Alcohol, where Agriculture and Religion Become one? Such as Gobekli Tepe’s Ritualistic use of Grain as Food and Ritual Drink

by | Feb 25, 2021 | Blog

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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Raqefet Cave

13,000-year-old stone mortars offers the earliest known physical evidence

of an extensive ancient beer-brewing operation.

“The find comes on the heels of a July report that archaeologists working in northeastern Jordan discovered the charred remains of bread baked by Natufians some 11,600 to 14,600 years ago. According to the Stanford scientists, the ancient beer residue comes from 11,700 to 13,700 years old. Through laboratory analysis, other archaeological evidence found in the cave, and the wear of the stones, the team discovered that the ancient Natufians used species from seven plant families, “including wheat or barley, oat, legumes and bast fibers (including flax),” according to the article. “They packed plant-foods, including malted wheat/barley, in fiber-made containers and stored them in boulder mortars. They used bedrock mortars for pounding and cooking plant-foods, including brewing wheat/barley-based beer likely served in ritual feasts ca. 13,000 years ago,” the scientists write. “It has long been speculated that the thirst for beer may have been the stimulus behind cereal domestication, which led to a major social-technological change in human history; but this hypothesis has been highly controversial,” the Stanford authors say. “We report here of the earliest archaeological evidence for cereal-based beer brewing by a semi-sedentary, foraging people.” ref

“Beer making was an integral part of rituals and feasting, a social regulatory mechanism in hierarchical societies,” said Stanford’s Wang. The Raqefet Cave discovery of the first man-made alcohol production, the cave also provides one of the earliest pieces of evidence of the use of flower beds on gravesites, discovered under human skeletons. “The Natufian remains in Raqefet Cave never stop surprising us,” co-author Prof. Dani Nadel, of the University of Haifa’s Zinman Institute of Archaeology, said in a press release. “We exposed a Natufian burial area with about 30 individuals, a wealth of small finds such as flint tools, animal bones, and ground stone implements, and about 100 stone mortars and cupmarks. Some of the skeletons are well-preserved and provided direct dates and even human DNA, and we have evidence for flower burials and wakes by the graves.” ref

“And now, with the production of beer, the Raqefet Cave remains provide a very vivid and colorful picture of Natufian lifeways, their technological capabilities, and inventions,” he said. Stanford’s Liu posited that the beer production was of a religious nature because its production was found near a graveyard. “This discovery indicates that making alcohol was not necessarily a result of agricultural surplus production, but it was developed for ritual purposes and spiritual needs, at least to some extent, prior to agriculture,” she said. “Alcohol making and food storage were among the major technological innovations that eventually led to the development of civilizations in the world, and archaeological science is a powerful means to help reveal their origins and decode their contents,” said Liu. “We are excited to have the opportunity to present our findings, which shed new light on a deeper history of human society.” ref

Religion and Alcohol

“The world’s religions have had differing relationships with alcohol. Many religions forbid alcoholic consumption or see it as sinful or negative. Others have allocated a specific place for it, such as in the Christian practice of using wine during the Eucharist rite. Hinduism does not have a central authority which is followed by all Hindus, though religious texts forbid the use or consumption of alcohol. In Śruti texts such as Vedas and Upanishads which are the most authoritative texts in Hinduism and considered apauruṣeya, which means “not of a man, superhuman”, all alcoholic drinks or intoxication are considered as a recipe of sinfulness, weakness, failure, and destruction in several verses.” ref

“Judaism relates to the consumption of alcohol, particularly of wine, in a complex manner. Wine is viewed as a substance of import and it is incorporated in religious ceremonies, and the general consumption of alcoholic beverages is permitted, however, inebriation (drunkenness) is discouraged. This compound approach to wine can be viewed in the verse in Psalms 104:15, “Wine gladdens human hearts,” countered by the verses in Proverbs 20:1, “Wine is a mocker, strong drink is riotous; and whoever stumbles in it is not wise,” and Proverbs 23:20, “Be not among drunkards or among gluttonous eaters of meat.”  Christian views on alcohol are varied. Throughout the first 1,800 years of Church history, Christians generally consumed alcoholic beverages as a common part of everyday life and used “the fruit of the vine” in their central rite—the Eucharist or Lord’s Supper. They held that both the Bible and Christian tradition taught that alcohol is a gift from God that makes life more joyous, but that over-indulgence leading to drunkenness is sinful or at least a vice.” ref

“Observant Buddhists typically avoid consuming alcohol (surāmerayamajja, referring to types of intoxicating fermented beverages), as it violates the 5th of the Five Precepts, the basic Buddhist code of ethics, and can disrupt mindfulness and impede one’s progress in the Noble Eightfold Path. In Jainism alcohol consumption of any kind is not allowed, neither are there any exceptions like occasional or social drinking. The most important reason against alcohol consumption is the effect of alcohol on the mind and soul. In Jainism, any action or reaction that alter or impacts the mind is violence (himsa) towards own self, which is a five-sense human being. Violence to other five sense beings or to own self is violence. Jains do not consume fermented foods (beer, wine, and other alcohols) to avoid killing of a large number of microorganisms associated with the fermenting process. An initiated Sikh cannot use or consume intoxicants, of which wine is one.” ref

“In the Quran, khamr, meaning “wine”, is variably referenced as an incentive from Satan, as well as a cautionary note against its adverse effect on human attitude in several verses: such as, O you who have believed, indeed, intoxicants, gambling, [sacrificing on] stone altars [to other than Allah], and divining arrows are but defilement from the work of Satan, so avoid it that you may be successful. — Surat 5:90 AND Satan only wants to cause between you animosity and hatred through intoxicants and gambling and to avert you from the remembrance of Allah and from prayer. So will you not desist? — Surat 5:91 Whereas Sake is often consumed as part of Shinto purification rituals in Japan. Sakes served to gods as offerings prior to drinking are called Omiki. People drink Omiki with gods to communicate with them and to solicit rich harvests the following year.” ref

Older Historical Religions and Alcohol

“In Ancient Egyptian religion, beer and wine were drunk and offered to the gods in rituals and festivals. Beer and wine were also stored with the mummified dead in Egyptian burials. Other ancient religious practices like Chinese ancestor worship, Sumerian and Babylonian religion used alcohol as offerings to gods and to the deceased. The Mesopotamian cultures had various wine gods and a Chinese imperial edict (c. 1,116 BCE) states that drinking alcohol in moderation is prescribed by Heaven.” ref

“IN MESOPOTAMIA, evidence of winemaking from the fourth millennium BCE (the late Uruk period) has been found in the city-states of Uruk and Tello in southern Iraq and the Elamite capital of Susa in Iran. The Babylonian and Egyptian found that if they crushed grapes or warmed and moisten grain, the covered mush would bubble and produce drink with a kick. Ancient beer was thick and nutritious. The fermentation process added essential B vitamins and amino acids converted from yeast. Mesopotamians drank beer and wine but seemed to have preferred beer. By some estimates forty percent of the wheat from Sumerian harvest went to make beer. Thus lends credence to the beer theory, that man switched to agriculture so that people could to settle down and grow grain so they sit around and drink beer together on small villages.” ref

“It has been argued that beer was preferred over wine because beer-producing barley grows better in the hot, dry climate of southern Iraq than wine-producing grapes. Cylinder seals from the Early Dynastic period (2900-2350 BCE) show monarchs and the courtiers drinking beer from large jars with straws. Another beverage, possibly wine, was consumed from hand-held cups and goblets. Cuneiform tablets show allocations of beer and wine for royal occasions. One tablet from northeastern Syria allocates 80 liters of the “best quality beer” to honor “the man from Babylon.” By 700 BCE, the Phrgyians in present-day Turkey were drinking an alcoholic beverage made from wine, barley beer, and honey mead. For hangovers, the Assyrians consumed a mixture of ground bird’s beaks and myrrh.” ref

“In the ancient Mediterranean world, the Cult of Dionysus and the Orphic mysteries used wine as part of their religious practices. During Dionysian festivals and rituals, wine was drunk as way to reach ecstatic states along with music and dance. Intoxication from alcohol was seen as a state of possession by spirit of the god of wine Dionysus. Religious drinking festivals called Bacchanalia were popular in Italy and associated with the gods Bacchus and Liber. These Dionysian rites were frequently outlawed by the Roman Senate. In the Norse religion the drinking of ales and meads was important in several seasonal religious festivals such as Yule and Midsummer as well as more common festivities like wakes, christenings, and ritual sacrifices called Blóts. Neopagan and Wiccan religions also allow for the use of alcohol for ritual purposes as well as for recreation.” ref

Nectar of the Gods: Alcoholic Mythology

“Here are a handful of stories from around the globe that illustrate the long-time love of alcohol that connects the world. Norse mythology tells of Aegir, the ale brewer of the gods, who held a big party for honored guests every winter. The party was held inside a great hall whose floor was littered with glittering gold, providing enough light that no fires were necessary for illumination. The special beer for the event was brewed in a giant cauldron given to him by Thor and served in magical cups that refilled as soon as they were empty. He even had a couple of loyal servants who distributed food and otherwise cared for the guests’ needs. The shindig was the highlight of the social season and all the gods attended. However, like so many off-campus college parties, alcohol and animosity could sometimes spoil a perfectly good evening.” ref

“According to the Poetic Edda, a collection of mythological poems, the party started off great, with everyone drinking and eating and telling stories. As they sat down for the big feast, the inebriated guests offered praise to the two lowly servants, Fimafeng and Eldir. The snobby rich kid of the gods, Loki, in his drunken arrogance, took offense to the gesture, feeling the servants were not worth such accolades, and killed Fimafeng. The others kicked him out of the party for being a jerk, but he returned shortly after, demanding to be shown some respect and allowed back at the table. Loki didn’t get away unharmed, though. Skaoi, one of the goddesses he insulted that night, caught up with the god and tied him to a rock. Above his naked body, she hung a poisonous snake, whose fangs dripped acidic venom into a small dish, held up by Loki’s wife, Sigyn. Whenever the dish filled, she had to pull it away and pour the venom on the ground. This meant the venom would occasionally drip onto her husband, causing him immense pain. According to legend, Loki’s violent writhing is what causes earthquakes. Of course, this could have all been avoided if Loki had simply known when to say when.” ref

“The Aztec drink of choice was pulque, a syrupy, pulpy alcohol made from the fermented sap of the agave plant. Pulque was available to almost everyone, but most people were cut off after four cups. The elderly, on the other hand, had earned as many cups as they could handle. The priests were also able to drink as much as they wanted in order to commune with the gods – and work up the nerve to commit human sacrifices. A believer’s drunkenness was measured on a scale of rabbits, with two or three rabbits being a petty good buzz, all the way up to 400, which we can only imagine meant, “poke him with a stick and see if he’s dead.” So the next time you’re doing tequila shots with friends, instead of saying “three sheets to the wind,” perhaps you could say you’re “at least 10 rabbits in” and pay a little honor to Mayahuel, Patecatl, and their 400 kids.” ref

List of Deities of Wine and Beer

“Deities of wine and beer include a number of agricultural deities associated with the fruits and grains used to produce alcoholic beverages, as well as the processes of fermentation and distillation.

“Beer goddess:

Alcohol, where Agriculture and Religion Become one?

Such as Gobekli Tepe’s ritualistic use of grain as food and ritual drink.

Alcohol use in an Archaeology/Anthropology context theorized:

(My thoughts on alcohol in prehistoric religious rituals could have a dual nature. One of Euphoria and thus altered states religions tend to seek. Second is its association with the grave and death, such as how one can get so intoxicated on alcohol, they blackout or pass out (pseudo-death early peoples may have believe killed you, then miraculously in time the drinker would arise again from an alcohol stupor and it would have seemed like magic, thus they may have associated alcohol with reincarnation thinking.)

History of alcoholic drinks

“Purposeful production of alcoholic drinks is common and often reflects cultural and religious peculiarities as much as geographical and sociological conditions. The Discovery of late Stone Age jugs suggests that intentionally fermented beverages existed at least as early as the Neolithic period (c. 10000 BCE). The ability to metabolize alcohol likely predates humanity with primates eating fermenting fruit. The oldest verifiable brewery has been found in a prehistoric burial site in a cave near Haifa in modern-day Israel. Researchers have found residue of 13,000-year-old beer that they think might have been used for ritual feasts to honor the dead. The traces of a wheat-and-barley-based alcohol were found in stone mortars carved into the cave floor.” ref

“As early as 7000 BCE, chemical analysis of jars from the neolithic village Jiahu in the Henan province of northern China revealed traces of a mixed fermented beverage. According to a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in 2004, chemical analysis of the residue confirmed that a fermented drink made of grapes, hawthorn berries, honey, and rice was being produced in 7000–6650 BCE. This is approximately the time when barley beer and grape wine were beginning to be made in the Middle East.” ref

“Evidence of alcoholic beverages has also been found dating from 5400-5000 BC in Hajji Firuz Tepe in Iran, 3150 BCE in ancient Egypt, 3000 BCE in Babylon, 2000 BCE in pre-Hispanic Mexico, and 1500 BCE in Sudan. According to Guinness, the earliest firm evidence of wine production dates back to 6000 BCE in Georgia. The medicinal use of alcohol was mentioned in Sumerian and Egyptian texts dating from about 2100 BCE. The Hebrew Bible recommends giving alcoholic drinks to those who are dying or depressed, so that they can forget their misery (Proverbs 31:6-7).” ref

“Wine was consumed in Classical Greece at breakfast or at symposia, and in the 1st century BCE, it was part of the diet of most Roman citizens. Both the Greeks and the Romans generally drank diluted wine (the strength varying from 1 part wine and 1 part water, to 1 part wine and 4 parts water). In Europe during the Middle Ages, beer, often of very low strength, was an everyday drink for all classes and ages of people. A document from that time mentions nuns having an allowance of six pints of ale each day. Cider and pomace wine were also widely available; grape wine was the prerogative of the higher classes.” ref

“By the time the Europeans reached the Americas in the 15th century, several native civilizations had developed alcoholic beverages. According to a post-conquest Aztec document, consumption of the local “wine” (pulque) was generally restricted to religious ceremonies but was freely allowed to those who were older than 70 years. The natives of South America produced a beer-like beverage from cassava or maize, which had to be chewed before fermentation in order to turn the starch into sugar. (Beverages of this kind are known today as cauim or chicha.) This chewing technique was also used in ancient Japan to make sake from rice and other starchy crops.” ref

Ancient China

“The earliest evidence of wine was found in what is now China, where jars from Jiahu which date to about 7000 BCE were discovered. This early rice wine was produced by fermenting rice, honey, and fruit. What later developed into Chinese civilization grew up along the more northerly Yellow River and fermented a kind of huangjiu from millet. The Zhou attached great importance to alcohol and ascribed the loss of the mandate of Heaven by the earlier Xia and Shang as largely due to their dissolute and alcoholic emperors. An edict ascribed to c. 1116 BCE makes it clear that the use of alcohol in moderation was believed to be prescribed by heaven.” ref

