Ancient Greeks Were Enjoying Beer as Far Back as the Bronze Age
Source: GreekReporter.com
Greece is known for its wine, but it seems ancient Greeks were not only winemakers but also fond of brewing and drinking beer.
According to a study published last year, the inhabitants of ancient Greece appear to have been brewing beer as early as the Bronze Age. This is based on evidence discovered at two ancient settlement sites, Archontiko and Argissa in central Greece, where signs of Bronze Age beer brewing were discovered.
Both sites had been wrecked by fire, which turned them into time capsules of sorts, Sultana-Maria Valamoti, Associate Professor of the Department of History and Archeology of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki said.
After the fire, the prehistoric people appear to have moved out, leaving countless burned artifacts behind, including the remains of sprouted cereal grains.
At Archondiko, archaeologists found about a hundred individual sprouted cereal grains dating to the early Bronze Age from about 2100 to 2000 BC. At Agrissa, about 3,500 sprouted cereal grains dating to the middle Bronze Age from about 2100 to 1700 BC. were found.
The findings were reported in an article by Valamoti. “The new data show strong indications that the inhabitants of prehistoric Greece, besides wine, also produced and consumed beer,” she wrote.
Beer is an unexpected find in Bronze Age Greece
“It is an unexpected find for Greece because until now all evidence pointed to wine,” she added.
She noted that although the discovery may be the oldest-known evidence of beer in Greece, it’s not the oldest in the world. Egyptian records show that it was consumed as early as the mid-fourth millennium BC and people in the Near East slurped down the amber liquid as early as 3200 BC, according to the study.
In the case of Archontiko, along with rich cereal residues, a concentration of germinated cereal grains, ground cereal masses, and fragments of milled cereals were discovered inside the remains of two homes.
Their condition is put down to malting and charring, claim researchers.
The practice of brewing could have reached the Aegean region and northern Greece through contacts with the eastern Mediterranean where it was widespread, it was also suggested.
The finding hints that prehistoric Greeks were “using alcoholic drinks for feasts all year-round, instead of just on a seasonal basis,” when grapes were ripe, Brian Hayden, a professor of archaeology at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, Canada, who wasn’t involved with the study, told Live Science.
Beer in ancient Greek society
In ancient Greece, beer, referred to as “zythos,” was commonly brewed with barley, wheat, and honey.
Although it was primarily seen as a lower-class drink, favored by peasants and slaves, it also played a role in religious ceremonies. Additionally, some Greek philosophers believed in the medicinal properties of zythos.
The original article: GreekReporter.com .
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