Patrick E. McGovern

University of Pennsylvania | UP · Anthropology and Near East Section

Comparable to Drieu et al.’s viewpoint, we argue that it is possible to identify ancient Eurasian grape wine by current biomolecular methods, but only in conjunction with the relevant archaeological, archaeobotanical, and other natural and social scientific data. Additionally, we advocate an inductive–deductive working hypothesis model, which is ap...

Egyptian archaeological and scientific manual, to be translated into Arabic. Editor: Rinaub David, Ambassade de France à Khartoum (Soudan)

An integrated approach using contextual, use-wear, scientific and experimental methods was used to analyze the role of stone troughs of up to 165 l capacity at the Early Neolithic site Göbekli Tepe in the context of other stone containers found there. Around 600 (mostly fragmentary) vessels from the site constitute the largest known assemblage f...

We agree that absolute certainty in identifying ancient Eurasian grape/wine residues is unobtainable by current biomolecular archaeological methods, as it is for any working hypothesis in the “historical science” of archaeology, based on a very limited and degraded database. Chemistry, archaeology, and ancillary historical and social sciences need...

As explained in the original preface to The Foreign Relations of the "Hyksos": A Neutron Activation Study of Middle Bronze Age Pottery from the Eastern Mediterranean, Dr. Manfred Bietak was first given the opportunity to publish the line-drawing figures of the pottery analyzed from Tell el-Dab`a (Appendix 1). He has now largely accomplished this in...

Details about this book can be accessed on my website, under "Books" @: https://www.penn.museum/sites/biomoleculararchaeology/?page_id=98 Afterword provides extensive update.

To substantiate and illustrate the centrality of molecular archaeology in bridging the divide between the natural sciences and the humanities, this chapter draws upon laboratory research on ‘fermentation’ and ‘ancient medicine’. Fermentation is probably the first energy system on Earth, which is embodied in the physiology of all animals including h...

You can access this file on my website, under “Articles”: https://www.penn.museum/sites/biomoleculararchaeology/?page_id=435 Fermentation (anaerobic glycolysis) was probably the first energy systemon Earth. It is embodied in the metabolic cellular structures of aerobic organisms, including ourselves, as the Krebs (tricarboxylic acid/citric acid) cy...

Multiple, highly sensitive chemical techniques were used to analyze ancient pottery vessels from an excavated cemetery in Colima, west-central Mexico, dated to the Capacha phase (ca. 1500-1000 B.C). A double-chambered jar type, together with bowl and miniature cup types, are hypothesized to have been used as a pre-Hispanic distillation still. The r...

This communication will provide the latest information about the progress of the “Research Project for the Study of Georgian Grapes and Wine Culture”, managed by the National Wine Agency of Georgia since 2014. Local and foreign institutions continue to work together with the aim of stimulating multidisciplinary scientific research activity on Georg...

You can access this file on my website, under “Articles”: https://www.penn.museum/sites/biomoleculararchaeology/?page_id=435

Ligabue Magazine, 2nd issue 2018: https://www.ligabuemagazine.it/it/magazine.html?tag=&arg=3&anno=0&autore=0

Early Neolithic wine of Georgia in the South Caucasus

Significance The earliest biomolecular archaeological and archaeobotanical evidence for grape wine and viniculture from the Near East, ca. 6,000–5,800 BC during the early Neolithic Period, was obtained by applying state-of-the-art archaeological, archaeobotanical, climatic, and chemical methods to newly excavated materials from two sites in Georgia...

Details about this book can be accessed on my website, under "Books" @: https://www.penn.museum/sites/biomoleculararchaeology/?page_id=98

In 2014, the National Wine Agency of the Republic of Georgia initiated a three-year “ResearchProject for the study of Georgian Grapes and Wine Culture. Through collaborative research by Georgianand foreign institutions and researchers, the project aims to: stimulate research of Georgian viticulture andviniculture, through the lens of the country wi...

Benzaldehyde is well recognized as the predominant aroma in bitter almond (Prunus dulcis var amara) and is released from amygdalin upon enzymatic hydrolysis followed by a loss of hydrogen cyanide. Sweet almond (Prunus dulcis Mill. D.A. Webb) has a sweeter, nuttier aroma than the bitter variety. While benzaldehyde is detected in raw sweet almond, it...

Details about this book can be accessed on my website, under "Books" @: https://www.penn.museum/sites/biomoleculararchaeology/?page_id=98

Details about this book can be accessed on my website, under "Books" @: https://www.penn.museum/sites/biomoleculararchaeology/?page_id=98

Working hypotheses, which draw upon as many relevant disciplines as possible to derive the maximum information from a very limited database, are key to the highly interdisciplinary field of organic residue analysis in archaeology, a branch of biomolecular archaeology. Archaeology and chemistry are most important for effectively developing and testi...

