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| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.huffingtonpost.com |
How the world sees Greece
Thursday, October 3, 2013
6,000-Year-Old Wine Found In Greece; Ancient Samples May Be Oldest Unearthed In Europe
Conventional wisdom agrees that a fine wine generally gets better with age -- good news for the 6,200-year-old wine samples unearthed in Greece, huh?
Researchers working at an ongoing dig site in northern Greece recently announced that the final results of residue analysis from ancient ceramics showed evidence of wine dating back to 4200 B.C., according to the Greek Reporter. The excavation, located at a prehistoric settlement known as Dikili Tash, is situated 1.2 miles from the ancient city of Philippi and has been inhabited since 6500 B.C., according to the researchers' website.
The analysis was not conducted on liquid wine, though. The passing millennia have erased nearly all tangible evidence of the drink, Dimitra Malamidou, a co-director of the most recent excavation, told The Huffington Post in an email.
"All [that] is left from the liquid part is the residue in the surface of the ceramic vases," she said. "Recent residue analysis on ceramics attested [to] the presence of tartaric acid, indicating fermentation."
Malamidou is part of a joint Greek-French excavation that began in 2008. The team recently wrapped up excavation of a neolithic house from around 4500 B.C. This is where they found wine traces in the form of "some thousands of carbonized grape pips together with the skins indicating grape pressing," Malamidou said.
Radiocarbon dating was used to pinpoint the age of the finds.
Dikili Tash researchers believe they have found the oldest known traces of wine in Europe. Previous studies have unearthed a 6,100-year-old Armenian winery, as well as traces of a 9,000-year-old Chinese alcohol made from rice, honey and fruit.
"The find is highly significant for the European prehistory, because it is for the moment the oldest indication for vinification in Europe," Malamidou said. "The historical meaning of our discovery is important for the Aegean and the European prehistory, as it gives evidence of early developments of the agricultural and diet practices, affecting social processes."
The societal changes that may have been influenced by the consumption of alcoholic beverages is currently an issue of debate among researchers, Malamidou said. Evidence of wine during this early time period will "shed new light" on these discussions, she said.
Greek Jobless Rate Seen Hitting 34%
Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras’ hope of getting the shattered economy back on track as soon as next year is being undercut by a problem even said seems perhaps the biggest challenge, the record unemployment rate, that a study published Oct. 3 said will soar from 27.4 percent now to 34 percent in three years. […]
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| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT greece.greekreporter.com |
Michaloliakos’ Custody Tops Global Headlines
A court decision to remand Golden Dawn leader Nikolaos Michaloliakos in custody has topped the headlines of the foreign media. In Britain, the Guardian goes under the title “Golden Dawn leader jailed pending trial after Athens hearing,” while BBC’s main article is entitled “Golden Dawn leader Nikos Michaloliakos remanded in custody.” Moreover Sky News writes […]
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| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT greece.greekreporter.com |
Greek Budget Deficit May Drop Below 3% in 2013
Greek Deputy FinMin Christos Staikouras said yesterday that Greek general government budget deficit will land below the 3%-of-GDP threshold in 2013 (vs 6.3% a year ago) in headline terms, ahead of Troika forecasts calling for a 4.1%-of-GDP deficit, says Pantelakis Securities its morning report. “However, we understand he was referring to budget figures under the Eurostat […]
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| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT greece.greekreporter.com |
Greek bonds: Europe's hidden gem?
Investors are scouring Europe for ways to make money from its tentative recovery, and one U.S. firm thinks it has found the answer -- buy Greek government bonds. Japonica Partners said it believed Greek ...
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| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT finance.yahoo.com |
Golden Dawn leader Nikos Mihaloliakos jailed after murder of anti-racism rapper
The leader of the extremist right-wing party Golden Dawn has been remanded in a Greek jail, pending trial on charges of running a criminal organisation, in an investigation triggered by the murder of an anti-racism rapper.
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| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.independent.co.uk |
Portrait of an Extremist: Nikos Michaloliakos
ATHENS - Nikos Michaloliakos, the leader of Greek neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn, is a disciple of a former Greek military dictator, who led his fringe group all the way to Parliament.
Just over a year after it took Greek politics by storm to elect 18 MPs for the first time in its history, Golden Dawn has been labelled a 'criminal organization' by judicial authorities.
Michaloliakos, a 56-year-old mathematician, was jailed on Oct. 3 pending his trial. He has already been jailed on two occasions in the late 1970s for assaulting journalists and participating in bomb attacks in Athens.
While in prison, he befriended ex-dictator George Papadopoulos and was handpicked to lead the youths of far-right group EPEN after the fall of the Greek junta in 1974.
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| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.thenationalherald.com |
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