1 00:00:00,560 --> 00:00:03,760 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff you missed in History Class from how 2 00:00:03,800 --> 00:00:14,160 Speaker 1: Stuff Works dot Com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 3 00:00:14,280 --> 00:00:16,800 Speaker 1: I'm Sarah Dowdy and I'm develin a truck recording, and 4 00:00:17,000 --> 00:00:20,160 Speaker 1: today we have a fun kind of summary episode. We're 5 00:00:20,200 --> 00:00:23,520 Speaker 1: gonna enjoy ourselves a little bit. And the idea for 6 00:00:23,600 --> 00:00:27,040 Speaker 1: this episode has been brewing not to make a terrible pun, 7 00:00:27,640 --> 00:00:30,680 Speaker 1: for quite some time, actually, since Katie and I did 8 00:00:30,680 --> 00:00:33,840 Speaker 1: an episode on chocolate way back in the fall and 9 00:00:34,080 --> 00:00:35,879 Speaker 1: a few years ago, just in case you missed that 10 00:00:35,960 --> 00:00:38,519 Speaker 1: episode or you want a little context on it, a 11 00:00:38,520 --> 00:00:41,959 Speaker 1: few years ago, researchers at Hershey Chocolate and the University 12 00:00:41,960 --> 00:00:46,720 Speaker 1: of Pennsylvania Museum did some chemical analysis on these Honduran 13 00:00:46,840 --> 00:00:52,120 Speaker 1: pottery shirts dating from about four BC, and they were 14 00:00:52,159 --> 00:00:56,880 Speaker 1: these long neck jars from Puerto Escondido, and they showed 15 00:00:56,920 --> 00:01:00,000 Speaker 1: they ended up showing traces of THEO broh mean, which 16 00:01:00,160 --> 00:01:04,080 Speaker 1: is the fingerprint compound of coco, which is of course 17 00:01:04,080 --> 00:01:06,160 Speaker 1: why it came up in the chocolate episode in the 18 00:01:06,200 --> 00:01:10,040 Speaker 1: first place. Yeah, so later myans and Aztecs used that cacao, 19 00:01:10,240 --> 00:01:13,040 Speaker 1: the cocaw beans to make a frothy chocolate e drink, 20 00:01:13,120 --> 00:01:18,080 Speaker 1: adding tasty mixers like honey, chilies, flowers, and a nato, 21 00:01:18,240 --> 00:01:21,480 Speaker 1: but the Puerto Escondido didn't show residues from any of 22 00:01:21,520 --> 00:01:25,759 Speaker 1: those common additives, just that theobromine, suggesting that this wasn't 23 00:01:25,760 --> 00:01:28,560 Speaker 1: an early chocolate drink made from cacao beans. It was 24 00:01:28,640 --> 00:01:32,039 Speaker 1: actually an early fermented beverage made from the cocaw pulp. 25 00:01:32,200 --> 00:01:35,920 Speaker 1: That cocow pulp from us naturally as well, producing a 26 00:01:36,000 --> 00:01:39,399 Speaker 1: five to seven percent alcohol drink. So animals have been 27 00:01:39,440 --> 00:01:42,920 Speaker 1: indulging in that for time immemorial. But we're gonna be 28 00:01:43,000 --> 00:01:46,280 Speaker 1: talking a little bit about the human side of it. 29 00:01:46,400 --> 00:01:50,200 Speaker 1: So drinks that people made on purpose. That Honduran discovery 30 00:01:50,200 --> 00:01:54,320 Speaker 1: actually pushed back human cocaw consumption five hundred years and 31 00:01:54,800 --> 00:01:59,840 Speaker 1: interestingly also created this offshoot modern beer, which we have 32 00:02:00,000 --> 00:02:03,080 Speaker 1: of a cup of today. We're going to be sampling 33 00:02:03,120 --> 00:02:05,840 Speaker 1: that while we podcast. We'll we'll sort of rate it 34 00:02:05,880 --> 00:02:07,480 Speaker 1: at the end, or maybe just talk about it a 35 00:02:07,480 --> 00:02:10,800 Speaker 1: little bit and talk about some other historical drinks. So here, 36 00:02:10,880 --> 00:02:15,000 Speaker 1: let's give it acceptively. Now, Oh, it's pretty good, not bad, 37 00:02:15,240 --> 00:02:19,080 Speaker 1: all right, So we do have a method to this madness, 38 00:02:19,120 --> 00:02:23,520 Speaker 1: though we haven't just gone after every historical find of 39 00:02:23,560 --> 00:02:26,800 Speaker 1: alcohol in the past century or whatever. And it's not 40 00:02:26,840 --> 00:02:29,920 Speaker 1: just an excuse to drink beer. We we have we 41 00:02:29,960 --> 00:02:31,840 Speaker 1: have an order behind all of this. Yeah, we're going 42 00:02:31,919 --> 00:02:34,040 Speaker 1: to kind of split up this podcast a little bit 43 00:02:34,120 --> 00:02:38,840 Speaker 1: into ancient alcohols or those truly ancient finds that were 44 00:02:38,880 --> 00:02:43,960 Speaker 1: found as residues and identified through fingerprint compounds. Like Sarah mentions, 45 00:02:43,960 --> 00:02:46,760 Speaker 1: the liquid is all gone exactly, there's no liquid to 46 00:02:46,800 --> 00:02:50,600 Speaker 1: work with. But by performing a series of chemical tests, 47 00:02:50,680 --> 00:02:54,400 Speaker 1: including mass spectrometry tests UM and other things like that, 48 00:02:54,480 --> 00:02:57,800 Speaker 1: research is can i D based components of beer, wine 49 00:02:57,880 --> 00:03:01,919 Speaker 1: and other spirits. Yeah, so they're testing the gunk that's 50 00:03:01,960 --> 00:03:05,200 Speaker 1: on the bottom of the pottery bowl or the bronze vessel, 51 00:03:05,240 --> 00:03:07,800 Speaker 1: and we're going to talk more about that in this episode. 