Grapes, Raisins and Wine? Archaeobotanical Finds from an Egyptian Monastery

Abstract

The study of grape ( Vitis vinifera L.) pressing remains recovered archaeologically has been the focus of research in some areas of the Mediterranean. In Egypt , however, such remains are only seldom reported. The first substantial find of grape pressing remains in Egypt has been uncovered in the Yale Monastic Archaeology Project’s excavations at the late ninth-century AD monastic settlement of John the Little in Wady al-Natrun in Egypt ’s Western Desert. The remains consist of pressed fruits and fruit fragments, pips, and stalks. Although grape juice can be made into a variety of products, this paper will argue that wine was a very probable end product of these grape remains. Given the history and importance of wine production in the Coptic Church, these archaeobotanical remains of grapes from John the Little provide a new and unique opportunity to investigate wine production in the Coptic Church from a different perspective. In addition to the archaeological context and the archaeobotanical remains, the textual and ethnographic records related to the manufacture and trade of wine in Egyptian monasteries will be considered.