An Ancient Elixir: Beer in Sumer

Beer is an alcoholic beverage typically brewed from cereals such as wheat and barley. It is a global phenomenon as the most widely consumed alcoholic beverage in the world and the third most widely consumed beverage behind water and tea. Beer experienced a convergent evolution, developing in many geographically diverse areas, including the Far East, the Americas, and the Middle East. In China, a beer brewed from rice, grapes, honey, and hawthorn fruits known as 'kui' emerged around 7,000 BCE. The Inca Peoples of the Americas brewed a similar drink from maize known as "Chicha de jora." traces of which have been found at sites such as Machu Picchu. The beverage was important to the Inca Peoples as a ritual consumption; and being forced to drink water in lieu of Chicha de jora was seen as a severe punishment. Evidence exists that beer may have been brewed as far back as 10,000 years ago in the Amazon Basin,8 making it a potential rival to the widely held belief that beer originated in Mesopotamia. Current research indicates the genesis of beer occurred as an accidental discovery by Natufian peoples of the Levant the ancestors of the Sumerians around 10,000 BCE. Their discovery occurred after wild barley, which they collected in jars, was incidentally moistened coming into contact with wild yeast, thus allowing the process of fermentation to occur. According to anthropologists Soloman Katz and Maty Voight the Natufians continued this process as they sought the psychopharmalogical effects of alcohol and the social and nutritional benefits the infusion provided. The discovery of beer was revolutionary and spread throughout the world, eventually leading to the drink which is often consumed in modem times.