52 00:03:07,840 --> 00:03:10,760 Speaker 1: And then gunk is a scientific term. Yes, that's what 53 00:03:10,880 --> 00:03:13,400 Speaker 1: we're gonna be using. And then in a later episode 54 00:03:13,440 --> 00:03:17,480 Speaker 1: we're going to talk about old alcohol and aged alcohol, 55 00:03:17,680 --> 00:03:21,079 Speaker 1: so basically things where there's still some liquid, where it's 56 00:03:21,080 --> 00:03:24,040 Speaker 1: still drinkable or I mean, you can define that how 57 00:03:24,080 --> 00:03:26,120 Speaker 1: you want. It may not be that tasty anymore, but 58 00:03:26,639 --> 00:03:29,239 Speaker 1: alcohol that can be identified by what's still in the bottle. 59 00:03:29,320 --> 00:03:31,720 Speaker 1: So these are hundreds of years old or even less 60 00:03:31,720 --> 00:03:34,680 Speaker 1: than that, rather than thousands of years old, so researchers 61 00:03:34,720 --> 00:03:38,240 Speaker 1: can pop them open still study them chemically, but also 62 00:03:38,720 --> 00:03:41,560 Speaker 1: sample them. But for now we're going to stick to 63 00:03:41,600 --> 00:03:46,560 Speaker 1: those older, gunkier alcohol varieties. And before we get to 64 00:03:46,560 --> 00:03:50,400 Speaker 1: talk about some of those specific fines, how did humans 65 00:03:50,400 --> 00:03:55,360 Speaker 1: start brewing alcohol in the first place? Well, fruit actually 66 00:03:55,360 --> 00:03:59,160 Speaker 1: from us naturally, right, so many animals were partaking of 67 00:03:59,240 --> 00:04:04,320 Speaker 1: that even before where we were creating alcohol on purpose monkeys, birds, elephants, 68 00:04:04,640 --> 00:04:07,560 Speaker 1: you name it. But there's a big jump between that 69 00:04:07,680 --> 00:04:11,040 Speaker 1: eating a fermented fruit for a buzz and as I mentioned, 70 00:04:11,040 --> 00:04:15,760 Speaker 1: purposely creating fermenting beverages. So unfortunately, though, since those early 71 00:04:15,840 --> 00:04:18,839 Speaker 1: beverages would have been brewed and consumed and bio degradable 72 00:04:18,920 --> 00:04:22,400 Speaker 1: vessels like gourds, we don't really have evidence of them. 73 00:04:22,480 --> 00:04:25,320 Speaker 1: We do know this though. The oldest barley beer came 74 00:04:25,360 --> 00:04:29,239 Speaker 1: from Iran's Sza Gross Mountains and it's from around thirty 75 00:04:29,240 --> 00:04:32,400 Speaker 1: four hundred b C. The oldest grape wine is also 76 00:04:32,480 --> 00:04:36,400 Speaker 1: from Zo Gross and it originated around fifty four hundred BC. 77 00:04:37,080 --> 00:04:40,400 Speaker 1: And the earliest of any known alcohol came from China 78 00:04:40,920 --> 00:04:43,560 Speaker 1: and it dates from around seven thousand b C. And 79 00:04:43,600 --> 00:04:45,080 Speaker 1: so we're going to tell you a little bit more 80 00:04:45,120 --> 00:04:49,000 Speaker 1: on that to start out with exactly So, until fairly recently, 81 00:04:49,120 --> 00:04:52,200 Speaker 1: the oldest known alcohol came from Iran again, and it 82 00:04:52,360 --> 00:04:56,359 Speaker 1: was about seven thousand, four hundred years old. But China 83 00:04:56,520 --> 00:04:59,360 Speaker 1: was a really good place to go looking for earlier 84 00:04:59,600 --> 00:05:03,400 Speaker 1: evidence of alcohol, in part because people started making pottery 85 00:05:03,480 --> 00:05:07,040 Speaker 1: there thousands of years before they did in the Near East. 86 00:05:07,360 --> 00:05:11,599 Speaker 1: It's quite a startling different difference, in fact, probably about 87 00:05:11,640 --> 00:05:15,160 Speaker 1: thirteen thousand BC in China versus six thousand BC in 88 00:05:15,200 --> 00:05:18,279 Speaker 1: the Near East. And pottery, I think we mentioned this before, 89 00:05:18,640 --> 00:05:22,200 Speaker 1: is great for for testing for traces of alcohol. It 90 00:05:22,320 --> 00:05:25,799 Speaker 1: absorbs liquid into its pores, and it's also just really 91 00:05:26,120 --> 00:05:29,920 Speaker 1: pretty much indestructible, so it's great for searching for those 92 00:05:30,000 --> 00:05:33,160 Speaker 1: fingerprint compounds. And that's exactly what Patrick McGovern of the 93 00:05:33,240 --> 00:05:36,080 Speaker 1: University of Pennsylvania Museum did. He took a look at 94 00:05:36,160 --> 00:05:39,400 Speaker 1: high necked pottery jars, which were excavated from the Neolithic 95 00:05:39,480 --> 00:05:42,479 Speaker 1: village of jia Who in northern China and now gia 96 00:05:42,600 --> 00:05:44,640 Speaker 1: Who had already proven to be a treasure trove of 97 00:05:44,720 --> 00:05:48,960 Speaker 1: ancient materials containing some of China's oldest pottery evidence of 98 00:05:49,040 --> 00:05:53,520 Speaker 1: early rice domestication and the oldest known playable musical instrument 99 00:05:53,640 --> 00:05:57,280 Speaker 1: made from a bird's wingbone. But when McGovern found traces 100 00:05:57,320 --> 00:05:59,880 Speaker 1: of alcohol in the pottery, shards Gia who also the 101 00:06:00,040 --> 00:06:03,400 Speaker 1: came the home of the world's oldest brew, a triple 102 00:06:03,520 --> 00:06:07,440 Speaker 1: combo of beer, wine and mead that's about nine thousand 103 00:06:07,560 --> 00:06:11,000 Speaker 1: years old, which sounds kind of strange, doesn't it, Beer 104 00:06:11,080 --> 00:06:15,560 Speaker 1: wine and meade. McGovern calls it a neolithic grog. Specifically, 105 00:06:15,640 --> 00:06:20,800 Speaker 1: it is honey mead, rice grapes, and hawthorn fruit, So 106 00:06:21,160 --> 00:06:23,320 Speaker 1: quite a combination. And we're gonna be talking about another 107 00:06:23,520 --> 00:06:28,120 Speaker 1: combination right now. The cool thing about studying ancient alcohol 108 00:06:28,400 --> 00:06:31,520 Speaker 1: is that many of the samples that you can test 109 00:06:31,600 --> 00:06:34,520 Speaker 1: for are already in museums, And it wasn't until about 110 00:06:34,560 --> 00:06:38,840 Speaker 1: the nineteen seventies, really the late nineteen eighties that scientists 111 00:06:38,880 --> 00:06:43,000 Speaker 1: started seriously trying to identify the contents of ancient vessels, 112 00:06:43,080 --> 00:06:45,640 Speaker 1: not just by their shape and size, I know we've 113 00:06:45,680 --> 00:06:49,000 Speaker 1: talked about in foura before, but by the chemical makeup 114 00:06:49,080 --> 00:06:51,800 Speaker 1: of what's inside. And they actually have the technology to 115 00:06:51,880 --> 00:06:54,480 Speaker 1: be able to do so. So case and point, the 116 00:06:54,640 --> 00:06:58,280 Speaker 1: tomb of King Midas or potentially his father. I was 117 00:06:58,279 --> 00:07:01,120 Speaker 1: suppressed learned King Midus was a real guy. Yeah, I 118 00:07:01,279 --> 00:07:04,240 Speaker 1: was too, who was not aware anyway? King Midas or 119 00:07:04,320 --> 00:07:08,520 Speaker 1: his father's tomb was excavated in central Turkey way back 120 00:07:08,720 --> 00:07:11,800 Speaker 1: in nineteen fifty seven, and it was a very impressive 121 00:07:11,840 --> 00:07:14,760 Speaker 1: fine excavators opened the tomb. It was kind of a 122 00:07:14,840 --> 00:07:18,080 Speaker 1: king tut situation almost. There was a body laid out 123 00:07:18,120 --> 00:07:22,080 Speaker 1: among these beautiful blue and purple claws, and the whole 124 00:07:22,080 --> 00:07:26,800 Speaker 1: scene was surrounded by bronze vessels, specifically a hundred and 125 00:07:27,000 --> 00:07:31,200 Speaker 1: fifty seven bronze bats and jugs and bowls, and all 126 00:07:31,280 --> 00:07:34,760 Speaker 1: of them two thousand, seven hundred years old. An interesting 127 00:07:35,120 --> 00:07:37,720 Speaker 1: note on the gold though, there wasn't any gold there. No, 128 00:07:38,040 --> 00:07:41,160 Speaker 1: they were bronze but filled with a golden residue, which 129 00:07:41,240 --> 00:07:44,920 Speaker 1: is what we're interested in. So forty years later, McGovern 130 00:07:45,120 --> 00:07:49,480 Speaker 1: is testing the samples for specific fingerprint compounds such as 131 00:07:49,640 --> 00:07:53,040 Speaker 1: tartaric acid, which would come from Middle Eastern grapes or 132 00:07:53,120 --> 00:07:57,000 Speaker 1: be indicative of Middle Eastern grapes, bees, wax um which 133 00:07:57,000 --> 00:08:00,360 Speaker 1: would be indicative of honey mead, and calcium, a slate 134 00:08:00,520 --> 00:08:03,520 Speaker 1: or beer stone, which would indicate the presence of barley beer. 135 00:08:04,000 --> 00:08:07,120 Speaker 1: So again, like the Chinese find, Midas's brew must have 136 00:08:07,200 --> 00:08:10,080 Speaker 1: been a combo of grape wine, honey, meat, and barley beer. 137 00:08:10,480 --> 00:08:12,840 Speaker 1: And it was at this point that McGovern started to 138 00:08:12,880 --> 00:08:15,160 Speaker 1: get curious about the taste of a beverage like that, 139 00:08:15,360 --> 00:08:18,040 Speaker 1: because it doesn't sound very good, does it. I thought 140 00:08:18,080 --> 00:08:20,880 Speaker 1: it sounded okay. I don't know if that's some fruity essence. 