“Unlike the traditions in Europe and the Middle East, China abandoned the production of grape wine before the advent of writing and, under the Han, abandoned beer in favor of huangjiu and other forms of rice wine. These naturally fermented to a strength of about 20% ABV; they were usually consumed warmed and frequently flavored with additives as part of traditional Chinese medicine. They considered it spiritual food and extensive documentary evidence attests to the important role it played in religious life. “In ancient times people always drank when holding a memorial ceremony, offering sacrifices to gods or their ancestors, pledging resolution before going into battle, celebrating victory, before feuding and official executions, for taking an oath of allegiance, while attending the ceremonies of birth, marriage, reunions, departures, death, and festival banquets.” Marco Polo‘s 14th-century record indicates grain and rice wine were drunk daily and were one of the treasury’s biggest sources of income.” ref

“Alcoholic beverages were widely used in all segments of Chinese society, were used as a source of inspiration, were important for hospitality, were considered an antidote for fatigue, and were sometimes misused. Laws against making wine were enacted and repealed forty-one times between 1100 BC and AD 1400. However, a commentator writing around 650 BCE asserted that people “will not do without beer. To prohibit it and secure total abstinence from it is beyond the power even of sages. Hence, therefore, we have warnings on the abuse of it.” The Chinese may have independently developed the process of distillation in the early centuries of the Common Era, during the Eastern Han dynasty.” ref

Ancient Persia (or Ancient Iran)

“A major step forward in our understanding of Neolithic winemaking came from the analysis of a yellowish residue excavated by Mary M. Voigt at the site of Hajji Firuz Tepe in the northern Zagros Mountains of Iran. The jar that once contained wine, with a volume of about 9 liters (2.5 gallons) was found together with five similar jars embedded in the earthen floor along one wall of a “kitchen” of a Neolithic mudbrick building, dated to c. 5400-5000 BCE. In such communities, winemaking was the best technology they had for storing highly perishable grapes, although whether the resulting beverage was intended for intoxication as well as nourishment is not known.” ref

Ancient Egypt

“Brewing dates from the beginning of civilization in ancient Egypt, and alcoholic beverages were very important at that time. Egyptian brewing began in the city of Hierakonpolis around 3400 BCE; its ruins contain the remains of the world’s oldest brewery, which was capable of producing up to three hundred gallons (1,136 liters) per day of beer. Symbolic of this is the fact that while many gods were local or familial, Osiris was worshiped throughout the entire country. Osiris was believed to be the god of the dead, of life, of vegetable regeneration, and of wine. Both beer and wine were deified and offered to gods. Cellars and wine presses even had a god whose hieroglyph was a winepress. The ancient Egyptians made at least 17 types of beer and at least 24 varieties of wine. The most common type of beer was known as hqt. Beer was the drink of common laborers; financial accounts report that the Giza pyramid builders were allotted a daily beer ration of one and one-third gallons. Alcoholic beverages were used for pleasure, nutrition, medicine, ritual, remuneration, and funerary purposes. The latter involved storing the beverages in tombs of the deceased for their use in the after-life.” ref

“Numerous accounts of the period stressed the importance of moderation, and these norms were both secular and religious. While Egyptians did not generally appear to define drunkenness as a problem, they warned against taverns (which were often houses of prostitution) and excessive drinking. After reviewing extensive evidence regarding the widespread but generally moderate use of alcoholic beverages, the nutritional biochemist and historian William J. Darby makes a most important observation: all these accounts are warped by the fact that moderate users “were overshadowed by their more boisterous counterparts who added ‘color’ to history.” Thus, the intemperate use of alcohol throughout history receives a disproportionate amount of attention. Those who abuse alcohol cause problems, draw attention to themselves, are highly visible, and cause legislation to be enacted. The vast majority of drinkers, who neither experience nor cause difficulties, are not noteworthy. Consequently, observers and writers largely ignore moderation. Evidence of distillation comes from alchemists working in Alexandria, Roman Egypt, in the 1st century CE. Distilled water has been known since at least c. 200 CE, when Alexander of Aphrodisias described the process.” ref

Ancient Babylon

“Beer was the major beverage among the Babylonians, and as early as 2700 BCE they worshiped a wine goddess and other wine deities. Babylonians regularly used both beer and wine as offerings to their gods. Around 1750 BCE, the famous Code of Hammurabi devoted attention to alcohol. However, there were no penalties for drunkenness; in fact, it was not even mentioned. The concern was fair commerce in alcohol. Although it was not a crime, the Babylonians were critical of drunkenness.” ref

Ancient India

“Alcohol distillation likely originated in India. Alcoholic beverages in the Indus Valley Civilization appeared in the Chalcolithic Era. These beverages were in use between 3000 to 2000 BCE. Sura, a beverage brewed from rice meal, wheat, sugar cane, grapes, and other fruits, was popular among the Kshatriya warriors and the peasant population. Sura is considered to be a favorite drink of Indra.” ref

“The Hindu Ayurvedic texts describe both the beneficent uses of alcoholic beverages and the consequences of intoxication and alcoholic diseases. Ayurvedic texts concluded that alcohol was a medicine if consumed in moderation, but a poison if consumed in excess. Most of the people in India and China, have continued, throughout, to ferment a portion of their crops and nourish themselves with the alcoholic product. In ancient India, alcohol was also used by the orthodox population. Early Vedic literature suggests the use of alcohol by priestly classes.” ref

“The two great Hindu epics, Ramayana and Mahabharata, mention the use of alcohol. In Ramayana, alcohol consumption is depicted in a good/bad dichotomy. The bad faction members consumed meat and alcohol while the good faction members were abstinent vegetarians. However, in Mahabharata, the characters are not portrayed in such a black-white contrast. Alcohol abstinence was promoted as a moral value in India by Mahavira, the founder of Jainism, and Adi Shankaracharya. Distillation was known in the ancient Indian subcontinent, evident from baked clay retorts and receivers found at Taxila and Charsadda in modern Pakistan, dating back to the early centuries of the Common Era. These “Gandhara stills” were only capable of producing very weak liquor, as there was no efficient means of collecting the vapors at low heat.” ref

Ancient Greece

“While the art of wine making reached the Hellenic peninsula by about 2000 BCE, the first alcoholic beverage to obtain widespread popularity in what is now Greece was mead, a fermented beverage made from honey and water. However, by 1700 BCE, wine making was commonplace. During the next thousand years wine drinking assumed the same function so commonly found around the world: It was incorporated into religious rituals. It became important in hospitality, used for medicinal purposes, and became an integral part of daily meals. As a beverage, it was drunk in many ways: warm and chilled, pure and mixed with water, plain and spiced. Alcohol, specifically wine, was considered so important to the Greeks that consumption was considered a defining characteristic of the Hellenic culture between their society and the rest of the world; those who did not drink were considered barbarians.” ref

“While habitual drunkenness was rare, intoxication at banquets and festivals was not unusual. In fact, the symposium, a gathering of men for an evening of conversation, entertainment, and drinking typically ended in intoxication. However, while there are no references in ancient Greek literature to mass drunkenness among the Greeks, there are references to it among foreign peoples. By 425 BCE, warnings against intemperance, especially at symposia, appear to become more frequent.” ref

“Xenophon (431-351 BCE) and Plato (429-347 BCE) both praised the moderate use of wine as beneficial to health and happiness, but both were critical of drunkenness, which appears to have become a problem. Plato also believed that no one under the age of eighteen should be allowed to touch wine. Hippocrates (cir. 460-370 BCE) identified numerous medicinal properties of wine, which had long been used for its therapeutic value. Later, both Aristotle (384-322 BCE) and Zeno (cir. 336-264 BCE) were very critical of drunkenness. Among Greeks, the Macedonians viewed intemperance as a sign of masculinity and were well known for their drunkenness. Their king, Alexander the Great (356-323 BCE), whose mother adhered to the Dionysian cult, developed a reputation for inebriety.” ref

Pre-Columbian America

“Several Native American civilizations developed alcoholic beverages. Many versions of these beverages are still produced today. The making of pulque, as illustrated in the Florentine Codex (Book 1 Appendix, fo.40). Pulque, or octli is an alcoholic beverage made from the fermented juice of the maguey, and is a traditional native beverage of Mesoamerica. Though commonly believed to be a beer, the main carbohydrate is a complex form of fructose rather than starch. Pulque is depicted in Native American stone carvings from as early as CE 200. The origin of pulque is unknown, but because it has a major position in religion, many folk tales explain its origins.” ref

“Balché is the name of a honey wine brewed by the Maya, associated with the Mayan deity Acan. The drink shares its name with the balché tree (Lonchocarpus violaceus), the bark of which is fermented in water together with honey from the indigenous stingless bee. Tepache is a mildly alcoholic beverage indigenous to Mexico that is created by fermenting pineapple, including the rind, for a short period of three days. Tejuino, traditional to the Mexican state of Jalisco, is a maize-based beverage that involves fermenting masa dough.” ref

“Chicha is a Spanish word for any of variety of traditional fermented beverages from the Andes region of South America. It can be made of maize, manioc root (also called yuca or cassava) or fruits among other things. During the Inca Empire women were taught the techniques of brewing chicha in Acllahuasis (feminine schools). Chicha de jora is prepared by germinating maize, extracting the malt sugars, boiling the wort, and fermenting it in large vessels, traditionally huge earthenware vats, for several days. In some cultures, in lieu of germinating the maize to release the starches, the maize is ground, moistened in the chicha maker’s mouth and formed into small balls which are then flattened and laid out to dry. Naturally occurring diastase enzymes in the maker’s saliva catalyze the breakdown of starch in the maize into maltose. Chicha de jora has been prepared and consumed in communities throughout in the Andes for millennia. The Inca used chicha for ritual purposes and consumed it in vast quantities during religious festivals. In recent years, however, the traditionally prepared chicha is becoming increasingly rare. Only in a small number of towns and villages in southern Peru and Bolivia is it still prepared. Other traditional drinks made from fermented maize or maize flour include pozol and pox.” ref

“Manioc root being prepared by Indian women to produce an alcoholic drink for ritual consumption, by Theodor de Bry, Frankfurt, 1593. Women in the lower left can be seen spitting into the manioc mash. Salivary enzymes break down complex starches, and saliva introduces bacteria and yeast that hasten the fermentation process. Cauim is a traditional alcoholic beverage of the Native American populations of Brazil since pre-Columbian times. It is still made today in remote areas throughout Panama and South America. Cauim is very similar to chicha and it is also made by fermenting manioc or maize, sometimes flavored with fruit juices. The Kuna Indians of Panama use plantains. A characteristic feature of the beverage is that the starting material is cooked, chewed, and re-cooked prior to fermentation. As in the making of chicha, enzymes from the saliva of the cauim maker break down the starches into fermentable sugars.” ref

“Tiswin, or niwai is a mild, fermented, ceremonial beverage produced by various cultures living in the region encompassing the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. Among the Apache, tiswin was made from maize, while the Tohono O’odham brewed tiswin using saguaro sap. The Tarahumara variety, called tesgüino, can be made from a variety of different ingredients. Recent archaeological evidence has also revealed the production of a similar maize-based intoxicant among the ancestors of the Pueblo peoples. Okolehao is produced by Native Hawaiians from juice extracted from the roots of the ti plant. Cacao wine was produced during the formative stage of the Olmec Culture (1100-900 BCE). Evidence from Puerto Escondido indicates that a weak alcoholic beverage (up to 5% alcohol by volume) was made from fermented cacao pulp and stored in pottery containers.” ref

In addition:

· The Iroquois fermented sap from the sugar maple tree to produce a mildly alcoholic beverage.

· The Chiricahua prepared a kind of corn beer called tula-pah using sprouted corn kernels, dried and ground, flavored with locoweed or lignum vitae roots, placed in water and allowed to ferment.[42]

· The Coahuiltecan in Texas combined mountain laurel with agave sap to create an alcoholic drink similar to pulque.

· The Zunis made fermented beverages from aloe, maguey, corn, prickly pear, pitaya, and grapes.

· The Creek of Georgia and Cherokee of the Carolinas used berries and other fruits to make alcoholic beverages.

· The Huron made a mild beer by soaking corn in water to produce a fermented gruel to be consumed at tribal feasts.

· The Kwakiutl of Vancouver Island produced a mildly alcoholic drink using elderberry juice, black chitons, and tobacco.

· Both the Aleuts and Yuit of Kodiak Island in Alaska were observed making alcoholic drinks from fermented raspberries.” ref

Ancient Rome

“Bacchus, the god of wine – for the Greeks, Dionysus – is the patron deity of agriculture and the theater. He was also known as the Liberator (Eleutherios), freeing one from one’s normal self, by madness, ecstasy, or wine. The divine mission of Dionysus was to mingle the music of the aulos and to bring an end to care and worry. The Romans would hold dinner parties where wine was served to the guest all day along with a three-course feast. Scholars have discussed Dionysus’ relationship to the “cult of the souls” and his ability to preside over communication between the living and the dead. The Roman belief that wine was a daily necessity made the drink “democratic” and ubiquitous: wine was available to slaves, peasants, women, and aristocrats alike. To ensure the steady supply of wine to Roman soldiers and colonists, viticulture and wine production spread to every part of the empire. The Romans diluted their wine before drinking it. The wine was also used for religious purposes, in the pouring of libations to deities.” ref

“Though beer was drunk in Ancient Rome, it was replaced in popularity by wine. Tacitus wrote disparagingly of the beer brewed by the Germanic peoples of his day. Thracians were also known to consume beer made from rye, even since the 5th century BC, as the ancient Greek logographer Hellanicus of Lesbos says. Their name for beer was brutos, or brytos. The Romans called their brew cerevisia, from the Celtic word for it. Beer was apparently enjoyed by some Roman legionaries. For instance, among the Vindolanda tablets (from Vindolanda in Roman Britain, dated c. 97-103 AD), the cavalry decurion Masculus wrote a letter to prefect Flavius Cerialis inquiring about the exact instructions for his men for the following day. This included a polite request for beer to be sent to the garrison (which had entirely consumed its previous stock of beer).” ref

Ancient Sub-Saharan Africa

“Palm wine played an important social role in many African societies. Thin, gruel-like, alcoholic beverages have existed in traditional societies all across the African continent, created through the fermentation of sorghum, millet, bananas, or in modern times, maize or cassava.” ref

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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Kortik Tepe

“McGovern (2009) presented preliminary results from chemical studies made on two stone vessels from the PPN necropolis at Körtik Tepe which yielded traces of tartaric acid that accrues during the wine production process. The consensus is that early grain crops would have been far better suited to the production of gruel or beer than bread, especially considering that the glumes of primitive domesticated plants would have adhered to the grain. Even though this idea (fermentation) was raised frequently in subsequent years, particularly in the context of the previously noted advantages (higher nutritional value) afforded by this process, it was considered improbable that beer was actually produced. Ever since the so-called Braidwood Symposium in 1953, there has been a debate as to whether beer – and not bread – was the first product made from domesticated crops. Based on the discovery of grain at the site of Qalat Jarmo, and at the suggestion of the archaeo-botanist Sauer, Braidwood inquired whether or not the discovery of fermentation could have been the spark that triggered the targeted selection, and ultimately domestication, of certain crops. Fermented grain, which sees its starch transformed into sugars, is well known for its beneficial properties, including an increase in nutritional value, also making it easier to digest.” ref

