Katz's hypothesis sounds reasonable, but it is just another explanation for the problem of "beer or bread comes first" that has been going on for more than 30 years at that time. Tracing back to the source, the problems of beer and bread all started with a paper published by RobertBraidwood, an anthropologist at the University of Chicago, in Scientific American on June 1952+00. This paper describes an archaeological excavation in Breitwood, Zagros mountain area in eastern Iraq, in which it is mentioned that around 4750 BC, there were some artificially planted grains and vegetables in this area, and some traces of livestock were found. Although Brightwood did not explicitly say that cereal products were found this time, the paper left the following words: "It can be predicted that there will be artificially cultivated cereals in the Middle East, which directly shows the possibility of making bread with these cereals." After the paper was published, Jonathan. Sauer, a professor of botany at the University of Wisconsin, questioned in a private letter to Breitwood, "Maybe the original artificially cultivated grain was prepared for beer instead of bread." Brightwood then revealed this problem to his anthropological colleagues in the American Anthropologist magazine, and a long discussion began.
Brightwood's attitude is as euphemistic as his original paper. He listed the agricultural tools and utensils excavated in the Neolithic Age, and pointed out that although these utensils could not directly prove the existence of beer or bread in human daily life at that time, the wheat grains at the excavation site were all burnt without exception. "Although I have seen wheat grains baked for other purposes, maybe these wheat grains were burnt in the process of being baked into malt for brewing." Saul put forward botanical arguments that wild barley seeds are easy to fall off, and harvesting with Neolithic farm tools is extremely hard. Being able to take the trouble to serve such grain is, in his view, a kind of "more exciting labor than simple food". Hansel Baker, an authoritative expert on ancient crops who was then the curator of the Danish National Museum, denied the hypothesis that "baking malt leads to scorching of wheat grains". He said that the temperature required for baking malt is limited, and the wheat grains will never burn to this extent; In addition, "if fermentation is the primary use of artificially cultivated barley, it can be predicted that the dissemination of agricultural knowledge will be mainly based on brewing knowledge, but historical facts cannot prove this speculation."
Harvard scholar PaulMangelsdorf's response is the most tangled. He pointed out that in the early grains discovered by archaeology (including several wild barley and wheat), the glume, that is, the chaff, was still attached to the grain. Without further treatment, such grains are more suitable for brewing beer than bread. But he also pointed out that beer can't be regarded as the main source of carbohydrates, so "human beings can't live by beer alone, and even beer and meat together can't meet the needs of human survival." Mangelsdorf warned that western scholars were too bound by the concept of "fermented bread". In his view, unfermented raw bread is the originator of fermented bread and beer.
Katz's hypothesis is the latest response to this debate. Katz also asserted in the paper according to the latest archaeological discovery at that time: "Neolithic narrow-necked ceramic containers have been discovered, which are used to brew beer." Stavry Anoos's classic "General History of the World" almost certainly records that "by the end of the Neolithic Age, residents in the Near East ... had all kinds of utensils, which could be used not only to store grain, but also to cook food and store liquids, such as oil and beer. However, new evidence, whether from utensils or grains, is not enough to convincingly end this debate. Looking beyond the purely technical field, there is actually a bit of conscience behind this debate, just as Brightwood admitted with his typical twists and turns at the beginning of the debate: "Saul believes that thirst actually promotes the development of grain cultivation, not hunger. For me, this can't be said to be a completely unattractive idea. "
Contrary to Brightwood's euphemism, American writer Ken Wells directly supported Saul's view in his 2003 Walking with Barry. Wells's reason is extremely simple: "A few pieces of bread that are dry and hard and disgusting to look at may almost be an important factor in prompting people to give up fishing and hunting and start barley cultivation. Occasionally beer, the taste is really flattering, but the joy it brings is very modern. Recognizing this, those tribal people with empirical tendencies dare to take risks. Despite the poor taste, the wonderful sense of spiritual pleasure inspired the first beer drinkers to repeat the accidental fermentation process. "
According to archaeological findings, the "tribal people with empiricism" written by Wells should be Sumerians. Sumerian civilization is the earliest civilization in Mesopotamia and the earliest civilization in the world. According to the dating of radioactive carbon 14, Sumerian civilization can be traced back to 4000 BC and ended around 2000 BC, and was replaced by Babylonia founded by Semu people. 1992165438+1October, Nature magazine confirmed that traces of maltose were found in pottery pots dating back to 5,500 years ago in southern Mesopotamia, which is the earliest evidence that beer can be basically believed to exist so far. The history of the Sumerians planting barley in batches can be traced back to 4000 BC. Believers of "beer priority theory" believe that half of Sumerian grain collection is used for malt and then brewing beer.