141 00:08:20,920 --> 00:08:23,960 Speaker 1: Honey always sounds good to me. I'm I'm not exactly 142 00:08:24,040 --> 00:08:26,680 Speaker 1: sure what mead tastes like anyway, but I'm just imagining 143 00:08:26,720 --> 00:08:28,960 Speaker 1: if you mixed your glass of wine and your bottle 144 00:08:29,000 --> 00:08:32,000 Speaker 1: of beer together. Oh yeah, not very good. Not very 145 00:08:32,320 --> 00:08:35,600 Speaker 1: McGovern was curious, though, He wanted to know if there 146 00:08:36,000 --> 00:08:39,520 Speaker 1: was something better sounding than just nixing your store bought 147 00:08:39,640 --> 00:08:43,240 Speaker 1: bruised together, so he announced a competition among microbrewers who 148 00:08:43,280 --> 00:08:46,120 Speaker 1: were attending a dinner at the museum and challenged them 149 00:08:46,240 --> 00:08:49,800 Speaker 1: with recreating the brew. Dog fish Head Brewery one out 150 00:08:50,280 --> 00:08:53,640 Speaker 1: and McGovern helped them create a recreation of Midas's drink. 151 00:08:54,040 --> 00:08:56,199 Speaker 1: So just a cool note on this, The bittering agent 152 00:08:56,360 --> 00:08:59,160 Speaker 1: used in this drink wasn't hops, which was only introduced 153 00:08:59,200 --> 00:09:02,160 Speaker 1: to Europe around seven a D but saffron and I 154 00:09:02,320 --> 00:09:06,280 Speaker 1: just made some Moroccan food recently that required having to 155 00:09:06,360 --> 00:09:10,120 Speaker 1: buy some saffron, and it is literally the world's most 156 00:09:10,200 --> 00:09:13,160 Speaker 1: expensive spice. So this would have been some pretty high 157 00:09:13,360 --> 00:09:16,439 Speaker 1: end beer for sure. And it's interesting, much like the 158 00:09:16,640 --> 00:09:20,920 Speaker 1: beer we're tasting now. Dog fish Head did a recreation 159 00:09:21,120 --> 00:09:23,720 Speaker 1: of this Mida spear called what is it called Midas 160 00:09:23,760 --> 00:09:26,559 Speaker 1: Touch Midas Touch. Yeah, And there was this article in 161 00:09:26,720 --> 00:09:29,480 Speaker 1: the Smithsonian, the August two thousand eleven issue, so the 162 00:09:29,559 --> 00:09:33,000 Speaker 1: most recent issue about this whole process of dog fish 163 00:09:33,040 --> 00:09:35,520 Speaker 1: Head recreating these brews. And there's a lot on the 164 00:09:35,600 --> 00:09:38,360 Speaker 1: government in his career. And my favorite quote from this 165 00:09:38,559 --> 00:09:41,520 Speaker 1: article was a quote from a colleague of McGovern's named 166 00:09:41,520 --> 00:09:44,679 Speaker 1: Alexei vron Rich, who is an expert on pre Columbian Peru, 167 00:09:45,200 --> 00:09:48,040 Speaker 1: and he said, quote, I keep telling people that beer 168 00:09:48,160 --> 00:09:51,199 Speaker 1: is more important than armies when it comes to understanding people, 169 00:09:51,480 --> 00:09:54,040 Speaker 1: and that's true. It really does teach us not just 170 00:09:54,280 --> 00:09:59,520 Speaker 1: about the society, but their agricultural abilities, their trade, their 171 00:09:59,559 --> 00:10:03,599 Speaker 1: religio and what sort of traditions they had. And it 172 00:10:03,720 --> 00:10:06,719 Speaker 1: even teaches us a little bit about what kind of 173 00:10:06,960 --> 00:10:09,920 Speaker 1: medical knowledge they had, which I found to be a 174 00:10:10,040 --> 00:10:14,000 Speaker 1: really interesting discovery in this podcast that beer or alcohol 175 00:10:14,559 --> 00:10:17,520 Speaker 1: was even known to very ancient people as having some 176 00:10:17,840 --> 00:10:20,880 Speaker 1: sort of beneficial properties to it. And it brings us 177 00:10:20,920 --> 00:10:23,480 Speaker 1: to the next entry on this list, which is an 178 00:10:23,559 --> 00:10:26,640 Speaker 1: ancient beer. And just to give you a little background 179 00:10:26,720 --> 00:10:30,319 Speaker 1: on this, for more than twenty years, every University anthropologist 180 00:10:30,440 --> 00:10:33,640 Speaker 1: George arm Lagos and his team had been studying bones 181 00:10:33,840 --> 00:10:37,640 Speaker 1: dated to between a d. Three fifty and five fifty 182 00:10:37,840 --> 00:10:41,320 Speaker 1: from Nubia, an ancient kingdom south of ancient Egypt along 183 00:10:41,360 --> 00:10:45,079 Speaker 1: the Nile River. And this was long ago, maybe the 184 00:10:45,160 --> 00:10:49,120 Speaker 1: early eighties, when they found traces of the antibiotic tetracycline 185 00:10:49,160 --> 00:10:52,800 Speaker 1: in the bones. Now today, tetracycline is actually used from 186 00:10:52,960 --> 00:10:57,599 Speaker 1: everything from acne flare ups to urinary tract infections, and 187 00:10:57,760 --> 00:11:00,520 Speaker 1: it only came into commercial use about half a entry ago, 188 00:11:00,800 --> 00:11:05,719 Speaker 1: because after all, Alexander Fleming only discovered penicillin back in right. So, 189 00:11:06,080 --> 00:11:08,400 Speaker 1: of course this could have an impact on the study 190 00:11:08,440 --> 00:11:11,200 Speaker 1: of the relationship between microbes and antibiotics, but it also 191 00:11:11,280 --> 00:11:14,640 Speaker 1: makes you wonder how did the tetracycline get into these 192 00:11:14,720 --> 00:11:17,319 Speaker 1: bones in the first place. It was in more than 193 00:11:18,120 --> 00:11:20,120 Speaker 1: of the bones. They were looking at including those of 194 00:11:20,160 --> 00:11:25,679 Speaker 1: a toddler. So Armlogus, who specializes in reconstructing ancient diets, 195 00:11:25,760 --> 00:11:30,320 Speaker 1: proposed that the Nubians made the tetracycline in their beer. 196 00:11:31,000 --> 00:11:34,120 Speaker 1: But the way he reached that conclusion is pretty interesting. 