Researchers are exploring whether these ubiquitous fluorinated molecules might worsen infections or hamper vaccine effectiveness.
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Communicated by Ofer Bar-Yosef, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, November 16, 2004 (received for review September 30, 2003)
Abstract
Chemical analyses of ancient organics absorbed into pottery jars from the early Neolithic village of Jiahu in Henan province in China have revealed that a mixed fermented beverage of rice, honey, and fruit (hawthorn fruit and/or grape) was being produced as early as the seventh millennium before Christ (B.C.). This prehistoric drink paved the way for unique cereal beverages of the proto-historic second millennium B.C., remarkably preserved as liquids inside sealed bronze vessels of the Shang and Western Zhou Dynasties. These findings provide direct evidence for fermented beverages in ancient Chinese culture, which were of considerable social, religious, and medical significance, and help elucidate their earliest descriptions in the Shang Dynasty oracle inscriptions.
Footnotes
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↵ † To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: mcgovern{at}sas.upenn.edu.
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Author contributions: P.E.M., G.R.H., R.A.M., A.N., M.P.R., and Z. Zhao designed research; P.E.M., G.R.H., R.A.M., A.N., M.P.R., C.-s.W., and Z. Zhao performed research; P.E.M., G.R.H., R.A.M., A.N., M.P.R., and Z. Zhao analyzed data; P.E.M., G.R.H., and M.P.R. wrote the paper; J.Z., J.T., and Z. Zhang advised on archaeological contexts and interpretation and provided samples; C.-s.W. translated and interpreted Chinese books and articles; G.C. advised on rice wine fermentation and amylolysis systems; and C.W. advised on research.
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Abbreviations: B.C., before Christ; ca., circa; GC-MS, gas chromatography–mass spectrometry; HPLC, high-performance liquid chromatography; FT-IR, Fourier-transform infrared spectrometry.
- Copyright © 2004, The National Academy of Sciences
Fermented beverages of pre- and proto-historic China
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