New research suggests that Ancient Egyptian elites consumed thick, porridge-like beers around 5,800 years old.
Researchers examined fragments of pottery from Hierakonpolis in southern Egypt, which is an ancient city that was also used as an archaeological site.
The beer residues were found in five jars of straw colour with flat bases. These jars had been used to transport beer bulky.
There were four vessels in the shape of a beaker made from fine clay, which was coated with slip black. Beer residues also appeared on these containers.
Beer wasn’t just a staple food of the living; it was also ‘a symbol for status and authority’ that played an important role in elite feasting rituals and burial rituals, ‘in the present and the future’.
It would have been ‘a thick porridge’ – likely cloudy and sweet with a low alcoholic content – that was Most commonly made with wheat, barley, or grass
Hierakonpolis complete vessels show that the majority of straw-tempered beer bottles would have been difficult to handle for drinking. According to the analysis of four black-topped Sherds, it is possible that some contents were decanted into smaller beakers and consumed as a result.
Researchers analysed pieces of pottery from Hierakonpolis in southern Egypt, where they were discovered by archaeologists.
Hierakonpolis is home to more than twelve ancient brewery sites. However, full details regarding the recipe are still a subject of research.
According to the researchers, beer made at one of the Hierakonpolis’ breweries provided the ritual activities at a nearby elite cemetary.
The new study was led by Jiajing Wang, an archaeologist at Dartmouth University in New Hampshire.
The beer is very different than the IPAs because it was thicker and more porridge-like. [India pale ales]”We drink today,” Wang stated to New Scientist.
“Beer was probably a common staple food and was ritually drunk on special occasions.”
Wang and his colleagues applied a microfossil residue method to 33 fragments of ceramic vessels from Hierakonpolis.
Researchers believe the fragments were found between 3800 BC to 3600 BC. This is approximately 600 years prior to the time of Egypt’s first pharaoh.
This limestone head is thought by the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, London to be Narmer, the first Egyptian pharaoh
Narmer was the founder of the First Dynasty and, in turn, the first king of an unified Egypt.
Using their method, the researchers found starch granules, yeast cells and a small amount of phytoliths – minuscule structures in plant tissue that remain even after the rest of the plant decays.
They also analysed tiny crystals of ‘beer stones’, also known as calcium oxalate – a type of scale formed by chemical reactions that’s the scourge of modern brewers even today.
Plant material in the residue suggests that the beer mash was filtered to remove cereal husks.
They also found evidence of starch damage – the combined result of malting and mashing near the start of brewing.
It is rare for this process to occur in any other food processing methods, which strongly indicates the presence of beer.
The overall effect of beer production on society’s economic integration and ideology, rise of the elite, and unity of Egypt is likely.
According to previous excavations, Brewing in Hierakonpolis was highly organised and specialised.
There have been at least 12 individual “installations” for beer preparation capable of producing between 390 and more than 1000 litres per hour.
Researchers analysed potsherds taken from Hierakonpolis (an ancient Egyptian site) for the purpose of the study.
Here are pictures of microfossils made from Hierakonpolis pottery potsherds.
The researchers claim to present the first scientific confirmation of beer jars in Predynastic Egypt.
The Predynastic period was marked by the invention of new types of pottery, as well as the widespread use bread molds. These changes may have had a profound impact on brewing techniques and recipes.
Brewers might have used legumes or tubers in the beginning Dynastic period to enhance fermentable sugars, aroma and flavor. This made the beer “a multi-ingredient concoction”.
The new study has been published in Journal of Anthropological Archaeology.
WHEN DIDN’T HUMANS START DRINKING BEER?
The consumption of alcohol has been a part of human history for a long time.
Although it is thought that Mesopotania’s primitive civilizations could have made malted barley scraps back in 10,000BC, there aren’t any records.
Northern China, a 9,000-year-old region in China, has the earliest evidence of beer drinking.
This ancient drink was created using rice, honey and Chinese wild grapes.
Northern China is where the earliest evidence of beer-drinking was found 9,000 years ago.
To make it the corn was milled and moistened in the maker’s mouth to convert starches in the corn into fermentable sugars – before it was ‘spat’ into the beer.
One of the benefits of drinking alcohol throughout history was that it helped to increase creativity, which may have contributed to the growth of religion, language, and art.
Alcohol lowers inhibitions, which makes it easier to feel spiritual.
According to papyrus scrolls, it is thought that the Egyptians began to brew beer in 5000BC.
The brewers were making pomegranates, dates and other local herbs.
Around 3150 BC, Egyptians started using industrial-scale breweries for beer to supply the Giza workers.
Beer eventually made it to Europe from the Middle East, where there was plenty of barley crop for beer brewers.
Experts now have evidence that brewed in Greece was possible during the Bronze Age.
Research suggests that prehistoric humans enjoyed drinking alcoholic beverages at feasts throughout the year, not only when grapes were ripe.
It was safe to drink and was considered a healthy alternative to water.
The Middle Ages saw malted barley become the major source of fermented glucose, and beer was born.