Did We Build Civilization Just to Get Drunk?

Alcohol is older than wine, older than beer, older than farming, and maybe older than our species itself. So when did humans first get drunk? In this video, we follow the answer from a rainforest 10 million years ago, to a cave in Israel where someone brewed beer before anyone had built a farm, to the question archaeologists still argue about: did we build civilization because we wanted a drink? ⏱️ Chapters The first drunk wasn't human The drunken monkey and your 10-million-year-old liver The oldest beer ever found (Raqefet Cave) Göbekli Tepe: did beer build the first monuments? The twist: a liver built for fruit, not whiskey 🎓 Want to go deeper into the secret lives of ancient humans? Join The Secret Lives of Ancient Humans, a full course from Ancient Minds Academy with exclusive videos and a PDF guide for each. Use code ANCIENT15 for 15% off. Link below. 📚 Sources & further reading Carrigan et al., 2015: ADH4 and the evolution of ethanol metabolism Hockings et al., 2015: Chimpanzees drinking fermented palm sap, Bossou Liu et al., 2018: Beer brewing at Raqefet Cave, Israel McGovern et al., 2004: Fermented beverages in Jiahu, China Dietrich et al., 2012: Göbekli Tepe and the feasting hypothesis Dunbar et al., 2017: Pubs and social bonding If you enjoyed this, subscribe to Ancient Minds Academy for more stories from ancient human history. #AncientHistory #HistoryOfAlcohol #HumanEvolution