“Recently, further chemical analyses were conducted by M. Zarnkow (Technical University of Munich, Weihenstephan) on six large limestone vessels from Göbekli Tepe. These (barrel/trough-shaped) vessels, with capacities of up to 160 litres, were found in-situ in PPNB contexts at the site. Already during excavations, it was noted that some vessels carried grey-black adhesions. A first set of analyses made on these substances returned partly positive for calcium oxalate, which develops in the course of the soaking, mashing, and fermenting of grain. Although these intriguing results are only preliminary, they provide initial indications for the brewing of beer at Göbekli Tepe, thus provoking renewed discussions relating to the production and consumption of alcoholic beverages at this early time. Further, they are particularly significant in light of results from genetic analyses, undertaken by a team from the Norwegian University of Life Sciences in Oslo, which have suggested that the earliest domestication of grain occurred in the vicinity of the Karacadağ (Karaca Dağ is a shield volcano located in eastern Turkey). It was also known as Mount Masia i.e. very near to Göbekli Tepe. Once again, we must ask whether the production of alcohol and the domestication of grain are interrelated. Finally, the aforementioned insights also provoke new questions relating to the use and consumption of alcohol at Göbekli Tepe, which may have been in the context of religiously motivated feasts and celebrations. Not surprisingly, such events are well attested in the ethnographic literature as a means of attracting and motivating large groups of people to undertake communal work and projects.” ref

“Studying encoded ideas the site of Körtik Tepe may serve as a starting point. Körtik Tepe is one of the earliest permanent settlements in Southeastern Turkey. Possible local adaptations of the Körtik Tepe belly-shaped vessel type/decoration 1- Göbekli Tepe 2- Tell ‘Abr 3. Examples of possibly kept and reused chlorite sherds with decoration similar to the belly-shaped standardized vessel from Körtik Tepe: 1- Tell Qaramel; 2- Tell ‘Abr 3, both in northern Syria. Import or copy? Chlorite vessels from 1- Jerf el Ahmar and 2- Tell ‘Abr 3. A very similar item was found at Körtik Tepe.” ref

“Körtik Tepe is a low mound on the Tigris in Southeastern Turkey, rich lithic industries, hundreds of zoomorphic and anthropomorphic decorated stone vessels, undecorated stone vessels, decorated ritual bone objects, thousands of shell beads, and several kinds of stone beads, animal decorated stone plaques, bone tools & fishing hooks, perforated stones large and small in size, and many mortars and pestles.” ref

Living by the water – Boon, and Bane for the People of Körtik Tepe

“Despite a long and on-going discussion on the development of early sedentism and the broad spectrum revolution as a precondition for sedentary farming communities, many studies have been biased by focusing on the study of wild cereal remains. However, recent botanical and archaeozoological studies have shown clearly a wide spectrum of plants and small game that were used by hunter-gatherers opportunistically. Many ethnographic examples and pioneering studies on prehistoric coastal fishing and even trade of marine fishes into the hinterland during the early Holocene demonstrate the importance of fish for sedentary communities. Nevertheless, fish remains have rarely been studied systematically. A recent overview on data of Near Eastern Early Neolithic sites could list only a handful of Epipalaeolithic and Early Neolithic sites for which a systematic collection of fish bones had been practiced. The missing systematic collection of microfauna and fish remains sieving has hampered quantitative as well as qualitative analyses of fish remains and microfauna on many sites. Although a systematic collection of fish remains at Körtik Tepe only in future seasons, we argue that the archaeological materials and archaeozoological remains in the sediments and graves clearly illustrate that freshwater resources such as fish and waterfowl, besides other small game such as tortoise, played an important role for the fourishing of the Körtik Tepe community during the PPNA1 and contributed much to its richness and identity.” ref

The Site and Environmental Conditions

“The extraordinary findings and the lavishly endowed burials of the early Holocene site of Körtik Tepe (37°48’51.90” N, 40°59’02.02”E) have been presented recently in this journal and in many other publications. The site is located near the confluence of the Batman Creek and Tigris River. An old channel of the Batman Creek visible on the aerial photo passes directly by the site. Preliminary analyses of charcoal remains suggest that Körtik Tepe lay in the oak park-woodland at the beginnings of the Holocene, with the dominance of oak and some Amygdalus sp., Maloideae, Pistacia sp., Celtis sp. and Rhamnus sp. Furthermore, Tamarix sp., Populus sp. /Salix sp., Vitis sp., Alnus sp., and Fraxinus sp. hint at the proximity of gallery forests indicative of water. The seed remains underline the proximity to water reservoirs.3 They comprise a wide spectrum of wild plants including hygrophilous species such as sea club rush (Scirpus maritimus) (12 %). The abundance of taxa such as tragant (Astragalus sp.) and medusahead (Taeniatherum caput-medusea/crinitium), however, indicate the presence of open vegetation. Large-seeded grasses (Poaceae) contribute the main portion (37 %) and occur in every sample, whereas progenitors of modern cereals account for less than 6 %. A specialization on one or the other plant does not show up in the botanical remains, and domestication of plants could not been proven so far (Riehl et al. n.d.). The people of Körtik Tepe thus had access to at least three different environmental milieus, of which they used the plant and animal resources opportunistically.” ref

Excavations at Körtik Tepe. A New Pre-Pottery Neolithic A Site in Southeastern Anatolia

“With its location near the point where Batman Çayı and the Tigris River meet, approximately 30 km west of Batman in southeastern Anatolia, Körtik Tepe is situated on the west bank the Tigris near a Pınarbaşı field of the Ağıl Village (Ancolini) within the administrative borders of Bismil district, Diyarbakır. In the form of a low hill, the mound extends across an area of 100 x 150 m and a height 5.50 m above its surroundings. The mound, also known by its traditional names Kotuk or Kotik, was first detected in surveys carried out in 1989 and evaluated as a late site (Algaze and Rosenberg 1990). Archaeological excavations that began in 2000 continued until 2009. Excavations exposed an area of approximately 2600 m² in 89 trenches of 5.00 x 5.00 m, reaching variable depths between 1.00- 5.50 m (Fig. 2). Together with Hallan Çemi, Körtik Tepe is one of the earliest sites in which the transition from hunter-gatherer communities following a nomadic way of life to settled village life is represented.” ref

“The PPN cultural structure of the mound generally reflects important differences, especially in terms of small finds, from other well-known contemporary settlements in the region. All data indicate that Körtik Tepe is a permanent settlement. Excavations during 2005-2009 showed that there are at least six separate architectural layers. It is possible to gather Körtik Tepe structures in three main groups. The first group is composed of 77 round buildings. All houses are round in plan with dirt floors surrounded by single-leaf walls of unworked stones. Walls were badly damaged by the construction activity of the medieval phase occupations. Among these, there are many structures that are not walled at all. These structures, varying in size between 2.30-3.00 m, are constructed directly on the ground.” ref

“The floors of stones pressed into the compact earth. Based on a preliminary judgment, these round buildings from Körtik Tepe, whether with flat or concave floors, are single-family dwellings characteristic of the earliest Pre-Pottery Neolithic period and similar in nature to Hallan Çemi, Göbekli Tepe, Tell Abr, Jerf el-Ahmar, Sheikh Hassan, Mureybet, Qermez Dere and Nemrik. The second group is composed of 34 buildings that are too small for residences. The sizes of these buildings, which are found in almost all levels in the excavated areas and are also round in plan, vary between 1.10–2.10 m in diameter. Floors of this group are also paved with pebbles. These structures must have served as storage units similar to those at Hallan Çemi, confirmed by the dense vegetable remains in them.” ref

“The last group of structures in our sample (Y3, Y11, Y44, Y35) is completely different in terms of their sizes and floors as well as in their rare numbers. Data are not sufficient to explain the functions of these, but we suspect they may have played some special roles, similar in some ways to the public structures at Hallan Çemi. However, despite the architectural similarities with Hallan Çemi, Körtik Tepe stands apart in terms of its small finds. Although there are no direct similarities with Çayönü or Nevalı Çori, similar structures to the third group are found in other Neolithic settlements of Anatolia. In the Levant region there are comparable structures in such early settlements such as ‘Ain Mallaha, Jericho, and the lower layers of Beidha. Though they include specific differences in terms of features, structure types, finds, and some functions, it is not surprising that the rarity of these buildings are generally considered to be public structures. Therefore, the site of Körtik Tepe shows parallels not only with Anatolia but also with the Levant.” ref

“Burials Graves play an important role in terms of characterizing the social and cultural structure of Körtik Tepe. The majority of skeletons were buried with grave goods, and a large proportion of the burials on the mound were found beneath house floors (Figs. 4-5). The context of a few graves is uncertain as they are near the surface and badly disturbed. Burials inside houses show that the places where people were living were sanctified as well as profane. Instead of being buried haphazardly, rules of treating the dead included practices before burial as well as internment itself. One specific practice was the partial smearing of skeletons with gypsum plaster. For many of the plastered skeletons, including skulls, colored parallel bands occur in the upper parts of the bones. In two different samples red and black lines are parallel to each other. Such color traces are also seen on grave goods.” ref

“All these data show that the dead were defleshed, subsequently partly covered with plaster, and then pigmented. Similar practices in the later PPN period have been noted, but Körtik Tepe holds a special place in terms of the specific kinds of plastering treatment. Traditions of burying the dead and the accompanying grave goods help to demonstrate the sociocultural system of the era. It is possible to gain an understanding in such related features as production, technology, labor, and decoration of grave gifts, most of which were of worked stone. Jewelry was made of different stones; decorated and undecorated bone objects and stone figurines were numerous. Other grave goods include stone vessels, axes, pestles, mortars, perforated stones, and cutting-piercing tools (Figs. 6-9). Similarities to tools used in daily life indicate fundamental beliefs among the Körtik Tepe settlers, particularly the concept of a continuation of life after the death.” ref

Chipped and Ground Stone Artifacts Chipped stone artifacts from Körtik Tepe are chiefly composed of flint. 

“Obsidian tools and debitage are secondary. Furthermore, although rare numerically, quartz raw material was also used. Among tool groups Çayönü tools show up although in small quantities. Notably, although projectile points are numerous, no arrowheads of Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) or Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) types common to the classic Levant or Zagros traditions were found. Instead, tool types are more typical of the Epipaleolithic, characterized by microliths and arch-backed blades, generally similar to the inventory from Hallan Çemi. There is nothing among the tool types to contradict our interpretation that wild plant collecting was the principal means of acquiring plant foods. Some tools still reflect Paleolithic origins, with large scrapers being very important. It is observed that more formal tools were produced from obsidian, and these mostly consist of lunates and other geometric forms. The obsidian at Körtik Tepe was only obtainable from a great distance, whether through exchange or direct acquisition. As was the case for Hallan Çemi, the green transparent obsidian is likely East Anatolian in origin.” ref

“Most of the material from the mound consists of ground stone artifacts, and the majority of these came from burials; a small proportion came from domestic contexts. Except for a few examples that were preserved as complete objects, most finds included as grave goods were broken, including many stone vessels, utilitarian and ceremonial axes in different shapes and sizes, mortars, pestles, and grinding stones, all of which reflect the rich cultural collection in Körtik Tepe. Foremost among the types, stone vessels constitute a special group with their broad formal repertoire and their geometric and natural decoration. All parts of the stone vessels are covered by engraved animal figures, mostly snakes, wild goats, scorpions, birds, and mixed creatures that likely represent elements of their belief system. Despite their rarity throughout the region, it is clear that such stone vessels are seen in Pre-Pottery Neolithic period communities in Near East. One type of ground stone object brings relationships among Körtik Tepe and contemporary sites into sharp relief. This is the pestle produced for utilitarian and ceremonial use. Samples worked from coarse stone include abrasion traces as a result of use, and they generally display rough formal features. Ones that have shiny surfaces are made of more workable chlorite that is also used for stone vessels.” ref

“Most of the pestles of this type have upper ends finished with stylized wild bird and goat heads and are found as grave goods. Nearly identical pestles also came from Hallan Çemi and Çayönü in Anatolia and from Nemrik 9 in Iraq. Among the Körtik Tepe finds, stone axes comprise another important group. In addition to some with rough formal features, there are others that were shaped carefully. Axes differ in terms of size based on different stone types; however, they all share similar morphologies. Axes among the grave goods have holes carefully bored in the center. The majority of axes from non-burial contexts are abraded from rough usage. In addition to axes included as grave goods, there are also small, carefully fashioned mace heads with compressed circular forms. Chlorite stone figurines included as grave goods made by abrasion and incision are often of undefinable animals, although there is one that is clearly a goat.” ref

“Such figurines are not known from contemporary sites in the Near East, and they appear to be expressions of a local belief system. The concentric circles on the shoulders of the figures are also commonly found on decorated stone vessels among the grave goods, adding to the uniqueness of these objects. Another exotic piece that is of unknown use is a stone decorated with patterned incisions. Another type of shaped stone object from Körtik Tepe includes small-sized pointed cylinders that reflect close cultural ties with other early and late Pre-Pottery Neolithic period sites in Anatolia/Turkey. Shaped by means of abrasion, these chlorite objects have simple incised lines; one of them, with deep corrugations, has counterparts at Hallan Çemi and Demirköy. Bone Artifacts Bone artifacts make up another basic group at Körtik Tepe. The majority of them were found in burials, although a few were found in other contexts. Considering their formal features and decoration, it is possible to classify bone artifacts in two groups as either decorative or utilitarian. Utilitarian tools consist of awls, hooks, and points.” ref

“Most of them are fragmentary, but definable awls reflect morphological differences with Çayönü samples. Awls with their bigger size and stubby heads differ from points. Close equivalents of small-sized bone points that are used as pins are known from Çayönü. Once again, the bone material from Körtik Tepe shows similarities with bone finds from Hallan Çemi (Rosenberg 1999) and is related to the Zarzian tradition, connected to some degree with traditions known from other sites of the region in form and function. Personal Ornaments Different jewelry groups produced from different materials reveal the richness of the collection of grave goods from the mound. Beads are one group placed in burials as gifts next to skeletons or in stone vessels. Most of the beads were produced from burgundy-colored stone, which is easily worked. This kind of ornament is the largest group, but another includes vertebrae of animals such as birds, fish, and shell.” ref

“As in other kinds of grave goods, the quantity and quality of beads vary from burial to burial; some graves lack ornaments altogether. Although they are represented by only a few samples, some beads are made of chlorite, the same material the stone vessels are fashioned from. Ornaments were competently made involving decoration of parallel incised lines and carefully drilled holes. Although generally oval in shape, serpentine beads also occur in different forms, similar to those from Hallan Çemi. Although there are some specific differences, the jewelry from Körtik Tepe is similar to that from Çayönü as well. The disparity of grave good distributions suggests that those burials with large quantities of beads and other jewelry are of a different social class than those people buried in graves with none or only a few objects. This, in turn, indicates that social complexity had already appeared among the residents of Körtik Tepe by the PPNA period.” ref

“Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) denotes the first stage of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic, in early Levantine and Anatolian Neolithic culture, dating to around 12,020 – 10,820 years ago, that is, 10,000–8,800 BCE. Archaeological remains are located in the Levantine and Upper Mesopotamian region of the Fertile Crescent. The time period is characterized by tiny circular mud-brick dwellings, the cultivation of crops, the hunting of wild game, and unique burial customs in which bodies were buried below the floors of dwellings. The Pre-Pottery Neolithic A and the following Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) were originally defined by Kathleen Kenyon in the type site of Jericho (Palestine). During this time, pottery was not yet in use. They precede the ceramic Neolithic (Yarmukian). PPNA succeeds the Natufian culture of the Epipaleolithic (Mesolithic).” ref

“Sedentism of this time allowed for the cultivation of local grains, such as barley and wild oats, and for storage in granaries. Sites such as Dhra′ and Jericho retained a hunting lifestyle until the PPNB period, but granaries allowed for year-round occupation. This period of cultivation is considered “pre-domestication“, but may have begun to develop plant species into the domesticated forms they are today. Deliberate, extended-period storage was made possible by the use of “suspended floors for air circulation and protection from rodents”. This practice “precedes the emergence of domestication and large-scale sedentary communities by at least 1,000 years”. Granaries are positioned in places between other buildings early on c. 11,500 BP, however, beginning around 10,500 BP, they were moved inside houses, and by 9,500 BP storage occurred in special rooms. This change might reflect changing systems of ownership and property as granaries shifted from a communal use and ownership to become under the control of households or individuals. It has been observed of these granaries that their “sophisticated storage systems with subfloor ventilation are a precocious development that precedes the emergence of almost all of the other elements of the Near Eastern Neolithic package—domestication, large scale sedentary communities, and the entrenchment of some degree of social differentiation”. Moreover, “[b]uilding granaries may […] have been the most important feature in increasing sedentism that required active community participation in new life-ways”.” ref

With more sites becoming known, archaeologists have defined a number of regional variants of Pre-Pottery Neolithic A:

  • Sultanian in the Jordan River valley and the southern Levant, with the type site of Jericho. Other sites include Netiv HaGdud, El-Khiam, Hatoula, and Nahal Oren.
  • Mureybetian in the Northern Levant, defined by the finds from Mureybet IIIA, IIIB, typical: Helwan points, sickle-blades with base amenagée or short stem and terminal retouch. Other sites include Sheyk Hasan and Jerf el-Ahmar.
  • (Aswadian) in the Damascus Basin, defined by finds from Tell Aswad IA; typical: bipolar cores, big sickle blades, Aswad points. The ‘Aswadian’ variant recently was abolished by the work of Danielle Stordeur in her initial report from further investigations in 2001–2006. The PPNB horizon was moved back at this site, to around 10,700 BP.
  • Sites in “Upper Mesopotamia” include Çayönü and Göbekli Tepe, with the latter possibly being the oldest ritual complex yet discovered.
  • Sites in central Anatolia that include the ‘mother city’ Çatalhöyük and the smaller, but older site, rivaling even Jericho in age, Aşıklı Höyük. ref

“Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) is part of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic, a Neolithic culture centered in upper Mesopotamia and the Levant, dating to c. 10,800 – c. 8,500 years ago, that is, 8,800–6,500 BCE. It was typed by Kathleen Kenyon during her archaeological excavations at Jericho in the West Bank. Like the earlier PPNA people, the PPNB culture developed from the Mesolithic Natufian culture. However, it shows evidence of a northerly origin, possibly indicating an influx from the region of northeastern Anatolia. Cultural tendencies of this period differ from that of the earlier Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) period in that people living during this period began to depend more heavily upon domesticated animals to supplement their earlier mixed agrarian and hunter-gatherer diet.” ref

“In addition, the flint tool kit of the period is new and quite disparate from that of the earlier period. One of its major elements is the naviform core. This is the first period in which architectural styles of the southern Levant became primarily rectilinear; earlier typical dwellings were circular, elliptical, and occasionally even octagonal. Pyrotechnology, the expanding capability to control fire, was highly developed in this period. During this period, one of the main features of houses is a thick layer of white clay plaster flooring, highly polished and made of lime produced from limestone. It is believed that the use of clay plaster for floor and wall coverings during PPNB led to the discovery of pottery. The earliest proto-pottery was White Ware vessels, made from lime and gray ash, built up around baskets before firing, for several centuries around 7000 BCE at sites such as Tell Neba’a Faour (Beqaa Valley).” ref

“Sites from this period found in the Levant utilizing rectangular floor plans and plastered floor techniques were found at Ain Ghazal, Yiftahel (western Galilee), and Abu Hureyra (Upper Euphrates). The period is dated to between c. 10,700 and c. 8,000 BP or 7000–6000 BCE. Plastered human skulls were reconstructed human skulls that were made in the ancient Levant between 9000 and 6000 BCE in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B period. They represent some of the oldest forms of art in the Middle East and demonstrate that the prehistoric population took great care in burying their ancestors below their homes. The skulls denote some of the earliest sculptural examples of portraiture in the history of art.” ref

The role of cult and feasting in the emergence of Neolithic communities. New evidence from Göbekli Tepe, south-eastern Turkey: Changing Medialities – Symbols of Neolithic Corporate Identities

“Sedentism not only challenged the economic system of hunter-gatherers, but above all the social and ideological framework of their lives. Larger groups, increasing social differentiation and the potential for accumulating material possessions may have led to a decrease in trust and an increase in alienation, fear, and of aggression. Both processes can be counteracted by adjusting ideological and ethical concepts. One option of a society adapting to such stress is to strengthen corporate identities by an increased demonstration and standardization of symbolic praxis, including (communal) architecture as symbols in space, rituals as symbols in action, and systems of recurring signs, with an implied shared symbolic meaning. This introduction to the ideological and intangible ideas of corporate identities surrounds discussing if and how we can track shifts in ideological frameworks from the Epipaleolithic to the Early Neolithic in the Near East. It is suggested that an integrative approach combining anthropological, archaeological, and neurobiological research with studies of mediality may be capable of reconstructing the social impact of symbolic systems. Instead of creating a uniform picture of a monolithic symbolic system, we focus on tensions and contradictions of symbolic actions and representations with daily praxis. The observed shift in mediality probably aimed at creating strong social networks with present and bygone generations to counteract tendencies in ever larger communities. However, the increased display of corporate identities seems to be a transitional phenomenon. When living in permanent settlements had become customary, monumental and ubiquitous symbolic representations almost vanished.” ref

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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Göbekli Tepe

“Investigating the function of Pre-Pottery Neolithic stone troughs from Göbekli Tepe – An integrated approach Abstract: An integrated approach using contextual, use-wear, scientific, and experimental methods was used to analyze the role of stone troughs of up to 165 l capacity at the Early Neolithic site Göbekli Tepe in the context of other stone containers found there. Around 600 (mostly fragmentary) vessels from the site constitute the largest known assemblage from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic of the Near East. Besides the large limestone troughs, it encompasses middle-sized, coarsely made limestone vessels, finely executed platters, and ‘greenstone’ vessels. All lines of evidence taken together indicate the use of limestone troughs for the cooking of cereals.” ref

“Is there any evidence for any production activities in Göbekli Tepe (for instance agriculture, or beer-brewing as was mentioned by Dietrich et al.)? Traces of typical domestic activities are missing so far at Göbekli Tepe, as are any traces of Prehistoric agriculture or husbandry – any remains of plants and animals discovered as of yet hint at the respective wild forms only. However, numerous flint tools and flint flakes clearly hint at flint knapping on a grand scale taking place at and around Göbekli Tepe. The possible production of beer in the frame of large scale feasting is indeed a point worthy of discussion in the frame of these already mentioned large feasts – since preliminary chemical analysis hints at oxalate residues in large stone vessels at the site.” ref

Around 13,000 years ago the site functioned as a ritual or religious center with the early circles around 11,600 years ago and then 11,130–10,620 years ago is Layer III first building stage. A totemistic-shamanistic proto-paganism meeting place of ancestor worship and cultic feasting as well as drinking, with evidence of beer brewing almost 11,000 years ago. Next, around 10,280–9,970 is enclosure B, and at around 9,560–9,370 is enclosure C building stages. Some pillars are around 15 to 20 ft-foot-high and can weigh up to 20 tons, many with totem animals and anthropomorphic human-like fertility cult representations. ref, ref, ref, ref, ref

Consequences of Agriculture in Mesopotamia, Anatolia, and the Levant

“The ancient Near East was one of the earliest centers of agriculture in the world, giving rise to domesticated herd animals, cereals, and legumes that today have become primary agricultural staples worldwide. Although much attention has been paid to the origins of agriculture, identifying when, where, and how plants and animals were domesticated, equally important are the social and environmental consequences of agriculture. Shortly after the advent of domestication, agricultural economies quickly replaced hunting and gathering across Mesopotamia, the Levant, and Anatolia. The social and environmental context of this transition has profound implications for understanding the rise of social complexity and incipient urbanism in the Near East.” ref

“Economic transformation accompanied the expansion of agriculture throughout small-scale societies of the Near East. These farmsteads and villages, as well as mobile pastoral groups, formed the backbone of agricultural production, which enabled tradable surpluses necessary for more expansive, community-scale economic networks. The role of such economies in the development of social complexity remains debated, but they did play an essential role in the rise of urbanism. Cities depended on agricultural specialists, including farmers and herders, to feed urban populations and to enable craft and ritual specializations that became manifest in the first cities of southern Mesopotamia. The environmental implications of these agricultural systems in the Mesopotamian lowlands, especially soil salinization, were equally substantial. The environmental implications of Mesopotamian agriculture are distinct from those accompanying the spread of agriculture to the Levant and Anatolia, where deforestation, erosion, and loss of biodiversity can be identified as the hallmarks of agricultural expansion.” ref

“Agriculture is intimately connected with the rise of territorial empires across the Near East. Such empires often controlled agricultural production closely, for both economic and strategic ends, but the methods by which they encouraged the production of specific agricultural products and the adoption of particular agricultural strategies, especially irrigation, varied considerably between empires. By combining written records, archaeological data from surveys and excavation, and paleoenvironmental reconstruction, together with the study of plant and animal remains from archaeological sites occupied during multiple imperial periods, it is possible to reconstruct the environmental consequences of imperial agricultural systems across the Near East. Divergent environmental histories across space and time allow us to assess the sustainability of the agricultural policies of each empire and to consider how resulting environmental change contributed to the success or failure of those polities.” ref

On Scorpions, Birds, and Snakes—Evidence for Shamanism in Northern Mesopotamia during the Early Holocene

“Based on a systematic ethno-archaeological approach and comparison of figurative decorations in northern Mesopotamia, we suggest new interpretations of the figurative art of early Holocene sites in that region. Recently discovered decorated objects from different early Holocene sites hint at shamanistic practices and at close cultural-ideological ties in northern Mesopotamia from the upper Tigris to the middle Euphrates during the early Holocene. The data indicate a highly standardized symbolic repertoire. We argue that the monumental buildings at Göbekli Tepe and the emergence of standardized associations of motives indicate a society in a liminal state, with adherents still closely tied to their traditions; but some aspects of the applied mediality distinguish them from the highly flexible and situational ideologies of hunter-gatherers and point to the development of institutionalized religious authorities and dogma before farming.” ref

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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Jiahu

“9,020 years ago China (Evidence of Wine Making): “The grave of a shaman buried with a ceramic jug in Jiahu, Henan, China about 7000 BCE. Winemaking traces dating back to at least 9,000 years ago are found in central China. This “Neolithic cocktail” is discovered in the grave of a shaman, who is buried with a ceramic jug in Jiahu, Henan, about 7000 BC that contains traces of winemaking. It is currently thought to be the world’s oldest alcoholic drink, according to Peter Kupfer of Mainz University, who has been studying China for four decades and has investigated all aspects of the alcohol culture of the Middle Kingdom. Laboratory tests revealed the pottery jars discovered in the archaeological sites revealed traces of a mixed fermented drink made from a concoction of rice, honey, and either grapes or Hawthorne fruit.” ref

“Previously it is believed viticulture itself began only a little later, about 8,000 years ago in Georgia. Although still unproven, Kupfer believes that there were probably links between the most ancient winemaking sites – between Georgia 8,000 years ago and Jiahu in central China some 9,000 years ago. “Alcohol and, in particular, wine made using grapes has been a fundamentally important part of cultural life in Eurasia for thousands of years. And China has played a key role in its history,” said Kupfer. In his view, the emergence of China as one of the world’s leading wine-producing and wine-consuming countries is best seen against this background.” ref

“In his latest book on China’s wine history titled Amber Shine and Black Dragon Pearls: The History of Chinese Wine Culture, he says winemaking and drinking culture is ingrained in China’s history. “Without exception, the rise of all advanced Eurasian civilizations was intimately linked to the development of a wine and alcohol culture that was initially linked to magic and later played a role in social and religious rituals,” explains Kupfer. “The way the Chinese toast each other has remained unchanged for 3,000 years, as evidenced by ancient written precepts on the subject of hospitality,” adds Kupfer.” ref

“He says the country has been home to the world’s richest and most diverse range of species of the Vitis genus. During glacial periods, vines found a refuge in southern China, which is now home to over 40 Vitis species, 30 of which are indigenous. In the late 19th century, Chinese viticulture started to realign itself with its Western counterparts with imports of vines and technologies, largely thanks to Changyu Pioneers, today the country’s biggest winery.” ref

“Archaeologists in China have found what is believed to be the world’s oldest still-playable musical instrument — a 9,000-year-old flute carved from the wing bone of a crane. When scientists from the United States and China blew gently through the mottled brown instrument’s mouthpiece and fingered its holes, they produced tones that had not been heard for millennia, yet were familiar to the modern ear. “It’s a reedy, pleasant sound; a little thin, like a recorder,” said Garman Harbottle, a nuclear scientist who specializes in radiocarbon dating at Brookhaven National Laboratory on New York’s Long Island.” ref

“Harbottle and three Chinese archaeologists published their findings in the journal Nature. The flute was one of several instruments to be uncovered in Jiahu, an excavation site of Stone Age artifacts in China’s Yellow River Valley. Archaeologists have also found exquisitely wrought tools, weapons, and pottery there. Dated to 7,000 BCE, the flute is more than twice as old as instruments used in ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, and other early civilizations. In all, researchers have found some three dozen bone flutes at Jiahu. Five were riddled with cracks big and small; 30 others had fragmented. The flutes have as many as eight neatly hollowed tone holes and were held vertically to play.” ref