The combined archaeological, biomolecular, and archaeobotanical evidence from four sites in Denmark (Nandrup, Kostræde, and Juellinge) and Sweden (Havor on the island of Gotland) provide key reference points for reconstructing ‘Nordic grog’ from ca. 1500 BC to the first century AD. In general, Nordic peoples preferred a hybrid beverage or ‘grog,’ i...

You can access this file on my website, under “Articles”: https://www.penn.museum/sites/biomoleculararchaeology/?page_id=435

Chemical analyses of ancient organic compounds absorbed into the pottery fabrics of imported Etruscan amphoras (ca. 500-475 B.C.) and into a limestone pressing platform (ca. 425-400 B.C.) at the ancient coastal port site of Lattara in southern France provide the earliest biomolecular archaeological evidence for grape wine and viniculture from this...

The Department of Viticulture and Oenology (DVO) and the Institute for Wine Biotechnology (IWBT) at Stellenbosch University present an ANCIENT WINE MINI-SYMPOSIUM: UNCORKING THE PAST: THE QUEST FOR WINE, BEER, AND EXTREME FERMENTED BEVERAGES to host the visit of Dr Patrick McGovern (USA)

Humans around the globe probably discovered natural remedies against disease and cancer by trial and error over the millennia. Biomolecular archaeological analyses of ancient organics, especially plants dissolved or decocted as fermented beverages, have begun to reveal the preliterate histories of traditional pharmacopeias, which often date back th...

Details about this book can be accessed on my website, under "Books@: https://www.penn.museum/sites/biomoleculararchaeology/?page_id=98

Chemical analyses of ancient organics absorbed into pottery jars from the beginning of advanced ancient Egyptian culture, ca. 3150 B.C., and continuing for millennia have revealed that a range of natural products--specifically, herbs and tree resins--were dispensed by grape wine. These findings provide chemical evidence for ancient Egyptian organic...

The structural analysis and origin of Royal Purple dye as used in historic times are described and discussed.

Volatilization of dibromoindigotin can result in photodehalogenation which falsifies results. The technique, it is suggested, can be refined by the employment of solvents such as dimethylsulphoxide to extract the dye.

In the book is discussed the questions of conservation and investigation of local and introduced varieties of grapevine and fruit crops. It is dedicated to wide auditory of researchers, professors and teachers of high schools, students and agriculturists interesting problems of germplasm.

Chemical analyses of residues extracted from pottery vessels from Puerto Escondido in what is now Honduras show that cacao beverages were being made there before 1000 B.C., extending the confirmed use of cacao back at least 500 years. The famous chocolate beverage served on special occasions in later times in Mesoamerica, especially by elites, was...

The domestication of the Eurasian grape (Vitis vinifera ssp. sativa) from its wild ancestor (Vitis vinifera ssp. sylvestris) has long been claimed to have occurred in Transcaucasia where its greatest genetic diversity is found and where very early archaeological evidence, including grape pips and artefacts of a 'wine culture', have been excavated....

We present here the first large-scale genetic characterization of grape cultivars from Transcaucasia and Anatolia. These regions where wild grapes still grow in nature have been cultivating wine and table grapes for thousands of years and are considered the cradles of viticulture. Using 12 nuclear microsatellite markers, we genotyped 116 accessions...

Humans around the world have shown a remarkable propensity to ferment available sugar sources into alcoholic beverages. These drinks have contributed significantly to cultural innovation and development, including agricultural and horticultural skills to harness natural resources; technologies to produce the beverages and to make special vessels to...

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 f...

Details about this book can be accessed on my website, under "Books@: https://www.penn.museum/sites/biomoleculararchaeology/?page_id=98

Details about this book can be accessed on my website, under "Books@: https://www.penn.museum/sites/biomoleculararchaeology/?page_id=98 This volume presents contemporary evidence scientific, archaeological, botanical, textual, and historical for major revisions in our understanding of winemaking in antiquity. Among the subjects covered are the dome...

You can access this file on my website, under “Articles”: https://www.penn.museum/sites/biomoleculararchaeology/?page_id=435

Saccharomyces cerevisiae is the principal yeast used in modern fermentation processes, including winemaking, breadmaking, and brewing. From residue present inside one of the earliest known wine jars from Egypt, we have extracted, amplified, and sequenced ribosomal DNA from S. cerevisiae. These results indicate that this organism was probably respon...

The history of civilization is, in many ways, the history of wine. This book is the first comprehensive and up-to-date account of the earliest stages of vinicultural history and prehistory, which extends back into the Neolithic period and beyond. Elegantly written and richly illustrated, Ancient Wine opens up whole new chapters in the fascinating s...

A royal banquet has been reconstructed from residues in pots found inside the tomb.

Neutron Activation Analysis and selective organic contents analysis were carried out for a group of 50 Malkata wine, honey, 'ale', ben-oil, and meat ostraca, together with seven additional New Kingdom reference samples from Thebes. Most of the ostraca and all of the reference samples form a tight chemical group, indicating that they were most likel...

