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The complete large straw-tempered Egyptian beer jars from Hierakonpolis in the background. Source:  Journal of Anthropological Archaeology

The Egyptian Beer Recipe Is the Oldest In the World (Video)

Amidst the grandeur of Egyptian history lies an enduring legacy—the art of brewing beer. Hieroglyphs within Pharaohs' chambers unveil a civilization sustained by this liquid gold. Collaborating with...
Mesopotamian cylinder seal showing Sumerians drinking beer with straws. Source: Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative / CC by SA 4.0.

Sumerians Used Straws to Drink Beer from Shared Vessels!

In the quest to uncover the everyday lives of ancient civilizations, archaeologists have stumbled upon some fascinating finds. Among these intriguing artifacts are the beer pots of ancient Sumer ,...
Ancient beer recreated. Source: 9parusnikov / Adobe Stock.

Recreating Ancient Ale with a 1,100-Year-Old Beer Recipe (Video)

Travis Rupp, far from being an ordinary brewmaster, delves into the past to recreate the tastes and textures of beers from ancient times. His ambition is to understand what the common folk, not just...
Ancient Sumerian city of Eridu, early city in southern Mesopotamia, close to the Persian Gulf near the mouth of the Euphrates River. Source: Rick/Adobe Stock

15 Fascinating Facts About The Sumerians

The ancient civilization of Sumer never ceases to captivate and intrigue. Scholars and historians are constantly busy uncovering new details and aspects of this civilization, even centuries after the...
Queen Kubaba relief in the form of a goddess. Source: Left; Public Domain Right; CC BY-SA 2.0 FR

The King List and Queen Kubaba: The First Recorded Queen of the Ancient World

From Cleopatra to Razia Sultan, history is filled with powerful women who defied the norms of their time. But have you ever heard of Queen Kubaba? Reigning over Sumer around 2,500 BC, she might just...
A refreshing looking glass of lager.	Source: Anastasiia/Adobe Stock

Study Shows How A Duke’s Jealousy Birthed Lager In 1602

Scientists scoured through old brewing documents searching for the origins of lager yeast. They discovered it was created in 1602 AD, when a jealous duke raided a brewery, after its childless owner's...
The world’s oldest brewery is located in Bavaria, Germany, established by Benedictine monks. Cellar scene with happy monks by Simony Jenson, 1904. Source: Public Domain

Weihenstephan: The Oldest Brewery in the World?

Humans have been making beer for thousands of years, but the oldest brewery still in existence wasn’t built until the 11th century. The Weihenstephan Brewery was founded in Freising, Germany in 1040...
The parent yeast of all lager brewing has been found in Ireland. Source: Nitr/Adobe Stock

The Difference Between Lager and Ale Found in Irish Soil

The prehistoric yeast used in Europe’s first lagers has been discovered in Ireland. However, it wasn’t identified at an archaeological site, but in soil samples taken at an Irish university campus...
Ancient amphorae, China. Source: lotusjeremy / Adobe stock

4,000 Years Ago, Chinese Advances Were Fueled By Mass Beer Production!

What were the important forces and factors that led to notable evolutionary leaps in Chinese culture more than 4,000 years ago? New research identifies one major cultural development that helped...
A massive ancient beer factory has been discovered at Abydos, Egypt

Egyptian Beer Factory Could Produce 100,000 Pints per Batch!

Archaeologists in Egypt have unearthed the earliest known “Beer Mega-factory,” an ancient beer factory that was producing mind-altering brews at least 5,000 years ago – on an industrial scale. This...
Recreation of the oldest drinking straws, found at the Maikop burial, in use. Source: Kevin Wilson / Antiquity Publications Ltd

Maikop ‘Scepters’ Are Actually the World’s Oldest Drinking Straws

An exciting new study from Russia has reinterpreted an 1897 find of silver and gold tubes from a Bronze Age burial mound in Maikop in the northern Caucasus as being straws rather than scepters as...
Top Stories This Week: Arabian Chivalry, Polish Treasures & The Lost City of Lagash

Top Stories This Week: Arabian Chivalry, Polish Treasures & The Lost City of Lagash