Aged 9,000 Years, Ancient Beer Finally Hits Stores

“Dogfish Head brewery is known for making exotic beer with ingredients like crystallized ginger or water from Antarctica, so it might not sound surprising that one of its recent creations is a brew flavored simply by grapes and flowers. It’s not the recipe that makes this beer so special; it’s where that recipe was found: a Neolithic burial site in China. Chateau Jiahu is a time capsule from 7,000 B.C., but to hear Dogfish Head owner Sam Calagione talk about what beer was actually like back then, it’s not the kind of thing that makes you say “Hey, pass me another ice-cold ancient ale!” ref

“Probably, all beer thousands of years ago — to our modern palates — would have tasted spoiled,” Calagione says. “In fact, in a lot of hieroglyphics, people are shown drinking beer using straws because they were trying to avoid the chunks of solids and wild yeast.” So how do you go from “chunks of wild yeast” to a beer that you can get at your local store? You don’t start with a brewery. You start with Dr. Patrick McGovern.” ref

Scraping The Bottom Of The Beer Barrel

“McGovern is a biomolecular archaeologist at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. He studies fermented beverages — otherwise known as booze — by analyzing the ancient pots that once held them. “We use techniques like infrared spectrometry, gas chromatography, and so forth,” he explains. McGovern helps Dogfish Head revive long-dead brews by figuring out what used to be inside the ancient pottery he comes across.” ref

“About 10 years ago, he set out to find some of this primordial crockery on a trip to China. In one town, he found pottery from an early Neolithic burial site. The pieces were about 9,000 years old — as were the skeletons they were found with. The Neolithic period, which began about 12,000 years ago, is thought to be about the time when humans started settling down, raising crops — and apparently getting a little tipsy. McGovern suspects that once humans stayed put, it didn’t take them long to discover the fermentation process that led to the world’s first alcohol.” ref

“The molecular evidence told McGovern the vessels from China once contained an alcoholic beverage made of rice, grapes, hawthorn berries, and honey. “What we found is something that was turning up all over the world from these early periods,” he says. “We don’t have just a wine or a beer or a mead, but we have like a combination of all three.” ref

Ancient Brews For Troubled Times

“That’s where Dogfish Head comes in. The Delaware-based brewery owns a tiny but respected sliver of the U.S. beer market, which Calagione says it earned by being a risk-taker. Dogfish and McGovern have produced other ancient beverages, including their Midas Touch brew, teased from pottery found in King Midas’ 2,700-year-old tomb. But, like Calagione says, Jiahu is different. It’s “the oldest-known fermented recipe in the history of mankind.” ref

“This year, Dogfish Head will brew about 3,000 cases of Jiahu — a small batch by commercial brewing standards. At $13 for a wine-size bottle, Jiahu is about six times the cost of Budweiser. Luckily, Calagione says, his sales of Jiahu and other specialty brews have actually increased during the recession. “What we do see in this economy is that people probably can’t afford a new SUV or a new vacation home, but they can surely afford to trade up to a world class beer,” he says. And while Jiahu may not be cheap, it’s a lot easier to get than a plane ticket to Neolithic China.” ref

WINE FROM JIAHU IN CHINA

“Some of the earliest evidence of winemaking comes from China: traces of a fermented drink made with rice, honey, and either grapes or Hawthorne fruit found in Jiahu and dated to 7000 B.C. The previous earliest evidence of winemaking comes from artifacts dated to 5400 B.C. from Firuz Tepe in Iran. Analysis by University of Pennsylvania’s Museum of Archeology and Anthropology of the pores of 9000-year-old pottery shards jars unearthed in Jiahu turned up traces of beeswax, a biomarker for honey; tartaric acid, a biomarker for grapes, wine, and Chinese Hawthorne fruit; and other traces that ‘strongly suggested” rice. There is some debate whether the concoction was a wine or a beer or something else. Grapes were not introduced to China from Central Asia until many millennia after 7000 BCE., so it is reasoned the tartaric acid likely comes from Hawthorne fruit which is ideal for making wine because it has a high sugar content and can harbor the yeast for fermentation. Wine traces has also been found in a pottery sample from a Chinese tomb dated to 5000 BCE.” ref

“Nadia Durrani wrote in World Archaeology: “Jiahu, in the Yellow River Basin of the Henan province of northern China, is a compelling archaeological site, renowned for its cultural and artistic relics. Among the ancient houses, archaeologists have uncovered kilns, turquoise carvings, stone tools, and flutes made from bone…Until this discovery, the oldest evidence of fermented beverages was dated to 5400 BCE., and comes from the Neolithic site of Hajji Firuz Tepe in Iran. Perhaps, suggests Dr Patrick McGovern a molecular archaeologist at the University of Pennsylvania who undertook the new research, the innovation happened at the same time in both countries, but that older evidence from Iran remains to be found. Were there some indirect ties between the Middle east and Central Asia at that time in ancient civilization, McGovern wonders.

“Peiligang Zhang Juzhong and Cui Qilong wrote in “A Companion to Chinese Archaeology”: “The discovery of an 8,500-year-old fermented beverage made from rice was another world record for Jiahu…The chemical composition of the beverage is similar to that in some modern herbal medicines. The Jiahu beverage is the earliest identified fermented beverage in the world. McGovern recreated the 9,000-year-old concoction from rice, honey, and hawthorn, calling it Chateau Jiahu, and had it commercially produced and sold at some places in the U.S. and Canada. The folks at Dogfish Head Craft Brewery in Milton, Delaware decided to take the ancient beer’s ingredients and make a modern-day version of it. No easy task for the modern beer maker. “All that Patrick McGovern could tell us is what the evidence was or a laundry list of organic substances,” said Sam Calagione, founder and president of the brewery. “From there we have to create a recipe. We have to come up with the percentage or ratios and volumes of weight of honey, rice, and fruit. We have to figure out how strong an alcohol it might have been. Whether it was filtered or cloudy, carbonated, or flat. We have a lot of creative latitude to bring a modern interpretation of this ancient beverage back to life.” And it seems the company has succeeded with Chateau Jiahu winning a gold medal at the Great American Beer Fest in 2009.” ref

The Archaeology and History of Grapes and Making Wine

“Wine is an alcoholic beverage made from grapes, and depending on your definition of “made from grapes” there are at least two independent inventions of it. The oldest known possible evidence for the use of grapes as part of a wine recipe with fermented rice and honey comes from China, about 9,000 years ago. Two thousand years later, the seeds of what became the European winemaking tradition began in western Asia. Archaeological evidence of winemaking is a little difficult to come by because the presence of grape seeds, fruit skins, stems, and/or stalks at an archaeological site does not necessarily imply the production of wine. The two main methods of identifying winemaking accepted by scholars are the presence of domesticated stocks and evidence of grape processing.” ref

“The main mutation incurred during the domestication process of grapes was the advent of hermaphroditic flowers, meaning that domesticated forms of grapes are capable of self-pollination. Thus, vintners can pick traits they like and, as long as the vines are kept on the same hillside, they need not worry about cross-pollination changing next year’s grapes. The discovery of parts of the plant outside its native territory is also accepted evidence of domestication. The wild ancestor of the European wild grape (Vitis vinifera sylvestris) is native to western Eurasia between the Mediterranean and Caspian Seas; thus, the presence of V. vinifera outside of its normal range is also considered evidence of domestication.” ref

Chinese Wines

“The real story of wine from grapes begins in China. Residues on pottery shards radiocarbon dated to around 7000–6600 BCE from the Chinese early Neolithic site of Jiahu have been recognized as coming from a fermented beverage made of a mixture of rice, honey, and fruit. The presence of fruit was identified by the tartaric acid/tartrate remnants at the bottom of a jar. (These are familiar to anyone who drinks wine from corked bottles today.) Researchers could not narrow down the species of the tartrate between grape, hawthorn, or longyan or cornelian cherry, or a combination of two or more of those ingredients. Grape seeds and hawthorn seeds have both been found at Jiahu. Textual evidence for the use of grapes—although not specifically grape wine—date to the Zhou Dynasty circa 1046–221 BCE. If grapes were used in wine recipes, they were from a wild grape species native to China, not imported from western Asia. There are between 40 and 50 different wild grape species in China. The European grape was introduced into China in the second century BCE, along with other Silk Road imports.” ref

Western Asia Wines

The earliest firm evidence for winemaking to date in western Asia is from the Neolithic period site called Hajji Firuz, Iran (dated to 5400–5000 BCE), where a deposit of sediment preserved at the bottom of an amphora was proven to be a mix of tannin and tartrate crystals. The site deposits included five more jars similar to the one with the tannin/tartrate sediment, each with a capacity of about nine liters of liquid. Sites outside of the normal range for grapes with early evidence of grapes and grape processing in western Asia include Lake Zeriber, Iran, where grape pollen was found in a soil core just before around 4300 cal BCE. Charred fruit skin fragments were found at Kurban Höyük in southeastern Turkey by the late sixth through the early fifth millennia BCE. Wine importation from western Asia has been identified in the earliest days of dynastic Egypt. A tomb belonging to the Scorpion King (dated about 3150 BCE) contained 700 jars believed to have been made and filled with wine in the Levant and shipped to Egypt.” ref

European Winemaking

“In Europe, wild grape (Vitis vinifera) pips have been found in fairly ancient contexts, such as Franchthi Cave, Greece (12,000 years ago), and Balma de l’Abeurador, France (about 10,000 years ago). But the evidence for domesticated grapes is later than that of East Asia, although similar to that of the western Asia grapes. Excavations at a site in Greece called Dikili Tash have revealed grape pips and empty skins, direct-dated to between 4400–4000 BCE, the earliest example to date in the Aegean. A clay cup containing both grape juice and grape pressings is thought to represent evidence for fermentation at Dikili Tash. Grapevines and wood have also been found there. A wine production installation dated to circa 4000 BCE has been identified at the site of Areni-1 cave complex in Armenia, consisting of a platform for crushing grapes, a method of moving the crushed liquid into storage jars, and, potentially, evidence of the fermentation of red wine. By the Roman period, and likely spread by Roman expansion, viticulture reached most of the Mediterranean area and western Europe, and wine became a highly valued economic and cultural commodity. By the end of the first century BCE, it had become a major speculative and commercial product.” ref

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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Gadachrili Gora

Evidence of Winemaking Discovered at 8,000-Year-Old Village

“On a small rise less than 20 miles south of Tbilisi, Georgia, a clutch of round, mud-brick houses rises from a green, fertile river valley. The mound is called Gadachrili Gora, and the Stone Age farmers who lived here 8,000 years ago were grape lovers: Their rough pottery is decorated with bunches of the fruit, and analysis of pollen from the site suggests the wooded hillsides nearby were once decked with grapevines. In a paper published today in the journal PNAS, an international team of archaeologists has conclusively shown what all those grapes were for. The people living at Gadachrili Gora and a nearby village were the world’s earliest known vintners—producing wine on a large scale as early as 6,000 B.C., a time when prehistoric humans were still reliant on stone and bone tools.” ref

“Excavating the overlapping circular houses at the site, the team found broken pottery, including the rounded bases of large jars, embedded in the floors of the village houses. More samples were found at Shulaveri Gora, another Stone Age village site a mile or so from Gadachrili that was partially excavated in the 1960s. (See “Ghost of the Vine” for more about the search for the roots of winemaking.) When the samples were analyzed by University of Pennsylvania archaeologist Patrick McGovern, he found tartaric acid, a chemical “fingerprint” that shows wine residues were present in fragments of pottery from both sites.” ref

“Combined with the grape decorations on the outside of the jars, ample grape pollen in the site’s fine soil, and radiocarbon dates from 5,800 to 6,000 BCE., the chemical analysis indicates the people at Gadachrili Gora were the world’s earliest winemakers. (Tipplers at a Chinese site called Jiahu were making fermented beverages from a mixture of grains and wild fruit a thousand years earlier.) Because they didn’t find many grape seeds or stems preserved in the village’s soil, archaeologists think the wine was made in the nearby hills, close to where the grapes were grown.” ref

“They were pressing it in cooler environments, fermenting it, and then pouring it into smaller jugs and transporting it to the villages when it was ready to drink,” says University of Toronto archaeologist Stephen Batiuk, who co-directed the joint expedition alongside archaeologist Mindia Jalabdze of the Georgian National Museum. In later periods, winemakers used pine resin or herbs to prevent wine from spoiling or cover up unpleasant tastes, the same way modern wine producers use sulfites. McGovern’s chemical analysis didn’t find any such residues, suggesting that these were early winemaking experiments – and that the wine was a seasonal drink, produced and consumed before it had a chance to turn vinegary. “They don’t seem to have put tree resin with it, making it the first pure wine,” McGovern says. “Maybe they hadn’t yet discovered that tree resins were helpful.” ref

“The evidence adds a new wrinkle to our understanding of the Neolithic, a pivotal period when humans were first learning to farm, settling down, and domesticating crops and animals. The gradual process, known as the Neolithic Revolution, began around 10,000 B.C. in Anatolia, a few hundred miles west of Gadachrili. It’s increasingly clear that it didn’t take long for people to turn their thoughts to alcohol: Just a few thousand years after the first wild grasses were domesticated, the people at Gadachrili had not only learned the art of fermentation but were apparently improving, breeding, and harvesting vitis vinifera, the European grape. “They’re working out horticultural methods, how you transplant it, how you produce it,” McGovern says. “It shows just how inventive the human species is.” ref

“Georgia, nestled in the Caucasus mountains not far from where the Neolithic Revolution began, is still wine-crazy 8,000 year later. It has more than 500 local grape varieties, a sign that people have been breeding and growing grapes here for a long time. Even in bustling downtown Tbilisi, grapevines cling to crumbling Soviet-era apartment blocks. “The region’s wine culture has deep historical roots,” says David Lordkipanidze, director of the Georgian National Museum. “Large jars similar to the Neolithic vessels are still used to make wine in Georgia today.” ref

“Stanford University archaeologist Patrick Hunt says the results show that Stone Age people lived complex, rich lives, with interests and concerns we’d be familiar with today. “Wine fermentation isn’t a survival necessity. It shows that human beings back then were about more than utilitarian activity,” says Hunt. “There’s far greater sophistication even in the transitional Neolithic than we had any clue about.” If the archaeologists and other specialists can identify the modern variety of grape closest to what was growing near the Gadachrili village, they hope to plant an experimental vineyard nearby to learn more about how prehistoric winemaking might have worked. And Batiuk says they still haven’t reached the lowest, oldest layers of the site. “We might be able to push it back even further,” he says. “We’re filling out the story of wine, this liquid that’s so pivotal to so many cultures—to western civilization, really.” ref

Gadachrili Gora: Architecture and organization of a Neolithic settlement in the middle Kura Valley (6th millennium BC, Georgia)

