3,700-year-old Wine Cellar Unearthed in Ancient Canaanite Palace

Archaeologists have uncovered a 3,700-year-old wine cellar in the ruins of a palace located in an ancient Canaanite city in northern Israel, not far from many of the nation's modern wineries.

Perhaps the oldest and largest discovery of its kind, the researchers have identified 40 jars, each of which would have held 50 liters of wine.

"This is a hugely significant discovery -- it's a wine cellar that, to our knowledge, is largely unmatched in age and size," Eric Cline chair of the Department of Classical and Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations of at George Washington University, said in a statement.

According to Patrick McGovern, a biomolecular archaeologist at the University of Pennsylvania Museum, the wine cellar is not the oldest ever discovered, though arguably the oldest as far as palatial.

"The oldest chemically [confirmed] 'wine cellars' are those in the tomb of Scorpion I," he said in an email to NBC News, referring to an Egyptian tomb dating back to 3150 BC, which contained more than 4,500 liters of wine imported from the Jordan Valley.

"If we are making this claim only for ancient Canaan and put the emphasis of 'palatial,' then Kabri might well be the earliest," he continued.

Either way, the new discovery is important, according to McGovern, because of the details it adds to the story of Canaanite wine production, which, with help from the Phoenicians, "laid the foundation for winemaking from the Eurasian grape (Vitis vinifera) around the world."

An analysis of the organic residue revealed traces of tartaric and syringic acid, common wine components, as well as honey, mint, cinnamon bark, juniper berries and resins.

The cellar was located near a banquet hall, suggesting the wine was used to serve important guests.

"This wasn't moonshine that someone was brewing in their basement, eyeballing the measurements," Andrew Koh, an assistant professor of classical studies at Brandeis University, said in a statement. "This wine's recipe was strictly followed in each and every jar."