考古發現顯示中國五千年前已開始釀造啤酒
HONG KONG — China is abuzz with craft brewing, with small-scale operations popping up around the country and churning out beer tasting of everything from goji berries to green tea.
香港——在中國，精釀啤酒正在成爲一種風尚，小型精釀作坊在全國各地紛紛冒出，釀造從枸杞到綠茶等各種口味的啤酒。
But like many things in China, what’s new isn’t that new. In this case, it’s about 5,000 years old.
但是就像中國的很多東西一樣，新的風尚其實古已有之。大約5000年前，中國人就已經在釀造啤酒了。
A group of researchers in China and the United States have analyzed pottery vessels discovered at a site in Shaanxi Province and determined that they are the first direct evidence of a beer-brewing operation. And the ingredients they discovered are as eclectic as any trendy brewpub’s: broomcorn millet, tubers and a grain known as Job’s tears.
中國和美國的研究人員對陝西省發現的一批陶器進行了分析，證明它們是啤酒釀造活動的首個直接證據。他們在陶器裏發現了黍、根莖作物和薏米的成分，這樣不拘一格的選材可以和當下的時髦啤酒釀造坊媲美。
The scholars’ paper, which was published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS), says the mix of ingredients was probably achieved through trial and error. The tubers, which included snake gourd root, contribute starch and sugars for fermentation and also add a sweet flavor to the beer, they wrote.
他們的論文本週發表在《美國國家科學院院刊》（Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences，簡稱PNAS）上，研究者稱這種成分組成可能是通過不斷試錯的方法獲得的。他們寫道，根莖包括絲瓜根，它可以促進澱粉和糖分發酵，給啤酒添加香甜口味。
The study was based on analysis of a “beer-making tool kit” that includes a funnel, shards of pots and amphorae, and a pottery stove that would have been used for mashing. Radiocarbon dating of the Mijiaya site near the Chan River in Shaanxi Province dates it to 3400 to 2900 B.C.
這項研究的對象是一個“啤酒製作器物套件組”，其中包括一個漏斗、一些闊口罐和小口尖底瓶的碎片，還有一個用於澱粉糖化的陶竈。根據放射性碳測年技術的測定，陝西省陳河附近的米家崖遺址介於公元前3400年到公元前2900年之間。
A yellowish residue from inside the funnel and pot shards was analyzed to discern the ingredients. The starches showed signs of damage that resemble what happens in the process of beer brewing, the authors said.
他們對漏斗和壺碎片上發黃的殘留物進行分析，辨別它的成分。結果發現，殘留物中含有很多出現損傷跡象的澱粉粒，與釀酒過程中澱粉粒的損傷特徵類似。
“It makes a very convincing case that this was a beer-making facility,” Patrick McGovern, scientific director of the Biomolecular Archaeology Project at the University of Pennsylvania Museum, told the blog PNAS Journal Club. He was not involved in the study.
“這是很有說服力的證據，說明它們是釀酒器物，”賓夕法尼亞大學博物館(University of Pennsylvania Museum)生物分子考古項目的科學主管帕特里克·麥戈文(Patrick McGovern)對PNAS Journal Club博客說。他沒有參與這項研究。
The presence of barley, which did not become an important subsistence crop until the Han dynasty, 3,000 years later, led the authors to suggest that alcohol production was an important reason for the grain’s introduction from western Eurasia, where it was first domesticated.
大麥首先最初是在歐亞大陸被馴化的，在中原，直到3000年之後的漢代，大麥才成爲了一種重要口糧作物，所以作者們認爲，釀酒是中原從西域引入大麥的一個重要原因。
“Beer was probably an important part of ritual feasting in ancient China,” one of the study’s authors, Jiajing Wang of Stanford University, told the Journal Club. “So it’s possible that this finding of beer is associated with increased social complexity and changing events of the time.”
“啤酒可能是中國古代儀式盛宴的重要組成部分，”這篇論文的作者之一、斯坦福大學考古專業博士生王佳靜告訴Journal Club博客。“我們在古代中原地區發現的酒，可以和當時發生的社會變化聯繫起來。”
Although the brew remnants that were discovered are truly ancient, they are not the oldest that have been uncovered in China. Mr. McGovern and a team of scholars from China, Germany and the United States wrote a 2004 paper for PNAS that analyzed 9,000-year-old pottery jars found in a neolithic village site in Henan Province called Jiahu. Based on their analysis, the jars held a rice, honey and fruit beverage.
雖然他們發現的這些釀造殘留物的確來自古代，但卻不是已發現的中國最古老的這類遺蹟。在2004年的一篇PNAS論文中，麥戈文和一個由中國、德國和美國學者組成的團隊對一些有9000年曆史的陶罐進行過分析，它們來自河南省一個名叫賈湖的新石器時代村落遺址。據他們分析，這些陶罐曾盛載過用水稻、蜂蜜和水果釀造的飲料。
Mr. McGovern worked with Dogfish Head Brewery in Delaware to recreate that recipe in a beverage known as Chateau Jiahu.
麥戈文與特拉華州的角鯊頭啤酒坊(Dogfish Head Brewery)合作，復原了這個古代配方，用它釀造了一種名爲“賈湖城”(Chateau Jiahu)的飲料。