In this top story overview, we highlight our most read articles this week, including a look at the little-known subject of Arabian Chivalry and exploring Lagash, a lost city from Mesopotamia. Among...
Samples of Schinus mole discovered at Quilcapampa in Peru which were used by Wari culture to make an alcoholic drink. Source: Lisa Milosavljevic & Royal Ontario Museum / Antiquity Publications Ltd

Wari Culture Used Alcohol and Drugs to Maintain Political Control

An altered state of consciousness to rule an ancient empire? Not a plot of a television series or a fantasy novella, but a page out of the fascinating book that is human history. A new study...
The complete large straw-tempered Egyptian beer jars from Hierakonpolis in the background. The recent research study suggests the contents of these big jars would have been decanted into smaller, finer beakers, like the three shown in this image.		Source: Journal of Anthropological Archaeology

Porridge-like Egyptian Beer Was Used 5,800 Years Ago in Rituals

New research published in the Journal of Anthropological Archaeology has revealed that Egyptian beer was produced and consumed as a staple as well as for ritual purposes as far back as 5,800 years...
Medieval knight with beer

The Water of Life: Alcohol as Medicine Through the Ages

While no one knows exactly when alcohol was first produced, it was presumably the result of a fortuitous accident that occurred at least tens of thousands of years ago. However, the discovery of late...
According to the latest study, the Iron Age diet of Europeans was rich in grains, fermented blue cheese, and beer. 		Source: wideonet / Adobe Stock

The Iron Age Diet: Lots Of Blue Cheese and Beer, Poop Study Shows

Research on poop samples, or palaeofaeces, preserved in the underground salt mines of the UNESCO World Heritage site of Hallstatt in Austria has revealed startling new facts about the Iron Age diet...
Rice Beer Was Consumed in Sacred Rituals 9,000 Years Ago in China

Rice Beer Was Consumed in Sacred Rituals 9,000 Years Ago in China

A team of researchers performing excavations at an ancient burial site in southcentral China have found proof that people were drinking rice beer there 9,000 years ago . This drinking wouldn’t have...
Hundreds of bottles of poisonous beer have been found at the site in Leeds, England. Source: Archaeological Services WYAS

Hundreds of Toxic Beer Bottles Found Under Old English House

Digging at the site of an old Victorian brewery in the city of Leeds in the northern English county of Yorkshire, archaeologists discovered 19th-century bottles of beer neatly stacked under a...
Ancient amphorae found in Wuzhen, China. Please note that this is a representation and are not the amphorae used in the study.        Source: lotusjeremy / Adobe stock

6000-Year-Old Amphorae Reveal Ancient China’s Pursuit of Perfect Beer

Beer has been brewed for thousands of years and has played a very important role in societies. Researchers who were examining some Neolithic amphorae fragments have made a startling discovery. They...
Classic Belgian beer Source: freeskyline /Adobe Stock

The Classic Belgian Beer Secret? Medieval Super Yeasts!

Researchers have discovered a secret behind what makes Belgian beer so special – they include medieval super yeasts in their recipes! Steven Maere (VIB-UGent), has discovered that some of the most...
Ancient beer from biblical times and beyond has been brewed in Israel. Source: 9parusnikov / Adobe Stock

Researchers Brew Biblical Beer Using Yeast From Ancient Pottery

A multidisciplinary team in Israel believe that they have brewed ancient beers similar to those once drunk by Biblical characters such as David and Goliath . They were able to extract yeast, a key...
The ruins of the ancient civilization of Wari.

Ancient Wari Culture of Peru Prevented Wars with Beer Parties

Archaeologists have found evidence that the ancient Wari civilization of Peru brewed beer, and that it was central to the cultural and political life of their Empire. Beer seems to have been one of...
 A flood of beer (kulkann / Adobe Stock)

The Great London Beer Flood That Drowned Eight People in Alcohol

The Great London Beer Flood of 1814 was one of the most bizarre and tragic industrial accidents in the history of London. This disaster occurred at a brewery on Tottenham Court Road which resulted in...
Beer brewing in ancient England.

Oldest Evidence of Beer in Britain Found By Accident During Road Project

A road construction project in Britain has uncovered the first evidence of the brewing of beer . Workers uncovered some evidence of charred residue and other matter that would indicate brewing,...

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