A Timeline of the History of Alcohol

A Timeline of the History of Alcohol The history of alcohol and humans is at least 30,000 and arguably 100,000 years long. Alcohol, a flammable liquid produced by the natural fermentation of sugars, is currently the most widely used human psychoactive agent around the world today, ahead of nicotine, caffeine, and betel nut. It was made and consumed by prehistoric societies in six of the seven continents (not Antarctica), in a variety of forms based on a variety of natural sugars found in grains and fruits.   Alcohol Timeline: Consumption The earliest possible moment that humans consumed alcohol is conjecture. The creation of alcohol is a natural process, and scholars have noted that primates, insects, and birds partake in (accidentally) fermented berries and fruit. While there is no direct evidence that our ancient ancestors also drank fermented liquids, it is a possibility we should consider. 100,000 years ago (theoretically): At some point, Paleolithic humans or their ancestors recognized that leaving fruit in the bottom of a container for an extended period of time leads naturally to alcohol-infused juices. 30,000 BCE: Some scholars interpret the abstract parts of Upper Paleolithic cave art as the work of shamans, religious specialists who were attempting to connect with natural forces and supernatural beings. Shamans work under altered states of consciousness (ASC), which can be created by chanting or fasting or aided by pyschotropic drugs, like alcohol. Some of the earliest cave paintings suggest activities of shamans; some scholars have suggested they reached ASC using alcohol. Laussel Venus, Upper Paleolithic Bas-Relief, Aquitaine Museum, Bordeaux, France. Apic / Hulton Archive / Getty Images 25,000 BCE: The Venus of Laussel, found in a French Upper Paleolithic cave, is a carved representation of a woman holding what looks like a cornucopia or a bison horn core. Some scholars have interpreted it as a drinking horn. 13,000 BCE: To intentionally make fermented beverages, one needs a container where they may be stored during the process, and the first pottery was invented in China at least 15,000 years ago. 10,000 BCE: Grape pips attest to possible wine consumption at Franchthi Cave in Greece. 9th millennium BCE: The earliest domesticated fruit was the fig tree, 8th millennium BCE: The domestication of rice and barley, crops used for the production of fermented alcohol, occurred about 10,000 years ago. Production Alcoholic substances have intoxicating, mind-altering properties that might have been restricted to elites and religious specialists, but they were also used in the maintenance of social cohesion in the context of feasting available to everyone in a community.  Some herb-based beverages may have been used for medicinal purposes as well. 7000 BCE: The earliest evidence of wine production comes from jars at the Neolithic site of Jiahu in China, where residue analysis has identified a fermented concoction of rice, honey and fruit. 5400–5000 BCE: Based on the recovery of tartaric acid in ceramic vessels, people produced resinated wine, such as that on a fairly large scale at Hajji Firuz Tepe, Iran. 4400–4000 BCE: Grape pips, empty grape skins, and two-handled cups at the Greek site of Dikili Tash are the earliest evidence for wine production in the Aegean Sea region. 4000 BCE: A platform for crushing grapes and a process to move crushed grapes to storage jars are evidence of wine production at the Armenian site of Areni-1. Ubaid Pottery from Susa, Iran, 4th millennium BCE, Musà ©e National de Cà ©ramique, Sà ªvres, France. Siren-Com 4th millennium BCE: By the beginning of the 4th millennium BCE, wine and beer were produced in many locations in Mesopotamia, Assyria and Anatolia (such as the Ubaid site of Tepe Gawra) and treated as a trade and elite luxury good. At the same time, Predynastic Egyptian tomb paintings and wine jars are evidence of the local production of herb-based beers. 3400–2500  BCE: The predynastic community of Hierankopolis in Egypt had a large number of barley- and wheat-based brewery installations. Alcohol as a Trade Good It is difficult to draw the line globally for the production of wine and beer explicitly for trade. It seems clear that alcohol was both an elite substance and one with ritual significance, and the liquids as well as the technology of making them was shared and traded across cultures fairly early on. 3150 BCE: One of the rooms of the tomb of Scorpion I, the earliest of the dynastic kings of Egypt, was stuffed with 700 jars believed to have been made and filled with wine in the Levant and shipped to the king for his consumption. 3300–1200 BCE: Wine consumption is in evidence, used in ritual and elite contexts in Early Bronze Age sites in Greece, including both Minoan and ​Mycenaean cultures. Fu Yi Gong wine vessel from the Late Shang Dynasty (13th–11th century BCE) at the Shanghai Museum, China. Tim Graham / Getty Images 1600–722 BCE: Cereal based alcohol are stored in sealed bronze vessels of Shang (ca. 1600-1046 BCE), and Western Zhou (ca. 1046-722 BCE) dynasties in China. 