Tetracycline in Nubian beer
Tetraciclina en la cerveza nubia
- Date
- c. 350-550 CE (hallazgo en 1980) · confidence medium
- Place
- Wadi Halfa, Sudanese Nubia, Sudan
- Credited to
- Nubian populations of the post-Meroitic period; discovery by George Armelagos and colleagues (1980)
- Field
- Life & health
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What was discovered
Bones of Nubians of the 4th-6th centuries contain notable amounts of tetracycline, probably from cereal beer fermented with Streptomyces bacteria that grew in grain storage bins. The beer acted as both food and an accidental antibiotic.
Bassett and colleagues published the finding in 1980; later studies confirmed it in other series. The exact link with beer, and not another contaminated food, is inferred and debated.
What it led to
- low rates of bone infection in populations drinking beer daily
- studies of natural antibiotics in ancient diets
- greater attention to traditional fermentation as a source of active compounds