IN THE REGION OF JUMILLIAN D.O., SOME VITIS VINIFERA SEEDS WERE DISCOVERED, THE MOST ANCIENT REMAINS IN EUROPE (3.000 B.C.), TO WHICH WE ADD, THE RECENT FINDING OF A PAIR OF GOLDEN EARRINGS IN THE SHAPE OF A GRAPE CLUSTER WHICH DATE FROM 4TH CENTURY B.C.

THE JUMILLA D.O. REGULATORY COUNCIL HAS PAID TRIBUTE TO THE LONG WINE TRADITION IN THE REGION FORMALIZING THE FIGURE OF THE EARRINGS WITH THE SHAPE OF A GRAPE CLUSTER, FOUND OUT IN THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL COMPLEX OF COIMBRA DEL BARRANCO ANCHO, AS THE IMAGE FOR THE PRIZE OF THE QUALITY CONTEST OF THE JUMILLIAN D.O. WINES.

The archaeological complex of Coimbra del Barranco Ancho in Jumilla, includes an extensive village, three necropolis and a sanctuary, it all from the Iberian period (Iron Age) and dated between 4thand 2nd centuries B.C.

Being a part of the same complex, there is an Epipaleolithic settlement in the open air (8000 B.C.), a Village from the Bronze Age (1800 B.C.) and a village and a necropolis from the Final Bronze (800 B.C.).

The Iberian village of Coimbra del Barranco Ancho is one of the most extensive in the East regions of Spain. The existence of three necropolis gives us the idea of the great deal of people who inhabited Coimbra between 4^th and 2^nd centuries B.C. Being the most important necropolis, because of the amount of graves, the one called of the Poblado, with more than 200 tombs excavated up to now. The Sanctuary in this Complex is devoted to the goddess Tannit, who is the goddess of fertility and farming in the Iberian mythology.

In the complex of Coimbra del Barranco Ancho, we have been working for more than 30 years, which has allowed to recover a large amount of all kind of material, and become well acquainted with the Iberian way of life and society of the time. At present, it is the only site of Iberian culture, in the Region of Murcia, in which researches, studies and excavations are still kept on going. As data, pointing out that several hundreds of elements related with the production and consume of wines have been discovered, some of them unique for their good conservation condition.

It was in the Poblado necropolis, in which systematic excavations have been developed since 1979 and in which 212 tombs have already been studied, where the golden earrings with the shape of a grape cluster were found. Earrings in the Iberian culture are an ornament typical of warriors, they were a sign of distinction and/or lineage, since not all the inhabitants in Coimbra could have and keep the equipment of weapons (what we call “panoply”) and the typical and essential horse of an Iberian warrior. Similarly, we are of the opinion that the man who wore these earrings, besides being a warrior, was very likely a wine-grower, something that follows not only from the funeral layette found together with the earrings, but from the earrings themselves since, we understand, the grapes are the symbol of the task to which he devoted his efforts.

Besides, few parallel of these earrings with a grape-cluster look are known, found out in the 207 grave. The closest example that we know is the earrings, also golden, exhibited in the “Altes Museum” in Berlin (Germany), in the room dedicated to the gold of the mentioned museum, but their origin is unknown.

The fact that Jumilla has been a region with a winemaking tradition for more than 5.000 years is confirmed by the finding of some grape seeds of the Vitis Vinifera variety in different chalcolithic sites, dated all of them from about the year 3.000 B.C. These sites are the Poblado Calcolítico de El Prado, the Necrópolis del Molar II and in the Cueva de los Tiestos. All these archaeological sites are in the Jumillian region far enough one from another and accurate enough referring their antiquity and singularity so as to state that Jumilla has been an area devoted to the production of grape-wine for more than 5.000 years.

In the same sense, it could be said the wine in the old times was an element beyond most people’s means because, even though the Phoenicians brought in the wine making to the Iron Age people in the Iberian Peninsula, the Greeks were responsible for introducing the myth, the ritual, the ceremonial and the crockery that wine requires to be drank at that time (the famous “symposia”). It is well known through some other Iberian sites and from the same time as Coimbra del Barranco Ancho, that wine was so appreciated by the Iberians that they even built temple-cellars, like Cancho Ruano (Badajoz) or castle-cellars, like in Alto de de Benimaquia (Denia). Which demonstrates the sacralisation and uncompromising defense of such a precious good as it was and is the wine.

Referring again to Coimbra del Barranco Ancho, the access to certain goods, like gold or wine, was a luxury that only a few could reach. In the case of the person buried in the 207 grave in the Necrópolis del Poblado, he was able to get both things, he even ordered to make the golden earrings, which showed his lineage and warrior condition, in the shape of grapes, almost surely, suitable to make wine.

TEXT: JOSÉ MIGUEL GARCÍA CANO, DOCTOR OF ARCHAEOLOGY, DIRECTOR OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MURCIA MUSEUM AND EMILIANO HERNÁNDEZ CARRIÓN, LOCAL ARCHAEOLOGIST AND SPECIALIST IN BRONZE AGE AND IBERIAN WORLD AND IN WINE ARCHAEOLOGY. TRANSLATION DONE FOR ASUNCIÓN GUARDIOLA

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