Recently, archaeologists have made an impressive find in Andalusia, finding a bottle of wine dating from about 2000. This find is not only the largest bottle of wine, but it also contains the creamy bones of a man, which opens new prospects in the ritual of the studied burial period and gender division in funeral practices.
It is noted that the glass bottle, aged 2000, was found in the tomb five years ago in the historic city of Karmon, Andalus. Earlier this year, it became known that a liquid was found inside the urine, which, as the tests were confirmed, were wine. This wine, dated to the fourth century, is one of the oldest ever found. The contents of the urine reflects the gender division in the funeral practices of Roman society.
Juan Manuel Roman, a municipal archaeologist at Karmon, said: "At first we were very surprised that liquid has been preserved in one of the urn."
However, the surprises did not end there, and together with the gold heel the wine also contained the creamy bones of the man. This made it possible to better understand the burial rituals of the Roman period in Spain. Researchers believe that it is "no accident" that the remains belong to a man, since the ancient Romans forbade women to drink wine, considering him "a male drink".
The other bottle of the tomb was the remains of a woman, but no traces of wine. Instead, it had three amber jewelry, a bottle of perfume and the remnants of silk tissue. These artifacts were put in the tomb according to Roman beliefs that it will need the deceased to travel to the other life. They believed that objects taken with themselves could be used after death.
According to scientists, the Roman funeral consisted of five stages, but there are no detailed descriptions of the ritual. Five stages consisted of processions, cremation and burial, eulogies, feasts and commemoration. The Romans considered it very important to hold proper ceremonies and burials so that the evil spirit did not emerge from the underground world.
