The development of viticulture is inextricably linked with the birth of European civilization and culture, particularly in the Mediterranean region. It is likely that nomadic peoples were fermenting wild grapes and berries into wine as early as 6000-7000 years ago. With the transition to a settled existence, grapevines, along with olives and figs, became the first wild fruits to be cultivated by man. Although the existence of vinifera plantations can be conclusively proved only from the 4th millennium BC in Egypt and Mesopotamia and from around 2500 BC in the Aegean, there are indications that there were rudimentary in the Near East as early as the 6th millennium BC. The oldest known tools and vessels which may have been used for producing wine were made in the 5th and 6th millennia BC in the region north of the Caucasus ( present-day Georgia and Armenia ) and in the 4th millennium BC in Persia