A New Discovery of the World’s Oldest Beer
What I read
The BBC News article “World’s oldest brewery found in cave in Israel” (2018) illustrates that a beer history could be reviewed again. Beer production was considered to go back 5,000 years. However, it should have turned to discuss again after the latest exploration in a prehistoric cave near Hafnia in Israel. Dr. Liu, a professor at Stanford University, says that this finding may account for the oldest record man-made beverage in the world. Many clues found in the cave: wheat, barley and oat, indicate crops have been used for brewing over 13,000 years ago. Additionally, the researchers try to produce an ancient beer compared with a recent beer. It clearly confirms that two kinds of beer come from a fermentation process, but the recent beer possibly stronger than the ancient.
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My response
I had already read the article. I felt the latest discovery could force many people including me to get a new knowledge. I had been studied the history and production of beer when I was an
undergraduate student. It believed that beer had been brewed in the Egypt era- about 5,000 years ago- but now it should have reconsidered. After I read the findings of Dr. Liu and his team, it was very interesting. The evidences that they found such as cereals and crops milling in the stone mortar in the cave of Hafnia area, Israel showed clearly ages of over 13,000 years. In my point of view, I’d like to suggest that the beer history should have changed in the textbooks. It could be said that the beer brewing has been made in the Paleolithic and Neolithic period, not originally made in the Egypt period as recently thought.
Surprisingly, the researchers further had produced two kinds of beers, an ancient beer and a modern beer, for comparing. They found that two kinds of beers had made from the same process- fermentation- but the modern beer is probably stronger than the ancient beer. In this case, it’s not surprised me, it may amaze other people who were not studied in the major of microbiology or food sciences. The ancient beer was weaker than the modern beer because the yeast strains, eukaryotic microorganisms converting sugars to alcohol, using in the fermentation process are different. The yeast strains at present have been processed to genetic modification by environmental stresses or genetic engineering techniques, so the modern beer has better tastes and high alcohol. In summary, I think the discovery of the oldest beer in the cave in Israel might be led numerous researchers get ideas to survey more evidence of beverage in the Middle East for proposing novel knowledge and clearly improving the history of beer. ___________________________________
Surprisingly, the researchers further had produced two kinds of beers, an ancient beer and a modern beer, for comparing. They found that two kinds of beers had made from the same process- fermentation- but the modern beer is probably stronger than the ancient beer. In this case, it’s not surprised me, it may amaze other people who were not studied in the major of microbiology or food sciences. The ancient beer was weaker than the modern beer because the yeast strains, eukaryotic microorganisms converting sugars to alcohol, using in the fermentation process are different. The yeast strains at present have been processed to genetic modification by environmental stresses or genetic engineering techniques, so the modern beer has better tastes and high alcohol. In summary, I think the discovery of the oldest beer in the cave in Israel might be led numerous researchers get ideas to survey more evidence of beverage in the Middle East for proposing novel knowledge and clearly improving the history of beer. ___________________________________
My question
1. Do you think that evidences can propose a new record of the world’s oldest beer?
2. Do you think that the modern beer is stronger than the ancient beer?
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Reference
- BBC News. (2018, September 15). World’s oldest brewery found in cave in Israel, say researchers. Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-45534133#
A few people chose to summarize and respond to articles about drugs, which perhaps reflects the strong interest our species has had in drugs for millennia, as Kieng's post about alcohol shows. In fact, as I read The Sydney Morning Herald with my morning coffee a short time ago, there was an article about domestic violence there that I emailed myself as something I might summarize and comment on — as usual, the addictive drug alcohol is a common cause of violence. And as Kieng's article shows, the history of our addiction to this drug goes back a long way.
ReplyDeleteAs I read I was also wondering just how long we humans have been using opium and other drugs, all of which have existed for thousands of years. The odd thing is that since all of these drugs were not illegal for most of human history, perhaps the modern obsession with controlling people's personal decisions that do not harm others is not justified. The other thing that worries me is that alcohol is worse for society than many illegal drugs: if people are imprisoned for using, selling or producing yaa baa and marijuana, then they should be put into prison for much longer for producing, selling or using the even more harmful drug alcohol. The law of many countries seems both irrational and immoral in the unequal treatment of popular drugs of addiction.
Thankfully, my only addiction is to coffee, which is a healthy drug to be addicted to. My morning and afternoon hits of this very popular addictive substance are a relaxing time for me to browse the news, sometimes adding a bit of writing.
Wow! I never thought that beer existed for such a long period of time. I believe that most modern beers are stronger than the ancient ones due to technology development. By technology, I mean that humans use it to improve the fermentation process. In ancient times, humans had no clue about microbiology which is a knowledge factor for making fine quality beer.
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