197 00:11:34,240 --> 00:11:39,480 Speaker 1: So tetracycline is produced by a soil bacteria that's called streptomiases, 198 00:11:39,679 --> 00:11:44,120 Speaker 1: and that bacteria really thrives in warm, arid climates like 199 00:11:44,440 --> 00:11:48,160 Speaker 1: that of ancient Nubia. So according to arm Lagos, the 200 00:11:48,240 --> 00:11:52,319 Speaker 1: ancient Nubians store their grain in mud ben so there 201 00:11:52,400 --> 00:11:54,640 Speaker 1: was a pretty high chance that the grain could have 202 00:11:54,760 --> 00:11:58,600 Speaker 1: been contaminated by this bacteria. And in looking at how 203 00:11:58,640 --> 00:12:01,720 Speaker 1: the grain was used, they came across a recipe for beer, 204 00:12:02,120 --> 00:12:05,319 Speaker 1: because back then beer was probably a tastier way of 205 00:12:05,440 --> 00:12:08,520 Speaker 1: consuming the grain rather than eating it. So it's pretty 206 00:12:08,600 --> 00:12:12,760 Speaker 1: likely that the contaminated grain in turn contaminated a batch 207 00:12:12,800 --> 00:12:14,920 Speaker 1: of beer. And there you go. So once the Nubians 208 00:12:15,000 --> 00:12:17,760 Speaker 1: noticed that that beer made them feel better and cured 209 00:12:18,000 --> 00:12:21,040 Speaker 1: maybe some bacterial infections they might have had, they started 210 00:12:21,080 --> 00:12:23,439 Speaker 1: to propagate it. Now you may wonder could they have 211 00:12:23,520 --> 00:12:26,120 Speaker 1: actually had the skills to propagate that, And researchers have 212 00:12:26,240 --> 00:12:28,440 Speaker 1: kind of answered this. They said that they probably did 213 00:12:28,559 --> 00:12:30,559 Speaker 1: know how to propagate beer because they were doing the 214 00:12:30,640 --> 00:12:34,520 Speaker 1: same thing with wine and streptomyces produces a golden colored 215 00:12:34,640 --> 00:12:37,320 Speaker 1: bacterial colony that would have floated on top of the beer, 216 00:12:37,760 --> 00:12:40,960 Speaker 1: and since ancient cultures revered gold, this was probably another 217 00:12:41,120 --> 00:12:44,760 Speaker 1: reason that they encouraged propagation of it too. Yeah, definitely, 218 00:12:45,160 --> 00:12:47,480 Speaker 1: and arm Lagos co authored a study about this with 219 00:12:47,600 --> 00:12:50,520 Speaker 1: chemist Mark Nelson, which was published in the American Journal 220 00:12:50,559 --> 00:12:53,400 Speaker 1: of Physical Anthropology in June two thousand tents, so just 221 00:12:53,520 --> 00:12:56,800 Speaker 1: last year. And to prove that that antibiotic beer was possible, 222 00:12:56,960 --> 00:12:59,679 Speaker 1: Armilagos actually had as grad students try to make it, 223 00:12:59,760 --> 00:13:02,800 Speaker 1: which I think sounds really fun. But it wasn't beer 224 00:13:02,880 --> 00:13:05,439 Speaker 1: as we think of it today. This this beer from 225 00:13:05,480 --> 00:13:07,920 Speaker 1: the past. It was more like a serial gruel our, 226 00:13:08,000 --> 00:13:11,040 Speaker 1: Malagas explains, and a quote of his and wired describes 227 00:13:11,120 --> 00:13:14,319 Speaker 1: the taste. Thus he says, my students said that it 228 00:13:14,440 --> 00:13:16,959 Speaker 1: was quote not bad, but it is like a sour 229 00:13:17,160 --> 00:13:20,400 Speaker 1: porridge substance. The ancient people would have drained the liquid 230 00:13:20,480 --> 00:13:23,840 Speaker 1: off and also eaten the gruel, and so children would 231 00:13:23,840 --> 00:13:25,760 Speaker 1: have probably been allowed to eat the stuff left over 232 00:13:25,840 --> 00:13:27,920 Speaker 1: the bottom of the vat too. I think that not 233 00:13:28,160 --> 00:13:32,280 Speaker 1: bad quote requires like a certain kind of intonation depending 234 00:13:32,320 --> 00:13:34,480 Speaker 1: on how you're gonna are gonna see. It doesn't sound 235 00:13:34,520 --> 00:13:36,640 Speaker 1: good to me. Maybe depends on your taste level, I 236 00:13:36,720 --> 00:13:38,880 Speaker 1: guess though. It reminded me though, if the dog fish 237 00:13:38,960 --> 00:13:43,079 Speaker 1: had founder. He actually described that to modern palettes, a 238 00:13:43,160 --> 00:13:45,959 Speaker 1: lot of these ancient brews wouldn't be good at all. 239 00:13:46,080 --> 00:13:48,720 Speaker 1: They would have these thick lumps in them, and people 240 00:13:48,720 --> 00:13:52,880 Speaker 1: actually drank them with straws to filter all of that out. 241 00:13:52,960 --> 00:13:54,439 Speaker 1: And I don't know if I found a lump in 242 00:13:54,559 --> 00:13:57,920 Speaker 1: my drink unless it's bubble tea, I don't know. I'm 243 00:13:57,960 --> 00:14:01,560 Speaker 1: just imagining, like if you pour a beer in oatmeal. 