Oenophiles take note: 5980 BC was a very good year for wine.
Scientists on Monday announced the discovery of the oldest-known evidence for wine-making, detecting telltale chemical signs of the fermented alcoholic beverage made from grapes in fragments of nearly 8,000-year-old earthenware jars at two sites about 30 miles (50 km) south of Georgia's capital Tbilisi.
The findings show that this important cultural achievement occurred earlier than previously known in the South Caucasus region on the border of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. Until now, the oldest wine-making evidence had come from pottery from the Zagros Mountains in northwestern Iran dating to 5400-5000 BC.
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