Neolithic Beer

[Pana]

So, I have been reading up on neolithic beer making practices. I don't drink at all but find the whole process really intriguing. The agriculture advent approx. 9000 years ago ushered in the neolithic age and booted out the mesolithic. Farmers slowly replaced hunter gathering groups as they emigrated over thousands of years from Anatolia (modern day Turkey) up into Europe and over into Asia.

There are grave goods (pottery) in which the residues have been sampled that showed fermented grains and preservative flower plants (beer requires a preservative or it will spoil. Hops is usually used in modern day brewing as it's a natural preservative. However, hops was not cultivated 7 thousand years ago so they used certain local lowers that had preservative properties). There are also firing mounds that have been uncovered. These are rectangular pits about a metre square that are lined with rock slabs and possibly sealed with clay. They are used in the mashing stage of beer making in which the sprouted barley (malt) is placed in water and the water is heated by stones. These were even found in Gobelek in Anatolia! Why this is so surprising is that Gobeleki was before the advent of agriculture and was more than likely built by hunter gatherers.

Archaeologists reverse engineered the process. If you wish, you can read about it here:

https://exarc.net/issue-2021-2/at/ancie ... alt-making

[Pigeon]

I often wonder how early man discovered things like which plants could act as a preservative. I suppose it was many years of hit and miss. More like someone threw in some plant and the results were noted as improved.

Probably many accidentally discover processes in the past.

[Pana]

I have wondered the same thing, Pigeon. My sense is when coming across new plant matter, they would ingest tiny, tiny amounts and then increase them if incrementally if there was no obvious side affects. Everything could be seen as a potential resource in a climate that was harsh. (Thinking about Europe during the last ice age.)

In the last few years, they have been able extract dna from tooth plaque on ancient humans (i.e. Neanderthals) which has opened up a greater understanding in what they ate. Included in this is a tree resin that had natural pain relieving properties. This was found in the plaque of a Neanderthal that was from a tooth abscess.

Unlike today where people's minds have shutters on them, your whole being in those times would have been open to what ever the environment could offer you or spring on you. Your life depended on it!

[Pigeon]

I suspect luck played a be part for a long time. People who consumed wrong or poorly died and those that didn't lived and passed on the better ways.