Barley beer
Cerveza de cebada
- Date
- c. 3500 BCE · confidence high
- Place
- Godin Tepe, Kangavar, Iran; the Hierakonpolis brewery, Egypt
- Credited to
- Uruk society (the Godin Tepe colony) and Naqada II
- Field
- Life & health
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
Calcium oxalate (beerstone) in ridged jars from Godin Tepe and large vats at Hierakonpolis, the first chemical and architectural evidence of malted-barley beer production. A liquid food that is safe (boiled) and intoxicating.
Natufian beer is claimed at Raqefet Cave (Israel, c. 11,000 BCE) from mortar residues, and at Göbekli Tepe; both interpretations are disputed.
What it led to
- Wages paid in beer and bread to temple and pyramid workers: the ration economy
- Feasting and worship (Ninkasi) as social cohesion and the legitimation of power
- Malting and controlled fermentation, linked to leavened bread
Built on
Made possible
- Vinegarc. 3000 BCE
- Tetracycline in Nubian beerc. 350-550 CE (hallazgo en 1980)
- Hopped beer (hops as preservative)c. 822
- Scotch whisky (malt aqua vitae)1494
- Yeast as the living agent of fermentation1837
- Leavened bread
- Standard Sumerian ration
- Institutional brewery