The Archaeology of Beer

cold fjord writes with an excerpt from The Atlantic's profile of Dr. Pat McGovern, a biomolecular archaeologist at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, who has what sounds like a fascinating job: decoding ancient clues about what (and how) humans in the distant past were brewing and drinking. "'We always start with infrared spectrometry,' he says. 'That gives us an idea of what organic materials are preserved.' From there, it's on to tandem liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry, sometimes coupled with ion cyclotron resonance, and solid-phase micro-extraction gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. The end result? A beer recipe. Starting with a few porous clay shards or tiny bits of resin-like residue from a bronze cup, McGovern is able to determine what some ancient Norseman or Etruscan or Shang dynast was drinking." The article points out that McGovern has collaborated with the Dogfish Head brewery to reproduce in modern form six of these ancient recipes.

Comments

Re:Did Civilization Create Beer?

[KingOfBLASH]

...or did Beer help to create Civilization?

Obligatory futurama quote: "Civilization is just an attempt to impress the opposite sex."

Beer shaped history

[onyxruby]

Don't knock this as Homer Simpson level work, beer has shaped history for thousands of years. From the Pilgrims landing at Plymouth Rock to the establishment of trade routes beer has always had it's place.

The idea of beer as somehow being sinful is a bit like the diamond ring, it's essentially a modern invention. Monks in Europe brewed beer for centuries as a bonafide way to make money for the monastery to live on. Any number of religions have brewed and used beer for their religious purposes all over the world, it is literally a mark of civilization. When water was historically often filthy and unfit to drink, it's use as a stock drink for the masses wasn't anything to mess about with. When the colonies were established beer was one of the first priorities for the colonists.

Re:Beer shaped history

[mlts]

Ancient Egypt used "small beer", which had a low ABV, as a daily drink because the water up and down the Nile was not drinkable. Beer wasn't just something to get sloshed on, but something to actually imbibe to survive, day by day.

Of course, ships needed something, be it beer (as in the above mentioned link) or grog to keep the bugs out of the drinking water supply.

This gets me curious about homebrewing a batch of something as I can get accurately towards an Egyptian small beer. It might be a decent Gatorade replacement.

Re:Beer shaped history

[Bob the Super Hamste]

I had a teacher in high school who held the belief that alcohol was something that initially all ancient civilizations had to develop. The reason being is that having the ability to produce alcohol meant that there were excesses in both production and labor. The allowed civilization to develop instead of just being a bunch of hunter gatherers scratching out subsistence lives. As an added benefit alcohol provided a nice way to preserve grain and fruits for consumption later.

As far as monastery beers go there were also the meal replacement beers (looking at you doppelbocks) during times of fasts when only liquids were allowed to be consumed.

Re:Beer shaped history

[fldsofglry]

Gatorade replacement? You might want to look at the Tarahumara people. They are known for running long distances and were featured in the book "Born to Run". They drink a corn beer that helps give them the energy and electrolytes to run such long distances.

Re:Beer shaped history

[Intrepid imaginaut]

A quick bit of Googling brings up this:

http://www.slate.com/blogs/quora/2013/05/21/medieval_europe_why_was_water_the_most_popular_drink.html

Contrary to what is found all over the Internet on the subject, the most common drink was water, for the obvious reason: It's free. Medieval villages and towns were built around sources of fresh water. This could be fresh running water, a spring or, in many cases, wells. All of these could easily provide fresh, disease- and impurity-free water; the idea that water from these sources would be the causes of disease and so had to be made into ale or beer is fanciful.

Where water was more likely to be contaminated, largely by tanning, slaughtering, or dying facilities, was in larger towns. But since medieval people were not idiots, they dealt with this in several ways. There were ordinances on where tanners and dyers could operate so that water for domestic use could be drawn from rivers and streams in the town to ensure the water was clean. And there were fines for contaminating areas of streams used for household consumption.

In larger cities, water-supply infrastructure was built to ensure public access to clean water. In medieval London, for example, the City Council began construction on what was called "the Great Conduit" in 1236. This was a complex of pipes that brought water from a large fresh spring at Tyburn to a pumping house with cisterns at Cheapside. This fed local cisterns all over London.

Wealthy Londoners could apply to have a private pipe or "quill" run from the conduit system to their house, giving them running water. This was expensive, and citizens who illegally tapped into the conduits were severely punished. Most people either drew their water from the nearest conduit cistern or paid a "cob" or water-carrier to bring them their day's water supply in three-gallon tubs, which they carried through the streets on a yoke. Public celebrations, such as the return of Edward I from Palestine or the coronation of Richard II, saw the city stop the water flow and fill the conduits with wine for the day, with people able to drink as much as they wanted.

People did drink a lot of ale and beer, but not because their water was so bad. The brews in question were much weaker than their modern equivalents but had the effect of providing much-needed calories to laborers and farmers, as well as being thirst-quenching and re-hydrating in hot weather or when working hard and losing sweat. Given the long days medieval workers put in, ale and beer were a major and necessary part of a laborer's daily energy intake. This should be seen as something like the medieval equivalent of drinking Gatorade.

Wine was the drink of choice for the upper classes and anyone who could afford it. It was produced all over medieval Europe and, due to the Medieval Warm Period that prevailed over western Europe until the 14th century, the climate meant it could be produced as far north as northern England. Wine was expensive and buying a small barrel was beyond the means of most people. But taverners bought it in bulk and sold it by the cup, so for a penny or even a halfpenny, an English peasant could enjoy a Bordeaux red.

In medieval England, the wine drunk most was red wine from Bordeaux and Gascony. Rhenish white from the Rhineland was twice as expensive and favored by the upper classes. Spanish white wines such as Lepe and Osey were cheaper and sweet wines from Greece, Crete, and Cyprus such as Romonye and Malmsey were popular after dinner.

Re:But ...

[jellomizer]

Ahh First World Food squeemishment.
Fermentation was one of the first way you could preserve your food. As well as making more healthier to eat.
What we call Fresh Milk, has been Homogenized and Pasteurized, so we don't get sick from drinking it. fermented milk was probably healthier overall than fresh milk at the time. The same with other sources of food. Having a way to dehydrate and keep your food clean was very difficult too.

Fermentation was the key to early civilization, it allowed them to store enough food for the hard times, and have some in excess... Allowing them to worry about other issues at hand.

Good, more for me....

[Ellis D. Tripp]

Have tried all of DFH's "Ancient Ales" (except the Kvasir which hasn't showed up locally yet), and they were all interesting and surprisingly drinkable. Their "Theobroma", a cacao-based beer based on a Honduran recipe is one of their best products.

Dogfish beers aren't for everyone. But their slogan "Off-Centered Ales for Off-Centered people" should explain that...

Re:But ...

[cold fjord]

Fermented mare's milk is a national drink in Kazakhstan.

That is Kazakhstan, the real country that is tormented by Sasha Baron Cohen's fictional character, the "journalist," Borat.

Kazakh national cuisine

Kazakh documentary film "Kieli Meken" - Discover Real Kazakhstan
MEET THE STANS

The actual Kazakhstan national anthem, the "Borat" parody, and an unfortunate incident.

Re:Sorry but American beers are shite

[odysseus_complex]

Saccromyces pastorianus (aka "effing lager yeast") IS a bottom-fermenting yeast. It was discovered by brewers who put their casks of beer in cold mountain caves, in the days before refrigeration.

Learn something on the subject, beer-snob wannabe.