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In this episode, we'll explore what wine production looked like in Ancient Mesopotamia and discover why this “Cradle of Civilization” has gained a reputation as a beer-drinking culture. ###Sources: Herodotus. The Histories. Translated by Aubrey de Sélincourt. London, England: Penguin Books, 1996, 2003. History Channel Editors. “Mesopotamia.” History Channel, September 30, 2019. https://www.history.com/topics/ancient-middle-east/mesopotamia Mark, Joshua J. “Godin Tepe.” Ancient History Encyclopedia, March 5, 2011. https://www.ancient.eu/Godin_Tepe/ Mark, Joshua J. “Beer in the Ancient World.” Ancient History Encyclopedia, March 2, 2011. https://www.ancient.eu/article/223/beer-in-the-ancient-world/ Mark, Joshua J. “The Hymn to Ninkasi, Goddess of Beer.” Ancient History Encyclopedia, March 1, 2011. https://www.ancient.eu/article/222/the-hymn-to-ninkasi-goddess-of-beer/ McGovern, Patrick E. Ancient Wine: The Search for the Origins of Viniculture. New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2019. Paulette, Tate and Michael Fisher. “Potent Potables of the Past: Beer and Brewing in Ancient Mesopotamia.” American Schools of Oriental Research 5, no.4 (April 2017). http://www.asor.org/anetoday/2017/04/brewing-mesopotamia Phillips, Roderick. 9000 Years of Wine: A World History. Vancouver, Canada: Whitecap, 2017. “Song of the Vine: A History of Wine.” Cornell University, 2008. https://rmc.library.cornell.edu/ewga/exhibition/introduction/#:~:text=It%20is%20a%20receipt%20for,stone%2C%20metal%2C%20or%20wax. Wilford, John Noble. “The Earliest Wine: Vintage 3,500BC and Robust.” The New York Times, April 30, 1991. https://www.nytimes.com/1991/04/30/science/the-earliest-wine-vintage-3500-bc-and-robust.html Wilson, J.V Kinnier. The Nimrud Wine Lists: A Study of Men and Administration at the Assyrian Capital in the Eighth Century, B.C. London, England: British School of Archaeology in Iraq, 1972. http://www.bisi.ac.uk/sites/bisi.localhost/files/CTN1_wine_lists.pdf

In this episode, we'll explore the prevailing theories behind the origin of viniculture, why it is so challenging to pinpoint where wine production began, and dive into the oldest evidence of wine that archaeologists have uncovered, with a drink in hand, of course.### Sources: Curry, Andrew. "Oldest Evidence of Winemaking Discovered at 8,000-Year-Old Village." National Geographic, November 13, 2017. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2017/11/oldest-winemaking-grapes-georgia-archaeology/. The Epic of Gilgamesh. Translated by N.K. Sandars. London: Penguin Books,1960, 1964, 1972. McGovern, Patrick E. Ancient Wine: The Search for the Origins of Viniculture. New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2019. McGovern, Patrick E., Juzhong Zhang, Jigen Tang, Zhiqing Zhang, Gretchen R. Hall, Robert A. Moreau, Alberto Nuñez, et al. "Fermented beverages of pre- and proto-historic China." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 101, no. 51 (December 2004). https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0407921102. McGovern, Patrick, Mindia Jalabadze, Stephen Batiuk, Michael P. Callahan, Karen E. Smith, Gretchen R. Hall, Eliso Kvavadze, et al. "Early Neolithic Wine of Georgia in the South Caucasus." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 114, no. 48 (November 2017). https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1714728114.  Roderick Phillips. 9000 Years of Wine: A World History. Vancouver, Canada: Whitecap, 2017. Vouillamoz, José F., Patrick E. McGovern, Ali Ergul, Gökhan Söylemezoğlu, Giorgi Tevzadze, Carole P. Meredith, and M. Stella Grando. “Genetic Characterization and Relationships of Traditional Grape Cultivars from Transcaucasia and Anatolia.” Plant Genetic Resources 4, no. 2 (2006): 144–58. https://doi.org/10.1079/PGR2006114. Wilford, John Noble. "Experts Face Off on 'Noah's Flood'." The New York Times, January 9, 2001. https://www.nytimes.com/2001/01/09/science/experts-face-off-on-noah-s-flood.html. Wise, Michael, and Martin Abegg Jr. and Edward Cook. A New Translation: The Dead Sea Scrolls. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1996, 2005.