2000–1400 BCE: Textual evidence demonstrates that barley and rice beers, and others made from a variety of grasses, fruits and other substances, were produced in the Indian subcontinent at least as long ago as the Vedic period. 1700–1550 BC: Beer based on the locally domesticated sorghum grain is manufactured and becomes ritually important in the Kerma dynasty of the Kushite kingdom of present-day Sudan. 9th century BCE: Chicha beer, made from a combination of maize and fruit, is a significant part of feasting and status differentiation throughout South America.   8th century BCE: In his classic tales The Iliad and The Odyssey, Homer prominently mentions the wine of Pramnos. When [Circe] had got [the Argonauts] into her house, she set them upon benches and seats and mixed them a mess with cheese, honey, meal, and Pramnian wine, but she drugged it with wicked poisons to make them forget their homes, and when they had drunk she turned them into pigs by a stroke of her wand and shut them up in her pig-sties. Homer, The Odyssey, Book X 8th–5th centuries BCE: The Etruscans produce the first wines in Italy; according to Pliny the Elder, they practice wine blending and create a muscatel type beverage. 600 BCE: Marseilles is founded by the Greeks who brought wines and vines to the great port city in France.   Iron and Gold Drinking Horn of the Celtic Chieftain at Hochdorf, on display at Kunst der Kelten, Historisches Museum Bern. Rosemania 530–400 BCE: Grain beers and mead produced in central Europe, such as barley beer at Iron Age Hochdorf in what is today Germany. 500–400 BCE: Some scholars, such as F.R. Alchin, believe that the first distillation of alcohol might have occurred as early as this period in India and Pakistan. 425–400 BCE: Wine production at the Mediterranean port of Lattara in southern France marks the beginning of the wine industry in France. 4th century BCE: The Roman colony and competitor of Carthage in North Africa has an extensive trade network of wine (and other goods) all over the Mediterranean region, including a sweet wine made from sun-dried grapes.   4th century BCE: According to Plato, strict laws in Carthage forbid the drinking of wine for magistrates, jury members, councilors, soldiers, and ships pilots while on duty, and for slaves at any time.   Widespread Commercial Production The empires of Greece and Rome are largely responsible for the international commercialization of the trade in many different goods, and specifically in the production of alcoholic beverages. 1st–2nd centuries BCE: The Mediterranean wine trade explodes, bolstered by the Roman empire. 150 BCE–350 CE: Distillation of alcohol is a common practice in in northwest Pakistan.   92 CE: Domitian forbids the planting of new vineyards in the provinces because the competition is killing the Italian market. Roman pavement mosaic depicting the god Bacchus at the Genazzano Villa in Rome, Antonine dynasty, 138–193 CE.   Werner Forman / Archive/Heritage Images / Getty Images 2nd century CE: Romans begin cultivating grapes and producing wine in Mosel valley of Germany and France becomes a major wine-producing region. 4th century CE: The process of distillation is (possibly re-)developed in Egypt and Arabia. 150 BCE–650 CE: Pulque, made from fermented agave, is used as a dietary supplement at the Mexican capital city of Teotihuacan. 300–800 CE: At Classic period Maya feasts, participants consume balche (made from honey and bark) and chicha (maize-based beer).   500–1000 CE: Chicha beer becomes a significant element of feasting for the Tiwanaku in South America, evidenced in part by the classic kero form of flared drinking goblet.   13th century CE: Pulque, an alcoholic beverage made from fermented agave, is part of the Aztec state in Mexico. 16th century CE: Production of wine in Europe moves from monasteries to merchants. Selected Sources Anderson, Peter. Global Use of Alcohol, Drugs . Drug 25.6 (2006): 489–502. Print.and andTobacco Alcohol ReviewDietler, Michael. Alcohol: Anthropological/Archaeological Perspectives. Annual Review of Anthropology 35.1 (2006): 229–49. Print.McGovern, Patrick E. Uncorking the Past: The Quest for Beer, Wine and Other Alcoholic Beverages. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2009. Print.McGovern, Patrick E., Stuart J. Fleming, and Solomon H. Katz, eds. The Origins and Ancient History of Wine. Philadelphia: The University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, 2005. Print.McGovern, Patrick E., et al. Fermented Beverages of Pre- and Proto-Historic China. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 101.51 (2004): 17593–98. Print.Meussdoerffer, Franz G. A Comprehensive History of Beer Brewing. Handbook of Brewing. Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH Co. KGaA, 2009. 1–42. Print.Stika, Hans-Peter. Beer in Prehistoric Europe. Liquid Bread: Beer and Brewi ng in Cross-Cultural Perspective. Eds. Schiefenhovel, Wulf and Helen Macbeth. Vol. 7. The Anthropology of Food and Nutrition. New York: Berghahn Books, 2011. 55–62. Print. Surico, Giuseppe. The Grapevine and Wine Production through the Ages. Phytopathologia Mediterranea 39.1 (2000): 3–10. Print.

