘ale’, ben-oil, and meat ostraca, together with seven additional New Kingdom reference samples from Thebes. Most of the ostraca and all of the reference samples form a tight chemical group, indicating that they were most likely made of a Theban marl clay and thus produced locally, perhaps in a royal workshop. Although the contents of amphoras were generally stated to have been produced elsewhere, they were evidently imported, ‘rebottled’, and then sealed and registered at a central facility in Thebes. The uniform procedures that were followed and the fact that most vessels were used only once may reflect the special circumstances for which they were intended—the heb-sed. Organic analyses confirmed the presence of wine for the wine ostraca; a tree resin, either terebinth or myrrh, was also added as a preservative, besides masking any offensiveness.

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