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      Fermented beverages of pre- and proto-historic China

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          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.

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          New Chemical Evidence for the Use of Combed Ware Pottery Vessels as Beehives in Ancient Greece

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            Royal Purple dye: the chemical reconstruction of the ancient Mediterranean industry

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              The earliest writing? Sign use in the seventh millennium BC at Jiahu, Henan Province, China

              Early Neolithic graves at Jiahu, Henan Province, China, include tortoise shells which are incised with signs – some of which anticipate later Chinese characters and may be intended as words. Is this the earliest writing? The authors decide rather that the signs in this very early period performed as symbols connected with ritual practice, but they presage a long period of sign use which led eventually to a writing system.
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                Author and article information

                Journal
                Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
                Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
                Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
                0027-8424
                1091-6490
                December 21 2004
                December 21 2004
                December 08 2004
                December 21 2004
                : 101
                : 51
                : 17593-17598
                Article
                10.1073/pnas.0407921102
                539767
                15590771
                229ba3ba-586e-4a73-a9ac-3ed4dde69388
                © 2004
                History

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