Cereal fermentation (beer)
Fermentación de cereales (cerveza ritual)
- Date
- c. 13 ka · confidence medium
- Place
- Raqefet Cave, Mount Carmel, Israel
- Credited to
- Homo sapiens (Natufian)
- Field
- Life & health
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
Rock-cut mortars with residues of malted, fermented starch, in a funerary context. The first alcoholic drink, perhaps predating bread as an incentive to cultivate cereal.
Liu et al.'s (2018) interpretation is disputed: the residues could be from porridge.
What it led to
- Funerary feasting: social cohesion and competition between groups
- The 'beer before bread' hypothesis: a ritual motive for domestication
- Applied microbiology without knowing it: domesticated yeasts
Built on
- Flint sicklec. 23 ka
- Grinding of wild cereals (grinding stone)c. 23 ka
- Pottery vessels (Xianrendong)c. 20 ka
- Flatbread from wild cerealsc. 14.4 ka
- Grinding of wild cereals (grinding stone)
- Pottery vessels (Xianrendong)