How Did People Make Beer 13,000 Years Ago?

Tonight, beer comes out of a fridge. 13,000 years ago in northern Israel, it came out of a hole in the cave floor, brewed by hunter-gatherers before a single farm existed. In Raqefet Cave on Mount Carmel, archaeologists found stone mortars holding traces of sprouted wild grain, pounded, heated with hot stones, and left to ferment with wild yeast. It's the oldest evidence of brewing found so far. And it was made in a graveyard, for feasts honoring the dead. In this video: Sprout: how the Natufians malted wild wheat and barley Pound: a brewing pit carved straight into bedrock Wait: wild yeast, the invisible brewer Spread: beer at Göbekli Tepe, ancient China, and Mesopotamian paychecks The guests: flower-lined graves and feasts for the remembered The 10-million-year-old enzyme that prepared your body for alcohol Bread or beer: which came first? Subscribe for more stories about how ancient people lived, ate, and survived long before modern technology. Sources and research mentioned: Liu et al. (2018), 13,000-year-old beer brewing at Raqefet Cave, Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports Nadel et al. (2013), earliest floral grave linings, PNAS Arranz-Otaegui et al. (2018), 14,400-year-old bread at Shubayqa 1, PNAS Laura Dietrich et al., cereal processing at Göbekli Tepe Wang et al. (2016), 5,000-year-old beer recipe at Mijiaya, China, PNAS Carrigan et al. (2015), ancient ADH4 enzyme and ethanol, PNAS David Eitam (2019) and Liu et al. (2019 reply), Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports Braidwood et al. (1953), "Did Man Once Live by Beer Alone?", American Anthropologist #AncientHistory #Beer #Archaeology