244 00:14:02,120 --> 00:14:04,000 Speaker 1: Oh no, that's what it sounds to me when he 245 00:14:04,040 --> 00:14:06,760 Speaker 1: says a serial gruel. But maybe not. Maybe I'm off 246 00:14:06,840 --> 00:14:09,960 Speaker 1: on that. So we're not sure why the antibiotic beer 247 00:14:10,120 --> 00:14:13,240 Speaker 1: secret was lost to us. But our melogus is looking 248 00:14:13,320 --> 00:14:16,320 Speaker 1: for the tetracycling and bones of different cultures and he's 249 00:14:16,320 --> 00:14:20,000 Speaker 1: found evidences Latest fourteen hundred a D. So this is 250 00:14:20,080 --> 00:14:23,800 Speaker 1: still kind of a developing story, alright. So moving on, 251 00:14:24,160 --> 00:14:28,320 Speaker 1: we have another medicinal sort of alcohol, although this time 252 00:14:28,520 --> 00:14:32,880 Speaker 1: it is wine rather than beer, or rather than beer 253 00:14:33,000 --> 00:14:37,280 Speaker 1: poured in oatmeal is descraged it. So in nineteen German 254 00:14:37,400 --> 00:14:41,600 Speaker 1: archaeologists found a flakey yellow residue in a jar found 255 00:14:41,640 --> 00:14:45,880 Speaker 1: in the tomb belonging to King Scorpion, the first in Egypt, 256 00:14:45,960 --> 00:14:49,520 Speaker 1: and that tomb was built at about thirty one fifty BC, 257 00:14:50,000 --> 00:14:53,120 Speaker 1: so pretty ancient as far as the fines we've talked 258 00:14:53,120 --> 00:14:55,880 Speaker 1: about so far go. Working with a German group in 259 00:14:55,960 --> 00:14:58,920 Speaker 1: two thousand one, McGovern, who we keep on bringing up here, 260 00:14:59,240 --> 00:15:02,640 Speaker 1: determined that a residue had contained salt crystals that were 261 00:15:02,760 --> 00:15:07,080 Speaker 1: left behind when tartaric acid in grapes breaks down, and 262 00:15:07,640 --> 00:15:10,760 Speaker 1: that was evident that the wine, which is Egypt's oldest wine, 263 00:15:10,800 --> 00:15:14,080 Speaker 1: had been kept in the jar. But he didn't stop there. 264 00:15:14,280 --> 00:15:17,600 Speaker 1: McGovern and his colleagues used several chemical techniques to tease 265 00:15:17,640 --> 00:15:21,120 Speaker 1: out the other biological additives and match them two known plants. 266 00:15:21,680 --> 00:15:24,280 Speaker 1: The tests that they performed indicated the presence of tree 267 00:15:24,360 --> 00:15:27,800 Speaker 1: resin and also several herbs. The test they did, though 268 00:15:27,840 --> 00:15:30,480 Speaker 1: weren't precise enough to figure out the exact herbs that 269 00:15:30,520 --> 00:15:35,640 Speaker 1: were used, but probably things like bombs, senna, coriander, mint, sage, 270 00:15:35,760 --> 00:15:39,120 Speaker 1: and time, all of which show up in ancient Egyptian 271 00:15:39,200 --> 00:15:42,520 Speaker 1: medical writings as treatments for a number of ailments. So 272 00:15:42,880 --> 00:15:46,440 Speaker 1: McGovern says, while these ingredients would have added flavor, they 273 00:15:46,480 --> 00:15:49,400 Speaker 1: were most likely chosen for their medicinal benefits. The jar 274 00:15:49,480 --> 00:15:52,560 Speaker 1: apparently also had an ancient label of sorts, maybe a 275 00:15:52,680 --> 00:15:55,120 Speaker 1: wine label we could call it, that identified it as 276 00:15:55,160 --> 00:15:58,920 Speaker 1: an herbal wine. Alright, So going back though, papyrus records 277 00:15:59,040 --> 00:16:02,640 Speaker 1: from is far back as eighteen fifty BC do make 278 00:16:02,760 --> 00:16:06,880 Speaker 1: reference to medicinal lines being used to treat various ailments, 279 00:16:06,960 --> 00:16:10,200 Speaker 1: and somehow the ancient Egyptians figured out that the alcohol 280 00:16:10,280 --> 00:16:13,640 Speaker 1: would preserve those herbal remedies and make them more potent. 281 00:16:13,840 --> 00:16:17,520 Speaker 1: It was a good delivery system essentially. But this new 282 00:16:17,600 --> 00:16:22,400 Speaker 1: discovery pushes back the use of medicinal lines fifteen hundred years, which, 283 00:16:22,640 --> 00:16:26,920 Speaker 1: according to National Geographic predates the advent of Egyptian vineyards. 