“The mechanisms responsible for the emergence of a farming economy in Transcaucasia have been the subject of much debate since the 1970’s. This debate has focused particularly on the role played by Near-Eastern influences in the development of the Shulaveri-Shomu culture, which emerged in the Kura Basin at the end of the 7th millennium BC. Recently, archaeological investigations have been conducted by a Georgian-French team in Gadachrili Gora, one of four “Shulaveri group” tells located on a tributary of the Chrami River in the Kvemo-Kartli plain of Georgia. Dating evidence clearly places the first levels of this tell in an early phase of the development of the culture, between 5920 and 5720 Cal BCE. These investigations provide new evidence regarding the processes of neolithization, especially in terms of settlement organization and the architectural techniques used at the time. Several occupation levels feature connected circular units, of various sizes, together with “courtyards”, which were used as circulation – or waste disposal areas.” ref

“The density and organization of these structures display different patterns for the two distinct levels of occupation preserved. Evidence from the deepest occupation levels suggests a high density of occupation in the settlement, with complex episodes of destruction and rebuilding. Several building techniques were used, including different types of bricks laid in various patterns depending on wall types. In addition, there is evidence for the use of the “bauge” construction technique, which was unknown in the region until now. Parallels established with the construction techniques of Northern Iran and Mesopotamia contribute to the discussion regarding the processes underlying the emergence of the Shulaveri culture. Moreover, the high number of storage structures and the discovery of organized built spaces dedicated to storage raise many questions about the status of the site, the organization of agricultural practices, and the relationship of these populations to the hydrographic network within the area.” ref

Wine at the Republic of Georgia

“The Gadachrili Gora Regional Archaeological Project Expedition (GRAPE) is an international multidisciplinary research project investigating the emergence of farming economies in the South Caucasus and the influence of the Near East on the development of local Neolithic cultures and, conversely, the influence of Caucasia on the Near East.” ref

Early Neolithic wine of Georgia in the South Caucasus

“The earliest biomolecular archaeological and archaeobotanical evidence for grape wine and viniculture from the Near East, ca. 6,000–5,800 BCE during the early Neolithic Period, was obtained by applying state-of-the-art archaeological, archaeobotanical, climatic, and chemical methods to newly excavated materials from two sites in Georgia in the South Caucasus. Wine is central to civilization as we know it in the West. As a medicine, social lubricant, mind-altering substance, and highly valued commodity, wine became the focus of religious cults, pharmacopoeias, cuisines, economies, and society in the ancient Near East. This wine culture subsequently spread around the globe. Viniculture illustrates human ingenuity in developing horticultural and winemaking techniques, such as domestication, propagation, selection of desirable traits, wine presses, suitable containers and closures, and so on.” ref

“Chemical analyses of ancient organic compounds absorbed into the pottery fabrics from sites in Georgia in the South Caucasus region, dating to the early Neolithic period (ca. 6,000–5,000 BC), provide the earliest biomolecular archaeological evidence for grape wine and viniculture from the Near East, at ca. 6,000–5,800 BC. The chemical findings are corroborated by climatic and environmental reconstruction, together with archaeobotanical evidence, including grape pollen, starch, and epidermal remains associated with a jar of similar type and date. The very large-capacity jars, some of the earliest pottery made in the Near East, probably served as combination fermentation, aging, and serving vessels. They are the most numerous pottery type at many sites comprising the so-called “Shulaveri-Shomutepe Culture” of the Neolithic period, which extends into western Azerbaijan and northern Armenia. The discovery of early sixth millennium BCE grape wine in this region is crucial to the later history of wine in Europe and the rest of the world.” ref

“Previously, the earliest evidence for grape wine in the Near East was from the early Neolithic village of Hajji Firuz Tepe in the northwestern Zagros Mountains of Iran, ca. 5,400–5,000 BCE. Six jars, two of which were analyzed and showed the presence of tartaric acid/tartrate and a tree resin, had been embedded in the earthen floor along one wall of a “kitchen” of a Neolithic mudbrick house. Each jar when full had a volume of approximately 9 L—altogether, approximately 55 L for an average household. If that amount of wine is multiplied many times over by the houses throughout the settlement, then the production level would have already been relatively large scale at this early date. Either wild grapes were plentiful in the area or the Eurasian grapevine was already being intentionally cultivated or even domesticated. Hajji Firuz lies within the ancient and modern distribution zone of the wild grape, as established by pollen cores from nearby Lake Urmia.” ref

“The Hajji Firuz jar shapes are also well suited for vinification and wine storage, implying that they are part of an earlier industrial tradition. Their narrow, high mouths could have been stoppered with clay (some possible examples with the same diameter as the mouths of the jars were found nearby) or covered. Hajji Firuz is only approximately 500 km from Shulaveri and Gadachrili, and even closer to sites in Armenia and Azerbaijan. These sites also lie within the zone of the wild grape, as does the mountainous region of northern Mesopotamia and, farther afield, the Taurus Mountains of eastern Anatolia. Now that wine jars from as early as ca. 6,000 BC have been confirmed for Gadachrili and Shulaveri, preceding the Hajji Firuz jars by half a millennium, the question might be asked which region has priority in the discovery and dissemination of the “wine culture” and the domesticated grape. It is impossible to assign priority to any of these regions at this stage in the investigation; much more excavation and the collection of wild grapevines for DNA analysis are needed.” ref

“One disparity between the analyses of Hajji Firuz and Georgian jars is that the latter showed no signs of a tree resin or any other additive, according to the GC-MS analyses. Pine and terebinth saps were commonly added to wine throughout antiquity. They acted as antioxidants to keep the wine from going to vinegar, or barring that, to cover up offensive aromas and tastes. The tradition continues today only in Greece as retsina. The Hajji Firuz jars were found partly buried in an earthen floor. No evidence has yet been found of how the Shulaveri and Gadachrili jars were positioned or whether they were partly or fully buried underground, as is the common practice for making so-called qvevri (“large jar”) wine today in Georgia. The very small, flat bases of the ancient jars, often disks or low pedestals, seem inadequate to independently support a vessel full of liquid, so a case could be made for burying them. But then why even provide them with such unstable bases, unless these were decorative like the plastic decorations on some examples?” ref

“The earliest archaeological evidence for qvevri winemaking in Georgia is Iron Age in date, specifically the eighth to seventh centuries BC By Roman and Byzantine times, qvevris had become very popular throughout the Near Eastern and Mediterranean worlds; for example, excellent examples have been unearthed at Pompeii. Strangely, however, no examples of large jars buried underground like those at Areni in Armenia have been found in Georgia for the 5,000-y period from the Neolithic period to Iron Age times. Based on ancient Egyptian frescoes, the earliest pictorial record of winemaking in the world, fermenting wine in medium-sized jars (amphoras) totally above ground was the preferred method since ca. 3,000 BCE. Given that Canaanites introduced viticulture, winemaking, and the amphora (“Canaanite jar”) to Egypt, it can be assumed that they performed vinification and storage of wine, as the Phoenicians did later, in the same way.” ref

“The breakthrough came when numerous underground jars were found inside caves at Areni in a mountainous region of Armenia. Desiccated (uncarbonized) grapevine wood, dating to ca. 4,000 BCE, together with pips and chemical evidence by LC-MS-MS of tartaric acid/tartrate and the red pigment malvidin, left no doubt that we now had partial evidence for the previously “empty” transitional period. The technology was ingenious: humans had laid out plaster floors for pressing the grapes and running the unfiltered juice into underground jars. Whether similar evidence will eventually be found in Georgia and Azerbaijan, elsewhere in the SSC area, or in the extended mountainous region remains to be seen.” ref

“The prominence of cereals in the early Neolithic SSC sites was likely due to a combination of factors. Barley and the wheats (einkorn and emmer) were domesticated very early in the Near East, perhaps by ca. 10,000 BCE. They provided the all-important ingredients for beer and bread, staples that were produced in quantity in succeeding periods. The probable later domestication of the grapevine, combined with the fact that it takes a minimum of 3 y to establish a vine to bear fruit, meant that grapes would have been a rarer commodity than grain.” ref

“What makes the domesticated vine so desirable for larger-scale production is that it is hermaphroditic, with both the male and female reproductive organs contained within a single flower, where fertilization readily occurs. The wild vine is dioecious, with separate male and female plants, so that it is dependent on the wind and, to a lesser extent, insects for pollination. Only a portion of the wild vine population—the female individuals—can produce fruit, and even then, not all flowers are pollinated. Consequently, wild vines produce far less fruit than domesticated vines.” ref

“Winemaking also does not make direct use of the seeds, as do beer making and bread making. Because of their bitterness, pips were usually considered waste to be discarded. In contrast, whole, unprocessed cereal grains in a bread or beer are not necessarily detrimental to the end product, and might even be considered to provide more body and taste. Grape pressing and winemaking were generally done near where the grapes grew in antiquity, to avoid heavy transportation and conserve space within the settlement. The dense concentration of circular buildings at Shulaveri and Gadachrili would have left little room for growing grapes. Small numbers of pips might have made their way to the bottoms of the wine jars, to be disposed of later within the settlement. To date, however, no jar with seeds has been recovered from an SSC site.” ref

“Moreover, bread making and beer making require heating installations for the best results. Simply placing a mixture of ingredients under a hot sun can work, but is less reliable and efficient. Open firings around jars for beer mashing (saccharification of grain starches into sugars for fermentation) have been excavated in proto-Dynastic Egypt, ca. 3,500 BCE. Pit-firing installations associated with flat stones for possibly drying, malting, and/or baking bread or making beer are attested as early as the Pre-Pottery Neolithic period, ca. 8,700–6,500 BCE, in the Near East. Even earlier firing installations, associated with barley starch embedded in a basalt grinding stone, have been excavated at Ohalo II, located along the southwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee and dating to the Epipaleolithic period, 23,000 years ago. Eurasian wild grape seeds also have been reported from this site. Inevitably, if the processing of cereals for bread, beer, and/or another product was done nearby, some grains might have fallen into the fire or been overheated, and thus carbonized. Spent cereal grains might also have been used as fuel.” ref

“Grape fermentation does not require a heat source; in fact, a cool environment, such as a cave or burying jars underground, is best. We can conclude that bread making/beer making and winemaking occurred in different places in ancient sites, the former of which contributed to the production of masses of carbonized grains, which are well-preserved, and the latter of which resulted in low amounts of carbonized seeds. Cereals could be dried and stored in a settlement for easy use when needed throughout the year. Grapes could be dried as raisins, but like uncarbonized pips, they generally degraded and have disappeared from the archaeological record. Grapes also can be preserved by concentrating them down into a syrup, but if this was the intended product, then pottery vessels from the SSC sites should show signs of carbon splotches due to exposure to fire on their exteriors. None do.” ref

“These considerations lead to the conclusion that the jars excavated at Shulaveri and Gadachrili, which provide chemical and archaeobotanical evidence for grape, probably originally contained wine. If their contents were high enough in alcohol, they would have provided much more than year-round sustenance for early Neolithic inhabitants. Much like Georgia’s wine culture today, wine likely also served as a medicine, social lubricant, mind-altering substance, and highly valued commodity. As such, it became the focus of religious cults, pharmacopoeias, cuisines, economies, and society in general. This “working hypothesis”, while buttressed by new archaeological, chemical archaeobotanical, and climatic/environmental data, is only a beginning. We may now have evidence that at least two SSC sites in Georgia, Shulaveris Gora, and Gadachrili Gora, were making grape wine as much as a half millennium earlier than Hajji Firuz Tepe in Iran. However, many other regions of the Near East, especially the broad arc of mountainous terrain bordering the Fertile Crescent on its north, remain to be investigated and studied scientifically.” ref

“Thus far, we have focused on jar residues from the Pottery Neolithic period, but a Pre-Pottery period preceded it, going back to ca. 10,000 BCE. During the ensuing four millennia, the first permanent settlements, sustained by the founder crops, were established. Sites of this period are yet to be discovered and excavated in the SSC region of eastern Georgia, but they are well represented westward and southward in other mountainous regions. With their extraordinary monumental architecture and artwork, Göbekli Tepe and Nevali Çori in the Taurus Mountains of southeastern Anatolia/Turkey stand out among Pre-Pottery Neolithic sites. The domestication of three founder plants—einkorn wheat, chickpea, and bitter vetch—has been traced to this region. It has been proposed that wheat to make beer was the incentive that drew humans here and led to the grain’s domestication. Fermentation might have been carried out in large limestone vats at Göbekli Tepe, which are the focus of ongoing chemical analyses. Stone bowls and goblets have also been excavated at the sites; as precursors of examples in pottery, and they were ideally suited for serving and drinking a fermented beverage. Chlorite, the stone they were made of, is a highly absorbent clay mineral that retains ancient organic compounds like pottery. The vessels are now being extracted and chemically analyzed.” ref

“But did the people of Göbekli Tepe and Nevali Çori limit their alcohol quaffing to wheat beer? Perhaps they experimented with wild Eurasian grape wine or honey mead. We hope to learn more about the beginnings of viniculture by the careful excavation of more archaeological sites, the fullest recovery of the micro and macro remains of our largely lost and destroyed past, and the application of the most exacting scientific techniques. Finally, it should be noted that Jiahu in the Yellow Valley of China still has the distinction of having produced the earliest chemically confirmed grape wine in the world, as early as ca. 7,000 BCE. This wine was probably made from a local, high-sugar wild species there. However, this early Neolithic fermented beverage was not purely a grape wine, like that in the South Caucasus appears to have been, but was combined with hawthorn fruit wine, rice beer, and honey mead.” ref

Shulaveri-Shomu culture

“Shulaveri-Shomu culture is a Late Neolithic/Eneolithic culture that existed on the territory of present-day Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia, as well as parts of northern Iran. The culture is dated to the mid-6th or the early-5th millennium BC and is thought to be one of the earliest known Neolithic cultures. The name ‘Shulaveri-Shomu’ comes from the town of Shulaveri, in Georgia, known since 1925 as Shaumiani, and Shomu-Tepe, in the Agstafa District of Azerbaijan. The distance between these two sites is only about 70km. The Shulaveri-Shomu culture has been distinguished during the excavations on the sites of Shomutepe and Babadervis in Western Azerbaijan by I. Narimanov and at Shulaveris Gora in Eastern Georgia by A.I. Dzhavakhisvili and T.N Chubinishvili. Discoveries from the sites have revealed that the same cultural features spread on the northern foothills of Lesser Caucasus mountains.” ref

“Shulaveri-Shomu culture covers the 6th-5th millennia BCE. According to the material culture examples found in the sites depict that the main activities of the population were farming and breeding. Shulaveri culture predates the Kura-Araxes culture which flourished in this area around 4000–2200 BCE. Later on, in the middle Bronze Age period (c. 3000–1500 BCE), the Trialeti culture emerged. Sioni culture of Eastern Georgia possibly represents a transition from the Shulaveri to the Kura-Arax cultural complex. Building mud-brick circular, oval and semi-oval architecture is typical for this culture. The buildings were in different sizes based on their aim of use. The larger ones with diameters ranging from 2 to 5 m. were used as living areas, while smaller buildings were used as storage (1-2 m diameter). They were researched well during the digging at Shomutepe in Azerbaijan and Shulaveri in Georgia.” ref

