carousing with the ancients: the archaeology of wine and beer in the fertille crescent and...
DESCRIPTION
Around the world and throughout time, humans have demonstrated a nearly universal proclivity for alcoholic beverages. As cultural anthropologist David Mandelbaum of the University of California notes, cultural attitudes towards alcohol vary around the world from adoration to proscription of drink, but there are few cultures that completely ignore alcohol. Distillation of hard spirits is a relatively modern innovation, and for much of human history, wine and beer constituted the entirety of selection at a bar (if a bar or tavern was allowed in a particular culture). Archaeological evidence demonstrates that while ubiquitous during the last 10,000 years, alcohol consumption was determined in unique contexts in each culture. This presentation provides a brief overview of the artifactual and historic evidence of beer and wine production in the Fertile Crescent and Mediterranean region and was given at the 2012 Bay Honors Research Symposium at UC Berkeley in 2012. To view the full paper please visit http://www.eaines.com/archaeology/the-archaeology-of-ancient-alcohol/TRANSCRIPT
Carousing withThe Ancients
The archaeology of wine and beer in the Fer8le Crescent and Mediterranean Region
Ethan D. Aines
Ar8factual and Historical Evidence of Alcohol: -‐ Wine and beer making equipment -‐ Middens -‐ Chemical residue on poGery -‐ Art -‐ Mortuary items -‐ Legal code -‐ Trade Documenta8on
Domes8ca8on of Wheat: 9800BCE
Earliest evidence of beer: Godin Tepe, modern-‐day Iran 4000BCE
Clay tablet recordingalloca8on of beer 3000 BCE
Diorite stele ofHammurabi’s Code, 1772BCE
Mesopotamian terracoGa plaque with an ero8c scene 1800 BCE
Copper drinking straw 8ps Emar, Syria1300 – 1150 BCE
Funerary model of Egyp8anbeer making 2040-‐1785 BCE
Egyp8an Wine jars from Abydos 3150 BCE
Wall pain8ng from the tomb of Nakht, Theban Necropolis, Luxor1300’s BCE
Detail of Greek wine krater 470 BCE
“Well gentlemen, how can we arrange to drink less
tonight? To be honest, I s8ll have a a terrible hangover from yesterday and I could really use a break. I dare say most of you could, too, since you were also part of the celebra8on. So let’s try not
to overdo it”
-‐ Plato (427–347 BCE), Symposium
“Beer was invented to help those who could not afford wine.”
-‐ Athenaeus, 3rd Century CE
Wine shop preserved in Herculeneum 79 CE
Microscopy andChemical Analysis
brewers yeast
red wine
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Photo Credits“5,100 Year Old Egyp8an Medicinal Wine.” Patrick McGovern. Penn Museum.“Archaeology of Godin Tepe.” Royal Ontario Museum.“A slave aGends to a vomi8ng symposiast.” The Na8onal Museum of Denmark.“Clay tablet recording alloca8on of beer.” The Bri8sh Museum.“Copper straw 8ps from Emar, Syria.” Jennings, Jus8n, Et al.“Drinking Beer in a Blissful Mood: Alcohol Produc8on, Opera8onal Chains, and Feas8ng in the Ancient World.” Current Anthropology 46.2 (2005): 275-‐303. Print.“Diorite stele of Hamurabi’s code.” The Louvre.“Funerary model of Egyp8an beer making.” The Rosicrucian Museum.“Scene from the tomb of Nahkt.” Thomas Ligo8 Online.“TeracoGa plaque with an ero8c scene.” The Bri8sh Museum.“Tri8cum arara8cum.” Wikimedia Armenia.“Wallpaper of Karnak Temple, Luxor.” Ethan D. Aines.“Wine amphorae in the Roman town of Herculaneum.” The American Geophysical Union.
The End