Scrapings from the bottoms of 2,500-year-old pottery containers have shed new light on the origins of French winemaking.
A team of archaeologists led by University of Pennsylvania's Patrick McGovern used biomolecular analysis to confirm that fifth-century B.C. Etruscan amphorae found near Montpellier in southern France once contained a type of wine flavoured with thyme, rosemary and basil.
Archaeological evidence and ancient texts have long provided reasonable certainty that seafaring Etruscans from central Italy introduced imported wine to their trading outpost of Lattara, now the French city of Lattes. The new evidence backs this up.
The study, published in the May 1, 2013 issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, also demonstrates that local Celts had begun making wine at Lattara by the end of the fifth century B.C.
