It must made sense that the only reason to stop all that roaming was to hang around the fermentation.

Now comes yet more scientific evidence.

Writing in the German magazine Spiegel's website, Frank Thadeuz brings word from Patrick McGovern, who is to the beer-caused-civilization fans what Glen Beck is to the "what's the secret of fire again?" crowd.

"A secure supply of alcohol appears to have been part of the human community's basic requirements much earlier than was long believed," writes Thadeuz. "As early as around 9,000 years ago, long before the invention of the wheel, inhabitants of the Neolithic village Jiahu in China were brewing a type of mead with an alcohol content of 10 percent."

He's citing McGovern's long-anticipated findings from one of humanity's more important field research projects.

McGovern, who is to beer-caused-civilization fans what Indiana Jones is to haberdashers, "..analyzed clay shards found during excavations in China's Yellow River Valley in his Biomolecular Archaeology Laboratory for Cuisine, Fermented Beverages and Health at the University of Pennsylvania Museum.

First, I'm suing every single "career day" presenter who visited my high school for not telling me that such jobs existed.

Secondly, let's leave it for less mature folks to note that this guy gets paid to research beer at a place called the Yellow River.

Lastly: Let's hope this guy is a better source than University of Pennsylvania climate scientists.

So, we're told, it was very likely a "handful of mushy figs" that fermented into the biggest leisure-time activity since the creation of, well, time.

The new research indicates that early alcohol-rich recipes were not only good for lightening the pre-history stress, but were nutrient rich and filled with the kind of sugars that come in handy for running down lunch.

Ah, but McGovern goes beyond nutrition and intoxication, arguing that evidence suggests that the entire "Neolithic Revolution," which began around 11,000 years ago, was based largely on "the irrepressible impulse toward drinking and intoxication."

And not for nothing did the Sumerians and others figure it was their fertility goddess Nin-Harra who invented beer. Beer comes along, and pretty soon we go from a few hundred thousand humans to billions and billions? The founders of Mesopotamian civilization actually carved beer recipes into clay tablets -- the first recipes we know of were for beer.

These are good facts to ponder as we face New Years Eve, that annual holiday that brings us full circle, turning civilized humans into replicas of their ancient past, many losing the basic evolutionary advantage of standing upright. As the poet said, same as it ever was.