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: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.