“Especially in recent years as a result of archaeological research in the area of Goytepe, the Shulaveri-Shomutepe culture has been identified as belonging to the 7th millennium BCE and the second half of the 6th millennium. Although Shulaveri-Shomutepe complex firstly was attributed to the Eneolithic era, it is now considered as a material and cultural example of the Neolithic era except the upper layers  where metal objects have been discovered as in Khramis Didi-Gora and Arucho I. Sulaveri-Shomu culture is distinguished by circular mud-brick architectures, domestic animals breeding and cultivating cereals. Handmade pottery with engraved decorations, blades, burins, and scrapers made of obsidian, tools made of bone and antler, besides rare examples of metal items, remains of plant, such as wheat, pips, barley, and grape, as well as animal bones (pigs, goats, dogs, and bovids) have been discovered during the excavations.” ref

“Anthropomorphic figurines of mainly seated women found in the sites represent the items used for religious purposes relating to the fertility cult. Pestles revealed in Shulaveri-Shomu sites were mainly made of basalt (50%), metamorphic rocks (34%), and sandstones (11 %). Territorial clay was used in the production of earthenware. Basalt and grog, later plant materials were used as temper in pottery. Levels of ceramic production in Shulaveri-Shomu: I stage: Rough pots with jutting base. II stage: Finely decorated pottery. III stage: Rough colored and decorated ceramics with flat bases. IV stage: Dyed pots. V stage: Fine red polished pottery.” ref

Earliest domesticated grapes

“The earliest evidence of domesticated grapes in the world has been found in the general “Shulaveri area”, near the site of Shulaveri gora, in Marneuli Municipality, in the southeastern Republic of Georgia. Specifically, the most recent evidence comes from Gadachrili gora, near the village of Imiri in the same region; carbon-dating points to the date of about 6000 BCE.” ref

Geographical links

“Many of the characteristic traits of the Shulaverian material culture (circular mudbrick architecture, pottery decorated by plastic design, anthropomorphic female figurines, obsidian industry with an emphasis on production of long prismatic blades) are believed to have their origin in the Near Eastern Neolithic (Hassuna, Halaf). The technology and typology of bone-based instruments are similar to those of the Middle East Neolithic material culture. A quern with 2 small hollows found in Shomutepe is similar to the one with more hollows detected in Khramisi Didi-Gora. The similarities between the macrolithic tools and the use of ochre also bring Shulaveri-Shomu culture closer to the culture of Halaf. Pestles and mortars found in Shulaveri-Shomu sites and Late Neolithic layers of Tell Sabi Abyad in Syria are also similar to each other.” ref

Viticulture (wine growing)

“Viticulture (from the Latin word for vine) or winegrowing (wine growing) is the cultivation and harvesting of grapes. It is a branch of the science of horticulture. While the native territory of Vitis vinifera, the common grape vine, ranges from Western Europe to the Persian shores of the Caspian Sea, the vine has demonstrated high levels of adaptability to new environments, hence viticulture can be found on every continent except Antarctica.” ref

“Duties of the viticulturist include monitoring and controlling pests and diseases, fertilizing, irrigation, canopy management, monitoring fruit development and characteristics, deciding when to harvest, and vine pruning during the winter months. Viticulturists are often intimately involved with winemakers, because vineyard management and the resulting grape characteristics provide the basis from which winemaking can begin. A great number of varieties are now approved in the European Union as true grapes for winegrowing and viticulture.” ref

“The earliest evidence of grape vine cultivation and winemaking dates back 8,000 years. The history of viticulture is closely related to the history of wine, with evidence that humans cultivated wild grapes to make wine as far back as the Neolithic period. Evidence suggests that some of the earliest domestication of Vitis vinifera occurred in the area of the modern countries Georgia and Armenia. The oldest-known winery was discovered in the “Areni-1” cave in Vayots Dzor, Armenia. Dated to c. 4100 BCE, the site contained a wine press, fermentation vats, jars, and cups. Archaeologists also found V. vinifera seeds and vines.” ref

“Commenting on the importance of the find, McGovern said, “The fact that winemaking was already so well developed in 4000 BCE suggests that the technology probably goes back much earlier.” There is also evidence of grape domestication in the Near East in the early Bronze Age, around 3200 BCE. Evidence of ancient viticulture is provided by cuneiform sources (ancient writing on clay tablets), plant remains, historical geography, and archaeological excavations. The remnants of ancient wine jars have been used to determine the culture of wine consumption and cultivated grape species. In addition to winemaking, grapes have been grown for the production of raisins.” ref

“The earliest act of cultivation appears to have been the favoring of hermaphroditic members of the Vitis vinifera species over the barren male vines and the female vines, which were dependent on a nearby male for pollination. With the ability to pollinate itself, over time the hermaphroditic vines were able to sire offspring that were consistently hermaphroditic. At the end of the 5th century BCE, the Greek historian Thucydides wrote: The people of the Mediterranean began to emerge from barbarism when they learnt to cultivate the olive and the vine. The period that Thucydides was most likely referencing was the time between 3000 to 2000 BCE, when viticulture emerged in force in Asia Minor, Greece, and the Cyclades Islands of the Aegean Sea. During this period, grape cultivation developed from an aspect of local consumption to an important component of international economies and trade.” ref

Roman

“From 1200 to 900 BCE, the Phoenicians developed viticulture practices that were later used in Carthage. Around 500 BCE, the Carthaginian writer Mago recorded such practices in a two-volume work that was one of the few artifacts to survive the Roman destruction of Carthage during the Third Punic War. The Roman statesman Cato the Elder was influenced by these texts, and around 160 BCE he wrote De Agricultura, which expounded on Roman viticulture and agriculture. Around 65 CE, the Roman writer Columella produced the most detailed work on Roman viticulture in his twelve-volume text De Re Rustica. Columella’s work is one of the earliest to detail trellis systems for raising vines off the ground. Columella advocated the use of stakes versus the previously accepted practice of training vines to grow up along tree trunks.” ref

“The benefits of using stakes over trees was largely to minimize the dangers associated with climbing trees, which was necessary to prune the dense foliage in order to give the vines sunlight, and later to harvest them. Roman expansion across Western Europe brought Roman viticulture to the areas that would become some of the world’s best-known winegrowing regions: the Spanish Rioja, the German Mosel, and the French Bordeaux, Burgundy and Rhône. Roman viticulturists were among the first to identify steep hillsides as one of the better locations to plant vines, because cool air runs downhill and gathers at the bottom of valleys. While some cool air is beneficial, too much can rob the vine of the heat it needs for photosynthesis, and in winter it increases the risk of frost.” ref

Georgian wine?

Georgia is one of the oldest wine regions in the world. The fertile valleys and protective slopes of the Transcaucasia were home to grapevine cultivation and neolithic wine production for at least 8000 years. Due to the many millennia of wine in Georgian history and its prominent economic role, the traditions of wine are considered entwined with and inseparable from the national identity. Among the best-known, Georgian wine regions are Kakheti (further divided into the micro-regions of Telavi and Kvareli), Kartli, Imereti, Racha-Lechkhumi, and Kvemo Svaneti, Adjara, and Abkhazia.” ref

“The roots of Georgian viticulture have been traced back by archeology to when people of the South Caucasus discovered that wild grape juice turned into wine when it was left buried through the winter in a shallow pit. This knowledge was nourished by experience, and from 6000 BCE inhabitants of the current Georgia were cultivating grapes and burying clay vessels, kvevris, in which to store their wine ready for serving at ground temperature. When filled with the fermented juice of the harvest, the kvevris are topped with a wooden lid and then covered and sealed with earth. Some may remain entombed for up to 50 years. Due to its diverse and unique microclimate, there are about 500 grape varieties in modern Georgia. Wine vessels of every shape, size and design have been the crucial part of pottery in Georgia for millennia. Ancient artifacts attest to the high skill of local craftsmen. Among vessels, the most ubiquitous and unique to Georgian wine-making culture are probably the Kvevris, very large earthenware vessels with an inside coat of beeswax. Not only kvevris were used to ferment grape juice and to store up wine, but also chapi and satskhao; others yet were used for drinking, such as khelada, doki, sura, chinchila, deda-khelada, dzhami and marani.” ref

“The continuous importance of winemaking and drinking in Georgian culture is also visible in various antique works of art. Many of the unearthed silver, gold, and bronze artifacts of the 3rd and 2nd millennia BCE bear chased imprints of the vine, grape clusters, and leaves. The State Museum of Georgia has on display a cup of high-carat gold set with gems, an ornamented silver pitcher, and some other artifacts dated to the 2nd millennium BCE. From classical Antiquity, Georgian museums display a cameo depicting Bacchus, and numerous sarcophagi with wine pitchers and ornamented wine cups found in ancient tombs. From the 4th century CE, wine has gained further importance in Georgian culture due to the Christianization of the country. According to tradition, Saint Nino, who preached Christianity in Kartli, bore a cross made from vine wood. For centuries, Georgians drank, and in some areas still drink, their wine from horns (called kantsi in Georgian) and skins from their herd animals. The horns were cleaned, boiled, and polished, creating a unique and durable drinking vessel.” ref

“Georgia’s territorial and climate conditions are optimal for wine-making. Extremes of weather are unusual: summers tend to be short-sleeve sunny, and winters mild and frost-free. Natural springs abound, and the Caucasian Mountain streams drain mineral-rich water into the valleys. Georgia’s moderate climate and moist air, influenced by the Black Sea, provide the best conditions for vine cultivating. The soil in vineyards is so intensively cultivated that the grapevines grow up the trunks of fruit trees eventually hanging down along the fruit when they ripen. This method of cultivation is called maglari. Traditional Georgian grape varieties are little known in the World. Now that the wines of Eastern and Central Europe are coming to international awareness, grapes from this region are becoming better known. Although there are nearly 400 to choose from, only 38 varieties are officially grown for commercial viticulture in Georgia.” ref

“Georgia is generally considered the ‘cradle of wine’, as archaeologists have traced the world’s first known wine creation back to the people of the South Caucasus in 6,000BCE. These early Georgians discovered grape juice could be turned into wine by burying it underground for the winter. Some of the qvevris they were buried in could remain underground for up to 50 years. Wine continued to be important to the Georgians, who incorporated it into art and sculpture, with grape designs and evidence of wine-drinking paraphernalia found at ruins and burial sites.” ref

8,000-year-old wine production in the ancient Middle East

“Excavations in the Republic of Georgia by the Gadachrili Gora Regional Archaeological Project Expedition (GRAPE), a joint undertaking between the University of Toronto and the Georgian National Museum, have uncovered evidence of the earliest winemaking, made from the Eurasian grape (Vitis vinifera), anywhere in the world. The discovery dates the origin of the practice to the early Neolithic period around 6000- 5800 BCE, pushing it back 600 to 1,000 years from the previously accepted date.” ref

“The earliest previously known chemical evidence for wine dated to circa 5400-5000 BCE and was from the site of Hajji Firuz Tepe in the Zagros Mountains of Iran, excavated by the University of Pennsylvania Museum in Philadelphia. Researchers now say that winemaking began earlier in the South Caucasus region, which sits at the northern edge of the Fertile Crescent that stretches from Egypt on the Mediterranean Sea to the northern shores of the Persian Gulf. Excavations have focused on two Neolithic sites (circa 6000-4500 BCE): Gadachrili Gora and Shulaveris Gora, approximately 50 kilometers south of the modern capital of Tbilisi. Pottery shards of jars recovered from the sites were collected and subsequently analyzed by scientists at the Penn Museum, the Goddard Space Flight Center, the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Boise State University in Idaho, and the Winterthur Museum in Delaware. They established the chemical composition of the jars’ residues, which had been preserved for millennia.” ref

“We believe this is the oldest example of wine being made from the Eurasian grapevine,” said Stephen Batiuk, a senior research associate in the department of Near and Middle Eastern civilizations and the Archaeology Centre at U of T, and co-author of a study published recently in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Using highly sensitive, state-of-the-art chemical techniques, including tandem liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry-mass spectrometry (LC-MS-MS) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and tartaric acid – the fingerprint compound for grape and wine – was confirmed, together with three associated organic acids (malic, succinic, and citric), in the residues of eight jars.” ref

“It is not yet known whether the early Neolithic inhabitants of the sites made their wine from wild or domesticated grapes, but the sites lie within the area where the wild grape has grown since the end of the last Ice Age and still do today,” said Patrick McGovern, scientific director of the Biomolecular Archaeology Project at the Penn Museum and lead author of the study. “The domesticated subspecies of the fruit has 8,000-10,000 varieties of table and wine grapes worldwide,” added Batiuk. “Georgia alone is home to over 500 grape varietals, suggesting that grapes might have been domesticated here and certainly must have crossbred for a very long time.” GRAPE represents the Canadian component of a larger international, interdisciplinary project involving researchers from the United States, Denmark, France, Italy, and Israel. The sites excavated by the U of T and Georgian National Museum team represent the remains of two villages that date back to the Neolithic period, which began around 10,000 BCE in the Near East and ended around 4,000 BCE.” ref

“The Neolithic period was characterized by a collection of activities that include the beginning of farming, the domestication of plants and animals, the development of crafts such as pottery and weaving, and the making of polished stone tools. “Pottery, which was ideal for processing, serving and storing fermented beverages, was invented in this period, together with many advances in art, technology, and cuisine,” said McGovern, whose research group first tested a vessel from the site of Godin Tepe in central-western Iran dated circa 3400-3000 BCE, excavated more than 40 years ago by a team from the Royal Ontario Museum led by fellow U of T researcher T. Cuyler Young, who once taught Batiuk.” ref

“So in many ways, this discovery brings my co-director Andrew Graham and I full circle back to the work of our professor Cuyler, who also provided some of the fundamental theories of the origins of agriculture in the Near East,” said Batiuk. “In essence, what we are examining is how the Neolithic package of agricultural activity, tool-making, and crafts, which probably initially developed farther south in the Fertile Crescent in places such as modern-day Iraq, Syria, and Turkey, was adapted in new regions with different climates and plant life,” Batiuk said. “The horticultural potential of the south Caucasus might have led to the domestication of new plant species, possibly including the wild Eurasian grapevine which grows in the region, and innovative products such as wine might well have begun to be produced here on a large scale.” The researchers say the combined archaeological, chemical, botanical, climatic and radiocarbon data provided by the analysis demonstrate that the Eurasian grapevine was abundant at and likely in the vicinity of the sites. It grew under ideal environmental conditions in early Neolithic times, similar to premium wine-producing regions in Italy and southern France today.” ref

“Batiuk, like McGovern, envisions an ancient society in which the drinking and offering of wine penetrates and permeates nearly every aspect of life from medical practice to special celebrations, from birth to death, to everyday meals at which toasting is common. “As a medicine, social lubricant, mind-altering substance, and highly valued commodity, wine became the focus of religious cults, pharmacopeias, cuisines, economics, and society throughout the ancient Near East,” McGovern said.” ref

