13,000 years ago, humans were figuring out how to , watching on as the last glaciers from the receded, and, apparently, brewing beer.
Last week, a team of archaeologists . Tests on residue found in at the site revealed traces of 13,000-year-old , and indicate a kind of fermentation process taking place over a period of time.
“If we’re right, this is the earliest testament in the world to alcohol production of any kind,” , an archaeology professor at the University of Haifa .
Archaeologists discovered what they’re calling a ‘brewery’ in a cave in the modern-day northern Israeli city of Haifa. Source: Dani Nadel, University of Haifa
The site once served as a , a hunter-gatherer society living throughout what we know as the Middle East. Not unlike today’s beer drinkers, our forebears may have linked alcohol with ritual, ceremony and . Prehistoric humans are just like us, clearly.
Of course, prehistoric beer didn’t exactly resemble the hoppy brew we’re familiar with today. According to Jiajing Wang, co-author of the research study published in the , Natufian beer was a . It was likely than today’s beer. A quick trip to any microbrewery will reveal just how far we’ve come.
If we’re right, this is the earliest testament in the world to alcohol production of any kind.
Researchers have the discovery of beer around was a happy accident, involving someone brave enough to sip the side product of . But the discovery in Israel indicates beer was produced independently of bread, and signifies the drink's cultural importance.
“Fermented and alcoholic beverages played a pivotal role in feastings and social events in past agricultural and urban societies across the globe, but the origins of the sophisticated relevant technologies remain elusive,” the reads. “It has long been speculated that the thirst for beer may have been the stimulus behind cereal domestication, which led to a major social-technological change in human history.”
Not unlike today’s beer drinkers, our forebears may have linked alcohol with ritual, ceremony and socialising. Source: Dani Nadel, University of Haifa
As drinkers of of beer each year, perhaps Australians have more in common with ancient Natufians than we realise.
