researcher recently discovered evidence of industrial wine production while excavate a Brobdingnagian majestic estate called Vagnari in southeast Italy , Archaeologyreports . turn out , residents of the Roman Empire ’s greatest landholding once construct alotof alcohol .
Vagnarisits east of the Apennine Mountains in Puglia , and was once connected to Rome by one of Italy ’s principal romish roads , the Via Appia . The Roman empire inhibit the large territory sometime during the former first century CE and transformed it into imperial landholdings . It previously contained a central Greenwich Village , a burial site , and a Doroteo Arango that maybe belonged to the acres ’s managing director .
In 2015 , archaeologists from the University of Sheffield were excavating Vagnari when they notice a enceinte stone - built composite dating back to the second hundred CE . harmonise toonline magazine internet site Past Horizons , its aggregation of room tie in to acellavinaria — a wine fermentation and storehouse elbow room . There , the squad of researchers found three sonorous wine vats buried up to their neck in the ground , which would have aid keep the beverage cool .
The tub had the capacity to hold more than 1000 liters ; they were “ unsufferable to move — they were in the ground and stayed there for a foresightful time and were reused year after twelvemonth , ” said excavation loss leader Maureen Carroll . “ The Romanic agricultural writer said it was a good idea round late summertime to clean house out what was forget , give them a good rub , and reline them with sales pitch . ”
The archaeologists still have n’t find out whether the wine-colored produced at Vagnari was deplete or sell , but turn over the scale of viticulture , it was likely the latter , they say . They plan to unearth more of thecella vinaria , find how much wine it made , and “ determine how divers the estate ’s economy was , and how the finish of vine and wine - making fitted into the emperor ’s wider farming and industrial landscape , ” Carrollsaid .
Which emperor ? The archaeologists did n’t delimitate . Nine emperors ruled during the 2nd century CE ( two of them for simple months ) , among them Trajan , Hadrian , and Marcus Aurelius .
[ h / tArchaeology ]
