Ancient medicines were alcoholic 古代的医药是酒精性的

A team of researchers in the US has discovered traces of a medicinal alcoholic¹ drink in bottles that are more than 5,000 years old.

美国一组研究人员发现了一种瓶装的医疗性质的酒精饮料的踪迹。

Archaeologists found chambers² full of wine jars in an ancient pharaoh's tomb

The scientists extracted（萃取的） wine compounds and plant-derived（派生的） ingredients（作料，材料） from a jar taken from the tomb of one of the first pharaohs of Egypt, Scorpion³ I.

This is the earliest sample of a human-made medicine.

The researchers report their findings in the journal Proceedings⁴ of the National Academy of Sciences.

Patrick McGovern, professor of anthropology⁵（人类学） at the University of Pennsylvania, led the research.

The vessels⁷（容器） that he and his team tested came from excavated⁸（挖开，凿通） tombs in southern Egypt - the earliest of which dates from 3150BC.

"This is the earliest Egyptian vessel⁶ ever found to have wine in it," Professor McGovern told BBC News.

"It shows that, by trial and error, humans were discovering remedies（药石） over 5,000 years ago, and that alcoholic beverages¹⁰ were a key part of the discovery process."

Researchers extracted residues¹² of wine laced with herbs and other additives¹³

Designing medicine

The team used organic solvents¹⁴（溶剂） to extract residues（残渣，胜于） from inside the jars.

With extremely sensitive chemical techniques, they were then able to separate the different compounds within the residue¹¹.

The jars tested positive for tartaric（酒石酸） acid - a reliable chemical marker for grape and wine in the Middle East.

The scientists also found compounds from a number of herbs（草本植物）, some of which have known medicinal properties, and from tree resin¹⁵（树脂）.

Professor McGovern pointed¹⁶ out that alcoholic drinks would have been ideal for dissolving these plant-derived substances.

"As well as adding flavour, these compounds were likely to have been used with a medicinal aim in mind," he said.

His team also tested residue from inside a later Egyptian jar, or amphora（土罐）, dating from between the 4th and 6th Centuries.

He now wants to find out if some of the ancient remedies he found could be revived（再生的）.

Professor McGovern has started a collaboration¹⁷（合作，通敌） with researchers at the University of Pennsylvania's Abramson Cancer Center, testing compounds found in ancient fermented¹⁸（酵素，发酵） beverages（饮料） from China, including the earliest chemically confirmed alcoholic beverage⁹ in the world, dated to 7000BC.