Details about this book can be accessed on my website, under "Books@: https://www.penn.museum/sites/biomoleculararchaeology/?page_id=98

The Dolphin Vase which was excavated from a Middle Kingdom Egyptian tomb at the capital city of Lisht, is so named because of its naturalistic depiction of dolphins. This pottery jug, dated ca. 1750-1700 B. C., epitomizes the network of international relations of a prosperous period: found in Egypt, the dolphins appear to be Minoan in style and yet...

Beth Shan, strategically located at the juncture of the Jordan and Jezreel Valleys where major trade routes intersected, was architecturally restructured in the 13th century B. C. E. as one of the most important late New Kingdom Egyptian bases in Palestine. The archaeological and technological evidence from the site provides a unique perspective on...

The study of glass offers some special challenges for PIXE spectrometry, because of the complex trace element patterns which will result from the mixing of several ingredients to produce certain colors. This paper addresses such issues, to the extent that they influence characterization of ancient glass and related frits. Emphasis is placed upon th...

Transmission and diffuse-reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectrometry (DRIFTS) were used to examine acetone extracts of red deposits in a jar recovered from Godin Tepe, located in the Zagros Mountains of western Iran and dating approximately 3500-2900 BC (Period V, the late Uruk period). These spectra were compared with those obtained from t...

The composition of the indigoid dyes and their precursors derived from the hypobranchial glandular secretions of Murex trunculus and Murex brandaris have been determined by high-resolution mass spectrometry. M trunculus secretions yielded three dyes: 6,6′-dibromoindigotin (DBI; CI 75800), indigotin (Cl Natural Blue 1; Cl 75780) and 6-bromoindigotin...

Among the rich finds from an early second millennium B. C. tomb at Dinkha Tepe in northwestern Iran was a collection of more than 140 beads, made of glass, frit, and semiprecious stones, which were probably worn as necklaces by the deceased. Fifty-eight of the beads were of glass and frit, and constitute one of the earliest, sizable groups of these...

Details about this book can be accessed on my website, under "Books@: https://www.penn.museum/sites/biomoleculararchaeology/?page_id=98

You can access this file on my website, under “Articles”: https://www.penn.museum/sites/biomoleculararchaeology/?page_id=435

You can access this file on my website, under “Articles”: https://www.penn.museum/sites/biomoleculararchaeology/?page_id=435

The first part of this paper describes some of the novel features of the Bartol Research Institute's PIXE facility that have made it such an effective analytical tool for the study of a diversity of ancient materials. The gains of selective filtering of the X-ray spectrum (to enhance detection limits for minor and trace elements), and of a “microbe...

Proton-induced X-ray emission (PIXE) spectrometry has several practical advantages over other analytical techniques currently used in the study of ancient glass. It is nondestructive, it can conveniently determine a glassmaking recipe (i.e. the primary constituents used) within a single X-ray spectrum, it has superior detection limits for the minor...

High–resolution mass spectrometry provides an expeditious technique for positively identifying indigoid dyes of molluscan origin. Indigoids on modern and ancient textile fibres, as well as indigoid mixtures produced by reactions, are discussed. Steam treatment of the fibre or isolation of the dye by solvent extraction permits the analysis by mass s...

Details about this book can be accessed on my website, under "Books@: https://www.penn.museum/sites/biomoleculararchaeology/?page_id=98

You can access this file on my website, under “Articles”: https://www.penn.museum/sites/biomoleculararchaeology/?page_id=435

Proton induced X-ray emission (PIXE) spectrometry has several practical advantages over other analytical techniques currently in use in archaeological research. It is nondestructive; it can conveniently determine a glassmaking recipe (i.e., the primary constituents used) within a single X-ray spectrum; it has superior detection limits for more than...

Over the last twenty years, there has been a discernable increase in the number of scholars who have focused their research on metal production, working and use in antiquity, a field of study which has come to be known as archaeometallurgy. Materials scientists and conservators have worked primarily in the laboratory while archaeologists have condu...

Details about this book can be accessed on my website, under "Books@: https://www.penn.museum/sites/biomoleculararchaeology/?page_id=98

Details about this book can be accessed on my website, under "Books@: https://www.penn.museum/sites/biomoleculararchaeology/?page_id=98

You can access this file on my website, under “Articles”: https://www.penn.museum/sites/biomoleculararchaeology/?page_id=435

You can access this file on my website, under “Articles”: https://www.penn.museum/sites/biomoleculararchaeology/?page_id=435

You can access this file on my website, under “Articles”: https://www.penn.museum/sites/biomoleculararchaeology/?page_id=435

You can access this file on my website, under “Articles”: https://www.penn.museum/sites/biomoleculararchaeology/?page_id=435