Postposition Definition and Examples

Postposition Definition and Examples Postposition is a word that shows the relation of a noun or pronoun to some other word in a sentence. A postposition is similar in function to a preposition, but it follows rather than precedes the object. Its generally accepted that the only common postposition in English is the word ago. Together, prepositions and postpositions are called adpositions. Examples and Observations Here are some examples of postposition from various writers: I decided many years ago to invent myself. I had obviously been invented by someone elseby a whole societyand I didnt like their invention.(Maya Angelou)Sixty years ago I knew everything; now I know nothing; education is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance.(Will Durant) Ago and Its Complement Ago in English must follow its complement. (87a) John received a very generous offer a few minutes ago.(87b) *John received a very generous offer ago a few minutes. In contrast with notwithstanding, ago must piedpipe, and cannot strand. (88a) How long ago did John receive the offer?(88b) *How long did John receive the offer ago? (Peter W. Culicover, Syntactic Nuts: Hard Cases, Syntactic Theory, and Language Acquisition. Oxford Univ. Press, 1999) Hence Although ago is . . . usually said to be the only independent postposition of English, the formal use of hence with the meaning from now (as in three weeks hence) seems to be used identically. Traces of postpositional constructions are found in expressions like the whole week through and all the year round.(D.J. Allerton, Over the Hills and Far Away or Far Away Over the Hills: English Place Adverb Phrases and Place Prepositional Phrases in Tandem. Adpositions: Pragmatic, Semantic and Syntactic Perspectives, ed. by Dennis Kurzon and Silvia Adler. John Benjamins, 2008) Clitic Though not usually so treated, the clitic -s could be seen as a postposition in e.g. my friends daughter, my friend in Washingtons daughter.(P.H. Matthews, The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Linguistics. Oxford Univ. Press, 2007) Postpositions In Other Languages Many languages, such as English, express thematic roles by means of prepositions. Some languages, however, use postpositions (i.e., morphemes that express the same thematic roles but come after head nouns). Languages that use postpositions in this way include Korean and Japanese...For those students who have prepositions or postpositions in their native language, English prepositions are still a source of difficulty, and they remain so even as students levels of proficiency increase. One reason for this is the problem of polysemy. In learning a second language, students attempt to draw correspondences between their L1 [native language] prepositions and prepositions in the L2 [second language]. Perfect one-to-one correspondences would facilitate learning, but, given polysemy, finding these is virtually impossible.(Ron Cowan, The Teachers Grammar of English: A Course Book and Reference Guide. Cambridge University Press, 2008)

The Awakening and Into The Wild Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Awakening and Into The Wild - Essay Example Into the Wild, on the other hand, is a 1996 factual book written by Jon Krakauer. It is an extension of the author’s 9,000-word piece on Christopher McCandless known as the Death of an Innocent, which was published in the January issue of Outside, in 1993. This novel tackles the issues of how to be accepted and recognized in society, and how finding yourself, at times, clashes with being an active member of the society. In this reading, a reader could see that Chris McCandless was behind left to find some kind of enlightenment. He endeavors to find his path in the wild with little material assets since "it made the journey more fun" (Krakauer 32). His intense risk-taking habit was the hubris that finally led to his downfall. These two writings focus on theme them of how to be accepted into society with The Awakening incorporating a female character as the protagonist and Into the Wild incorporating a male character as the protagonist. This paper will discuss how the two writin g bring out these themes (the effects of self-expression) through analysis of character roles, conflict resolution and literary devices. Edna is the central character in The Awakening, which also refers to her title. The 28 years old woman, who is wifed to a New Orleans businessman, instantly finds herself dissatisfied with her husband, as well as the limited conservative way of living that it dictates (Chopin 30). She appears from her semi-conscious situation of a devoted companion and a mother to a situation of complete awareness, through which she finds her own identity and acts on her own desires for sexual and emotional satisfaction. Through a series of "awakenings", Edna turns into a shockingly independent girl and is accountable only to her personal passions and urges (Chopin 189). Sadly, Edna’s experience (awakening) isolates her form other members of society, which led to her state of complete solitude. Christopher McCandless was a smart, optimistic young man who dee med that life is best lived in isolation, otherwise in nature. He spent two full years putting his theory into practice in the "wild-wests" of the U.S before moving into Alaska. However, he was unprepared of this journey and eventually starved to death (Krakauer 40). What these two accounts show us is that these two character where on endeavors to find themselves in opposition to the accepted societal ways, but eventually ended up harming themselves. Edna, in the awakening, ended up in utter solitude the made her to commit suicide and McCandless, in Into the Wild, ended up starving to death. Edna’s breakthrough of ways to express herself brings about the disclosure of her long-repressed emotions. Through her experience, she learns at least three fresh "languages" (Chopin 78). First and foremost, she learns the style of expression of Creole women in Grand Isle. In spite of their chastity, Creole women converse freely and share their thoughts openly. Their openness initially st unned Edna, but she soon was free about it. Edna discovered that she can face her sexuality and feelings directly, devoid of any fear. Once some of her Creole friends reveal to her that it is fine to dwell on one’