284 00:16:27,040 --> 00:16:30,600 Speaker 1: Even so, that date means that these lines were obviously 285 00:16:30,760 --> 00:16:34,040 Speaker 1: not made in Egypt or grown in Egypt. At least, 286 00:16:34,080 --> 00:16:37,680 Speaker 1: they were instead imports from the Jordan River valley, which 287 00:16:37,960 --> 00:16:42,160 Speaker 1: obviously influenced the Egyptian farm a copia. These findings were 288 00:16:42,200 --> 00:16:44,960 Speaker 1: published in the proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 289 00:16:45,000 --> 00:16:48,720 Speaker 1: in April two thousand nine, and again with like the beer. 290 00:16:48,880 --> 00:16:52,400 Speaker 1: Researchers are still testing these wine medicine recipes and trying 291 00:16:52,440 --> 00:16:55,440 Speaker 1: to figure out why Egyptians found them useful and if 292 00:16:55,480 --> 00:16:57,440 Speaker 1: they could still be useful today if you hit on 293 00:16:57,480 --> 00:17:02,360 Speaker 1: the right recipe, could they help med some modern day elements? Well, 294 00:17:02,400 --> 00:17:05,119 Speaker 1: I think that about the antibiotic one too. That an 295 00:17:05,160 --> 00:17:08,680 Speaker 1: antibiotic could be delivered through a beer is kind of 296 00:17:08,720 --> 00:17:13,439 Speaker 1: an interesting twist on the pharmaceutical industry. Would probably make 297 00:17:13,440 --> 00:17:15,640 Speaker 1: a lot of people want to take their medicine probably, Yeah, 298 00:17:15,680 --> 00:17:18,040 Speaker 1: but well that's a major problem people not finishing your 299 00:17:18,080 --> 00:17:21,399 Speaker 1: course of antibiotics. But yeah, I'm probably getting ahead of myself. 300 00:17:21,520 --> 00:17:24,720 Speaker 1: We promised though that we would discuss this drink a 301 00:17:24,800 --> 00:17:27,040 Speaker 1: little bit, which is a dog fish head and it 302 00:17:27,280 --> 00:17:30,280 Speaker 1: is uh the same company that made the Midas Touch 303 00:17:30,359 --> 00:17:32,760 Speaker 1: as we mentioned, and works a lot with McGovern, the 304 00:17:32,920 --> 00:17:37,200 Speaker 1: archaeologist who keeps popping up. And it's called Via Broma 305 00:17:37,560 --> 00:17:41,280 Speaker 1: and it is the recreated version of the ancient Honduran 306 00:17:41,359 --> 00:17:44,840 Speaker 1: drink we started out with. And they couldn't use fresh 307 00:17:45,000 --> 00:17:48,600 Speaker 1: cacao fruit though from Honduras because it would go bad. 308 00:17:48,640 --> 00:17:51,160 Speaker 1: They've got to be able to make large enough batches 309 00:17:51,280 --> 00:17:54,040 Speaker 1: to sell this stuff. They're based in Delaware. I managed 310 00:17:54,080 --> 00:17:57,240 Speaker 1: to find it in Atlanta, so they can't have this 311 00:17:57,720 --> 00:18:01,000 Speaker 1: um spoiling fruit as the base of it. Instead, they 312 00:18:01,119 --> 00:18:06,040 Speaker 1: used Aztec chocolate, nibs and powder, and the bitterness is 313 00:18:06,160 --> 00:18:08,440 Speaker 1: offset by honey and corn. I was expecting it to 314 00:18:08,480 --> 00:18:11,320 Speaker 1: be pretty bitter because of the chocolate, but it's not. 315 00:18:11,760 --> 00:18:14,400 Speaker 1: It's not at all. I don't taste the chili after 316 00:18:14,560 --> 00:18:18,639 Speaker 1: taste though I don't either, but I'm not I'm not 317 00:18:18,800 --> 00:18:22,240 Speaker 1: very good at identifying specific flavors. I don't think I 318 00:18:22,320 --> 00:18:24,280 Speaker 1: am either. Maybe we're a bad pair to be doing this, 319 00:18:24,520 --> 00:18:27,280 Speaker 1: and very refined palate. But I do like it, I 320 00:18:27,320 --> 00:18:29,520 Speaker 1: can say I. Usually I was telling Sarah, I don't 321 00:18:29,640 --> 00:18:33,720 Speaker 1: like things that are fruity or spicy or otherwise flavors. 322 00:18:33,960 --> 00:18:36,000 Speaker 1: Really like things that are chocolate, at least if they're 323 00:18:36,200 --> 00:18:38,720 Speaker 1: alcohol based. But this doesn't seem that way. It's not 324 00:18:38,840 --> 00:18:42,680 Speaker 1: overpowering at all. And conveniently, it's called the drink of 325 00:18:42,720 --> 00:18:46,520 Speaker 1: the God. That's what the abroma means. So yeah, not 326 00:18:46,640 --> 00:18:50,040 Speaker 1: too bad, and I mean that not in a rule 327 00:18:50,160 --> 00:18:52,600 Speaker 1: the air kind of way. Yes, this is nothing like 328 00:18:52,680 --> 00:18:54,760 Speaker 1: beer and oatmeal, and I'm really sorry if we created 329 00:18:54,800 --> 00:18:57,080 Speaker 1: a bad visual for anyone, but we are going to 330 00:18:57,200 --> 00:19:00,479 Speaker 1: leave you on that note. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately if 331 00:19:00,480 --> 00:19:03,200 Speaker 1: you're interested in trying this beer. We're gonna now move 332 00:19:03,240 --> 00:19:07,359 Speaker 1: on to a listener mail. So, in keeping with the 333 00:19:07,400 --> 00:19:09,880 Speaker 1: idea of the Ancient America's since we just talked about 334 00:19:09,880 --> 00:19:13,600 Speaker 1: a Honduran influenced beer, we have a three part listener 335 00:19:13,680 --> 00:19:17,119 Speaker 1: mail from listeners Debbie and John and they actually sent 336 00:19:17,240 --> 00:19:20,199 Speaker 1: us three postcards from the Cookey Amounts because we did 337 00:19:20,240 --> 00:19:23,240 Speaker 1: a podcast on that recently and inspired them to visit. 338 00:19:23,359 --> 00:19:25,040 Speaker 1: And so I'm not gonna be able to read the 339 00:19:25,080 --> 00:19:26,919 Speaker 1: whole thing because it's kind of long, but I'm going 340 00:19:26,960 --> 00:19:28,920 Speaker 1: to read a couple parts of it. I'm going to 341 00:19:29,040 --> 00:19:31,320 Speaker 1: read what they just the introduction and then what they saw. 342 00:19:31,440 --> 00:19:34,760 Speaker 1: So she says, Hi, ladies, I'm sending three postcards of 343 00:19:34,800 --> 00:19:37,240 Speaker 1: our trip to Kahkia, so you can see the photo 344 00:19:37,359 --> 00:19:40,000 Speaker 1: view of the largest mound as it looks today, as 345 00:19:40,040 --> 00:19:42,280 Speaker 1: well as an artist rendering of how the area looked 346 00:19:42,320 --> 00:19:44,639 Speaker 1: when it was an ancient city. We were inspired to 347 00:19:44,720 --> 00:19:46,720 Speaker 1: take a road trip there by your podcast on the 348 00:19:46,800 --> 00:19:48,720 Speaker 1: city as well as a co worker who mentioned that 349 00:19:48,760 --> 00:19:51,240 Speaker 1: his uncle was an archaeologist at the University of Illinois. 350 00:19:51,560 --> 00:19:54,080 Speaker 1: The site was very interesting, with many displays of items 351 00:19:54,119 --> 00:19:56,959 Speaker 1: that were unearthed during the construction in the area and digs. 352 00:19:57,359 --> 00:19:59,480 Speaker 1: Although I always thought I would need to go outside 353 00:19:59,480 --> 00:20:01,840 Speaker 1: the US to see the history of a couple hundred 354 00:20:01,960 --> 00:20:04,080 Speaker 1: years old, I never knew I lived just a few 355 00:20:04,160 --> 00:20:07,200 Speaker 1: hundred miles from such a large ancient city. So thanks 356 00:20:07,280 --> 00:20:09,399 Speaker 1: for making us aware. We've really heard from a lot 357 00:20:09,440 --> 00:20:12,080 Speaker 1: of people who have gone ahead and made a trip 358 00:20:12,160 --> 00:20:15,000 Speaker 1: to Kahokia because they don't live too far and they 359 00:20:15,359 --> 00:20:18,840 Speaker 1: some of have even driven by before but have finally 360 00:20:19,000 --> 00:20:21,040 Speaker 1: decided to pull over and see it. Yeah, and it 361 00:20:21,080 --> 00:20:23,800 Speaker 1: looks like it's worth it. That photo on the first postcard, 362 00:20:23,840 --> 00:20:27,320 Speaker 1: which shows the mounts today is amazing. I really like 363 00:20:27,440 --> 00:20:30,399 Speaker 1: the artist rendition too, with the all the people and 364 00:20:30,600 --> 00:20:33,040 Speaker 1: buildings surrounding it too. Yeah. We may have to take 365 00:20:33,160 --> 00:20:35,280 Speaker 1: some photos of these to put on Facebook for everyone 366 00:20:35,359 --> 00:20:37,680 Speaker 1: to check out. But thank you Debbie and John for 367 00:20:37,760 --> 00:20:40,440 Speaker 1: sending these to us. I'm letting us know about your trip. 368 00:20:40,520 --> 00:20:43,480 Speaker 1: We appreciate that if you have any exciting travels that 369 00:20:43,560 --> 00:20:45,800 Speaker 1: you want to share with us maybe based on podcasts, 370 00:20:45,800 --> 00:20:48,480 Speaker 1: but they don't necessarily have to be based on previous podcasts. 371 00:20:48,600 --> 00:20:51,399 Speaker 1: Please go ahead and email us at History podcast at 372 00:20:51,440 --> 00:20:53,280 Speaker 1: house to works dot com, or you can look us 373 00:20:53,320 --> 00:20:55,600 Speaker 1: up on Twitter at Miston History or on Facebook. And 374 00:20:55,880 --> 00:20:57,920 Speaker 1: in the meantime, if you want to learn a little 375 00:20:57,960 --> 00:21:00,399 Speaker 1: bit more about how beer works, we've you have an 376 00:21:00,520 --> 00:21:03,480 Speaker 1: article on that topic. You can find it by searching 377 00:21:03,640 --> 00:21:07,760 Speaker 1: for how beer Works on the homepage at www dot 378 00:21:07,840 --> 00:21:13,560 Speaker 1: how stuff works dot com. Be sure to check out 379 00:21:13,560 --> 00:21:16,760 Speaker 1: our new video podcast, Stuff from the Future. Join how 380 00:21:16,800 --> 00:21:19,280 Speaker 1: Stuff Work staff as we explore the most promising and 381 00:21:19,400 --> 00:21:24,040 Speaker 1: perplexing possibilities of tomorrow. The House Stuff Works iPhone app 382 00:21:24,080 --> 00:21:26,720 Speaker 1: has arrived. Download it today on iTunes.