Uncorking the Past: The Quest for Wine, Beer, and Other Alcoholic Beverages

366 Pages·2016·3.54 MB·English

by  McGovern P.E.

UNCORKING THE PAST
UNCORKING THE PAST
THE QUEST FOR WINE, BEER, AND OTHER
ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES
PATRICK E. McGOVERN
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University of California Press
Berkeley and Los Angeles, California
University of California Press, Ltd.
London, England
© 2009 by The Regents of the University of California
First Paperback Printing 2010
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
McGovern, Patrick E.
Uncorking the past : the quest for wine, beer, and other alcoholic beverages / Patrick E. McGovern.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN: 978-0-520-26798-5 (pbk.: alk. paper)
1. Alcoholic beverages—History. 2. Alcoholic beverages—Social aspects. 3. Drinking of alcoholic
beverages—History. 4. Drinking of alcoholic beverages—Social aspects. I. Title.
GT2884.M36 2009
394.1'3—dc22
2009010512
Manufactured in the United States of America
18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
This book is printed on Cascades Enviro 100, a 100% post consumer waste, recycled, de-inked fiber. FSC
recycled certified and processed chlorine free. It is acid free, Ecologo certified, and manufactured by
BioGas energy.
To the innovative fermented-beverage
makers of our species
CONTENTS
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PREFACE
1 / Homo Imbibens: I Drink, Therefore I Am
2 / Along the Banks of the Yellow River
3 / The Near Eastern Challenge
4 / Following the Silk Road
5 / European Bogs, Grogs, Burials, and Binges
6 / Sailing the Wine-Dark Mediterranean
7 / The Sweet, the Bitter, and the Aromatic in the New World
8 / Africa Serves Up Its Meads, Wines, and Beers
9 / Alcoholic Beverages: Whence and Whither?
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
INDEX
ILLUSTRATIONS
FIGURES
1. Prehistoric wine tasting
2. “Sorcerer,” Les Trois Frères grotto, French Pyrenees, ca. 13,000 years ago
3. Early Neolithic “musician/shaman” burial, Jiahu (Henan Province,
China), ca. 6200–5600 B.C.
4. Juzhong Zhang, excavator of Jiahu, playing early Neolithic flute of
“musician/shaman”
5. Red-crowned cranes in mating dance, Manchuria
6. Chateau Jiahu, Dogfish Head Craft Brewery
7. Shang Dynasty “teapot” (he), tomb of Liu Jiazhuang, Anyang, ca. 1250—
1000 B.C.
8. The author in his laboratory with 3,000-year-old millet wine from tomb at
Anyang
9. Animals on pillar, Göbekli Tepe, Turkey, ca. 9000 B.C.
10. Dancing humans and tortoise on bowl or goblet, Nevali Çori, Turkey, ca.
8000 B.C.
11. Neolithic “mother goddess” flanked by leopards, Çatal Höyük, Turkey,
ca. 6500–5500 B.C.
12. Neolithic “ancestors,” ‘Ain Ghazal, Jordan, mid-seventh millennium B.C.
13. Drinking Mesopotamian barley beer: clay seal, Tepe Gawra, Iraq, ca.
3850 B.C.; and lapis lazuli cylinder seal, Queen Puabi’s tomb, Royal
Cemetery at Ur, ca. 2600–2500 B.C.
14. Hallucinogenic smoking and drinking appurtenances, Pazyryk, Russia, ca.
400 B.C.
15. Birch-bark bucket in grave of “dancer,” Egtved, Denmark, ca. 1500–1300
B.C.
16. Grave of Celtic prince, Hochdorf, Germany, ca. 525 B.C.
17. Imported wine in Early Dynastic Egypt: resinated wine jars and “tiger-
striped” jar in Scorpion I’s tomb, Abydos, ca. 3150 B.C.
18. Canaanite ship arriving at port of Thebes: painting on tomb wall of
Kenamun, fourteenth century B.C.
19. Mesoamerican cacao pod, Theobroma cacao
20. Late Classic Mayan vase painting of ruler imbibing cacao beverage
21. Vessels for serving and consuming elite cacao beverages of the Americas
22. Honey hunter smoking out bees in rock painting, Matopo Hills,
Zimbabwe, possibly as early as ca. 8000 B.C.
23. Beer-making facilities: Predynastic Period in Egypt and modern Burkina
Faso
24. Drinking beer through long straws, an ancient tradition: funerary stela, el-
Amarna, ca. 1350 B.C.; Tiriki men, modern western Kenya
MAPS
1. Eurasia
2. Europe and the Mediterranean
3. The Americas
4. Africa
COLOR PLATES FOLLOW PAGE 128