McGovern said the resin and herbal ingredients probably served three primary functions. "They helped to preserve the wines, while also adding flavor and medical benefits," he said, explaining that the last two frequently went together, since flavor was, and still is, often linked to health effects. "Bitter flavors in nature can signal danger, but they can also sometimes have powerful medicinal properties," he added. The new findings could explain the presence of herb and tree resin-flavored foods and drinks from the ancient world found elsewhere. For example, a 2,400-year-old Greek shipwreck recently yielded both a retsina-type wine, flavored and preserved with tree resin, and a salad-dressing type oil infused with so much antioxidant-promoting oregano that the mixture remained largely preserved over the millennia. "Maybe we can even go back to the amphorae, jars and cooking pots previously excavated and now sitting in museum storerooms around the world and ask new questions of each artifact," said researcher Brendan Foley of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, who worked on the Greek shipwreck project. McGovern next hopes to determine which ingredients found in fermented beverages from the ancient world possess actual medical benefits. At present, his team is focusing on artesunate, a wormwood derivative, found in 3,000-year-old Chinese rice wine. Related Links: |
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