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Keynote Speaker
Patrick E. McGovern
Patrick E. McGovern is the Scientific Director of the Biomolecular Archaeology Project for Cuisine Fermented Beverages, and Health at the University of Pennsylvania Museum in Philadelphia, where he is also an Adjunct Professor of Anthropology. Over the past two decades, he has pioneered the interdisciplinary field of Biomolecular Archaeology. His laboratory discovered the earliest chemically attested alcoholic beverage in the world (ca. 7000 B.C., from China), as well as the earliest grape wine, barley beer, mead, and fermented chocolate beverages. He has published three books on ancient alcoholic beverages: Ancient Wine: The Search for the Origins of Viniculture (Princeton University, 2003/2006; also translated into French and Italian), Uncorking the Past: The Quest for Wine, Beer, and Other Alcoholic Beverages (Berkeley: University of California, 2009/2010), and Ancient Brews Rediscovered and Re-Created (New York: WW Norton, 2017), together with numerous articles (see https://www.biomolecular-archaeology.com/)
The Origins of Viniculture: Past, Present, and Future
Following a tantalizing trail of archaeological and chemical clues around the world and through the millennia, Patrick McGovern, Scientific Director of the Penn Museum’s Biomolecular Archaeology Project, tells the compelling story of humanity's ingenious, intoxicating quest for the perfect drink. Whether it be mind-altering, medicinal, a religious symbol, a social lubricant, or artistic inspiration, fermented beverages have not only been a profound force in history, but they may be fundamental to the human condition itself.
The history of civilization is, in many ways, the history of wine. Drawing upon recent archaeological discoveries, molecular and DNA sleuthing, and the texts and art of long-forgotten peoples, Patrick McGovern takes us on a fascinating odyssey back to the beginnings of this consequential beverage when early hominids probably enjoyed a wild grape wine. We follow the course of human ingenuity in domesticating the Eurasian vine and learning how to make and preserve wine some 8,000 years ago. Early winemakers must have marveled at the seemingly miraculous process of fermentation.
From success to success, viniculture stretched out its tentacles and entwined itself with one culture after another. From Phoenicia and Egypt, the “wine culture” went from east to west to Crete, Etruria, and on to France. There, the Cistercian monks of Burgundy A.D. are said to have literally “tasted the soils” of the Côte d’Or, beginning in the 12th c., and established some of the finest terroirs for Chardonnay and Pinot Noir over the next eight centuries. These wines and many others established in France, especially in the Bordeaux region that is famous for its Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon, became models of vinicultural expertise. They have been transplanted throughout the world.
In short, wine laid the foundation for civilization itself. As medicine, social lubricant, mind-altering substance, and highly valued commodity, wine became the focus of religious cults, pharmacopoeias, cuisines, economies, and society. As an evocative symbol of blood, it was used in temple ceremonies and is at the heart of the Eucharist. Kings celebrated their victories with wine and made certain that they had plenty for the afterlife. We have this heritage to thank for both the marvelous wines of the Old World, as well as the many “wine cultures” of the New World established over the past half century.
Fermented Beverages, and Health at the University of Pennsylvania Museum in
Philadelphia, where he is also an Adjunct Professor of Anthropology. Over the past two
decades, he has pioneered the interdisciplinary field of Biomolecular Archaeology. His
laboratory discovered the earliest chemically attested alcoholic beverage in the world (ca. 7000
B.C., from China), as well as the earliest grape wine, barley beer, mead, and fermented chocolate
beverages. He has published three books on ancient alcoholic beverages: Ancient Wine: The
Search for the Origins of Viniculture (Princeton University, 2003/2006; also translated into
French and Italian), Uncorking the Past: The Quest for Wine, Beer, and Other Alcoholic
Beverages (Berkeley: University of California, 2009/2010), and Ancient Brews Rediscovered and
Re-Created (New York: WW Norton, 2017), together with numerous articles (see
https://www.biomolecular-archaeology.com/ )