“Batiuk and McGovern cite ancient viniculture as a prime example of human ingenuity in developing horticulture, and creative uses for its byproducts. As stated in the study, “Today, there are some 8,000-10,000 domesticated cultivars of wine, raisin, and table grapes, including a range of colors from black to red to white. They owe their origins to human selection and accidental crosses or introgression between the incoming domesticated vine and native wild vines. These varieties account for 99.9 percent of the world’s wine production, and include famous western European cultivars such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Sangiovese, and Tempranillo, and Chardonnay.” The archaeological research was funded largely by the National Wine Agency of Georgia and the Shota Rustaveli National Science Foundation of Georgia.” ref

History of wine

“Wine has been produced for thousands of years, with evidence of ancient wine production in Georgia (c. 8000 BCE) China (c. 7000 BCE), Armenia (c. 4100 BCE), Georgia from 6000 BCE, Iran from 5000 BCE, and Sicily from 4000 BCE. The oldest archaeological evidence of wine produced from grapes has been found at sites in China (c. 7000 BCE), Georgia (c. 8000 BCE), Levant (c. 5000 BCE), Iran (c. 5000 BCE), Greece (c. 4500 BCE), Armenia (c. 4100 BCE), and Sicily (c. 4000 BCE). The earliest-extant evidence of wine production has been found in Armenia (c. 4100 BCE).” ref

“The altered consciousness produced by wine has been considered religious since its origin. The ancient Greeks worshiped Dionysus or Bacchus and the Ancient Romans carried on his cult. Consumption of ritual wine, probably a certain type of sweet wine originally, was part of Jewish practice since Biblical times and, as part of the eucharist commemorating Jesus‘s Last Supper, became even more essential to the Christian Church. Although Islam nominally forbade the production or consumption of wine, during its Golden Age, alchemists such as Geber pioneered wine’s distillation for medicinal and industrial purposes such as the production of perfume. Wine production and consumption increased, burgeoning from the 15th century onwards as part of European expansion. Despite the devastating 1887 phylloxera louse infestation, modern science, and technology adapted and industrial wine production and wine consumption now occur throughout the world.” ref

“The origins of wine predate written records, and modern archaeology is still uncertain about the details of the first cultivation of wild grapevines. It has been hypothesized that early humans climbed trees to pick berries, liked their sugary flavor, and then began collecting them. After a few days with fermentation setting in, juice at the bottom of any container would begin producing low-alcohol wine. According to this theory, things changed around 10,000–8000 BCE with the transition from a nomadic to a sedentism style of living, which led to agriculture and wine domestication. Wild grapes grow in Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, the northern Levant, coastal and southeastern Turkey, and northern Iran. The fermenting of strains of this wild Vitis vinifera subsp. sylvestris (the ancestor of the modern wine grape, V. vinifera) would have become easier following the development of pottery during the later Neolithic, c. 11,000 BCE. The earliest discovered evidence, however, dates from several millennia later.” ref

“Some of the earliest archaeological evidence of wine fermentation found has been at sites in China (c. 7000 BCE), Georgia (c. 6000 BCE), Iran (c. 5000 BCE), Greece (c. 4500 BCE), and Sicily (c. 4000 BCE). The earliest evidence of steady production of wine has been found in Armenia (c. 4100 BCE). The Iranian jars contained a form of retsina, using turpentine pine resin to more effectively seal and preserve the wine and is the earliest firm evidence of wine production to date. Production spread to other sites in Greater Iran and Greek Macedonia by c. 4500 BCE. The Greek site is notable for the recovery at the site of the remnants of crushed grapes.” ref

Armenia: Areni-1 winery

“The oldest-known winery was discovered in the “Areni-1” cave in Vayots Dzor, Armenia. Dated to c. 4100 BCE, the site contained a wine press, fermentation vats, jars, and cups. Archaeologists also found V. vinifera seeds and vines. Commenting on the importance of the find, McGovern said, “The fact that winemaking was already so well developed in 4000 BCE suggests that the technology probably goes back much earlier.” ref

“The seeds were from Vitis vinifera, a grape still used to make wine. The cave remains date to about 4000 BCE. This is 900 years before the earliest comparable wine remains, found in Egyptian tombs. The fame of Persian wine has been well known in ancient times. The carvings on the Audience Hall, known as Apadana Palace, in Persepolis, demonstrate soldiers of subjected nations by the Persian Empire bringing gifts to the Persian king. Domesticated grapes were abundant in the Near East from the beginning of the early Bronze Age, starting in 3200 BCE. There is also increasingly abundant evidence for winemaking in Sumer and Egypt in the 3rd millennium BCE.” ref

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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Hajji Firuz

The oldest known grape wine, from Iran

“So far, the oldest known evidence of grape wine is about 7,000 years old, from a Neolithic settlement in Iran’s Zagros mountains, Hajji Firuz Tepe. Link, byMark Berkowitz. A  7,000 years old potsherd came from one of six two-and-one-half-gallon jars came from the kitchen area of a mud-brick building in Hajji Firuz Tepe, a Neolithic village in Iran’s northern Zagros Mountains. A team from the University of Pennsylvania Museum found calcium salt from tartaric acid, which occurs naturally in large amounts only in grapes. Resin from the terebinth tree was also present, presumably used as a preservative, indicating that the wine was deliberately made and did not result from the unintentional fermentation of grape juice. It also suggests that the winemakers weren’t beginners, as adding preservative is something that will take time to figure out.” ref

“Analysis of the Hajji Firuz Tepe sherd comes in the wake of two other recent discoveries of early wine-making in this region where grapes grow in the wild. Residue from a jar from Godin Tepe, in the nearby middle Zagros Mountains, was dated to 5,100 years ago, until now the earliest evidence of wine-making. Grape presses dating to the late third millennium B.C. have been found at Titris Höyük in southeastern Turkey. I wonder… would drinking alcohol have been a survival advantage? The liquid would be sterile. Historically even children drank  ‘small beer’ ( a very weak beer) in England because it was safer.” ref

“Hajji Firuz Tepe is an archaeological site located in West Azarbaijan province in north-western Iran and lies in the north-western part of the Zagros Mountains. The site was excavated between 1958 and 1968 by archaeologists from the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. The excavations revealed a Neolithic village that was occupied in the second half of the sixth millennium BC where some of the oldest archaeological evidence of grape-based wine was discovered in the form of organic residue in a pottery jar.” ref

“Hajji Firuz Tepe lies in the Gadar River valley in West Azarbaijan province, north-western Iran. It is a tell, or settlement mound, of roughly oval shape measuring 200 by 140 metres (660 by 460 ft) at its base and reaching an elevation of 10.3 metres (34 ft) above the plain, but archaeological deposits also continue to an unknown depth below the modern surface of the plain. The plain in which Hajji Firuz Tepe is located lies in the north-western part of the Zagros Mountains at an elevation of 1,300–1,350 metres (4,270–4,430 ft) amsl. The Gadar River flows through it toward the east to eventually end in marshes bordering Lake Urmia. The area is an important crossroads, with routes leading in all directions, including an easy route toward the west, crossing the Zagros Mountains via Rowanduz and Arbil toward the Mesopotamian Plains. The Gadar River valley falls within both the modern and ancient distribution zones of the wild grape (Vitis vinifera subsp. sylvestris) and of the terebinth.” ref

“Although the excavations focused primarily on the Neolithic occupation layers of the site, evidence for later occupation was also attested. On different parts of the tell, material from the Chalcolithic, Late Bronze Age/Iron Age, and Islamic (eleventh century CE) periods was recovered, although the Neolithic occupation seems to have been the most significant occupation. The Neolithic occupation has been divided in 12 phases, named A–L from latest to earliest.” ref

Hajji Firuz period

“Recent studies indicate that the Hajji Firuz period in northwest Iran can be dated c. 6000–5400 cal BCE. Then, there was a short gap in chronology, or perhaps a transitional period. The Dalma tradition then emerged; new radiocarbon dates for this tradition are c. 5000–4500 cal BCE. Dalma seems like the result of a long local sequence of development from the Hajji Firuz period.” ref

Evidence for winemaking

“The evidence for winemaking consisted of six 9-litre (2.4 US gal) jars that were embedded in the floor of what archeologists suspect was a kitchen area in a mudbrick building that was inhabited sometime between 5400–5000 BCE. Inside was yellowish deposits that chemical analysis showed contained residue of tartaric acid and calcium tartrate. Additionally, the analysis found a deposit of resin, identified as from the terebinth tree (Pistacia terebinthus) that grew wild in the area. It is possible that the resin was used as a preservative, in a manner similar to the Greek wine Retsina still being produced today, suggesting that winemaking in Hajji Firuz Tepe was deliberately taking place over 7,000 years ago.” ref

Implications of the discovery

“While the residue in the jar is not definitive proof of winemaking, it does provide strong evidence for the possibility. Grapes are unique in being one of the few natural sources for tartaric acid, which is the most abundant acid in wine and often crystallizes into deposits that are left in containers that have held wine. Grapes also have a natural propensity to break down into alcohol by a process that we now know as fermentation where the yeast on the grape skins metabolize the sugar in the grapes into alcohol. This happens most readily in a close container that is kept in room temperature. Whether or not the action was deliberate, storing grapes in jars that were then embedded in the floor would have created conditions favorable for wine production.” ref

“The presence of the terebinth resin deposits in the same container as the wine give a stronger indication that winemaking was perhaps deliberate in Hajji Firuz Tepe. Resin has had a long history of being used as ancient sealant and preservative, even before it became associated with winemaking by the ancient Greeks. The volume that was stored (54 litres (14 US gal)) also seems to indicate large scale production beyond just household storage of a food product for sustenance. Additionally, archaeologists found clay stoppers, corresponding in size to the opening of the jars, nearby that also suggest a deliberate attempt at long term preservation and protection from air exposure.” ref

Other discoveries

“The Zagros Mountains, which separate modern-day Iran from Armenia, Iraq, and Turkey, is home to many wild species of grapevines in the Vitis family. While wild vines are distinguished by separate male and female vines, the potential for pollination and the production of grapes could have easily happened, providing the inhabitants access to grapes. Several archaeological sites in the Zagros Mountains have uncovered similar findings as Hajji Firuz Tepe of jars containing tartaric deposits and wine residues. South of Hajji Firuz Tepe is Godin Tepe, a site that appears to have been inhabited just after the neolithic period (around 3500–3000 BCE). Archaeologists there have discovered even more evidence of large scale winemaking with 30-litre (7.9 US gal) and 60-litre (16 US gal) wine jars as well as large basins containing wine residue, indicating that they might have been used for treading grapes as an early wine press. The residue on the jars was also found on the side of the containers, rather than the bottom, indicating that these jars were kept on their side, most likely for long term storage.” ref

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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Chicha

“Chicha, one of the most important cultural and ceremonial drinks in the Andes region of South America, has been around for over 6,000 years. Archaeologists discovered pottery dating back to around 5000 BCE, which was used to grind the maize (corn) to make and store the chicha. According to researchers, the Inca used chicha like we use coffee today. Workers, who were tasked with cultivating the Inca’s most important crop, corn, would drink chicha during and after work. The Inca also used chicha as an offering to their gods and ancestors. Additionally, human sacrifices were rubbed down with chicha before the sacrificial ceremony.” ref

Valdivia culture

Valdivian pottery is one of the oldest in the Americas. 

“Valdivian pottery in the Museo de La Plata (Argentina) and the Valdivia culture is one of the oldest settled cultures recorded in the Americas. It emerged from the earlier Las Vegas culture and thrived on the Santa Elena peninsula near the modern-day town of Valdivia, Ecuador between 3500 BCE and 1500 BCE. The Valdivia lived in a community that built its houses in a circle or oval around a central plaza. They were believed to have a relatively egalitarian culture of sedentary people who lived mostly off fishing, though they did some farming and occasionally hunted for deer to supplement their diet. From the archeological remains that have been found, it has been determined that Valdivians cultivated maize, kidney beans, squash, cassava, chili peppers, and cotton plants. The latter was processed, spun, and woven to make clothing.” ref

“Valdivian pottery, dated to 2700 BCE, initially was rough and practical, but it became splendid, delicate, and large over time. They generally used red and gray colors, and the polished dark red pottery is characteristic of the Valdivia period. In their ceramics and stone works, the Valdivia culture shows a progression from the most simple to much more complicated works. The trademark Valdivia piece is the “Venus” of Valdivia: feminine ceramic figures. The “Venus” of Valdivia likely represented actual people, as each figurine is individual and unique, as expressed in the hairstyles. The figures were made by joining two rolls of clay, leaving the lower portion separated as legs and making the body and head from the top portion. The arms were usually very short, and in most cases were bent towards the chest, holding the breasts or under the chin. A display of Valdivian artifacts is located at Universidad de Especialidades Espíritu Santo in Guayaquil, Ecuador.” ref

Influences on Valdivia culture

“Ceramic phase A of the Valdivia was long thought to be the oldest pottery produced by a coastal culture in South America, dated to 3000-2700 BCE. In the 1960s, a team of researchers proposed there were significant similarities between the archeological remains and pottery styles of Valdivia and those of the ancient Jōmon culture, active in this same period on the island of Kyūshū, Japan). They compared both decoration and vessel shape, pointing to techniques of incising. The Early to Middle Jomon pottery had antecedents dating 10,000 years, but the Valdivia pottery style seemed to have developed rather quickly. In 1962 three archeologists, Ecuadorian Emilio Estrada and Americans Clifford Evans and Betty Meggers suggested that Japanese fishermen had gotten blown to Ecuador in a storm and introduced their ceramics to Valdivia at that time. Their theory was based on the idea of diffusion of style and techniques.” ref

“Their concept was challenged at the time by other archaeologists, who argued that there were strong logistical challenges to the idea that the Japanese could have survived what would have been nearly a year and a half voyage in dugout canoes. The cultures were separated by a distance of 15,000 km (8,000 nautical miles). Researchers argued that Valdivia ceramics (and culture) had developed independently, and those apparent similarities were a result simply of constraints on technique, and an “accidental convergence” of symbols and style.” ref

“In the 1970s, what is believed widely to be conclusive evidence refuting the diffusion theory was found at the Valdivia type-site, as older pottery and artifacts were found below these excavations. Researchers found what is called San Pedro pottery, pre-dating Phase A and the Valdivia style. It was more primitive. Some researchers believe pottery may have been introduced by people from northern Colombia, where comparably early pottery was found at the Puerto Hormiga archaeological site. In addition, they think that the maize at Valdivia was likely introduced by people living closer to Meosamerica, where it was domesticated. In addition, other pottery remains of the San Pedro style were found at sites about 5.6 miles (9 km) up the river valley. Additional research at both several coastal sites, including San Pablo, Real Alto, and Salango, and Loma Alta, Colimes, and San Lorenzo del Mate inland have resulted in a major rethinking of Valdivian culture. It has been reclassified as representing a “tropical forest culture” with a riverine settlement focus. There has been major re-evaluation of nearly every aspect of its culture.” ref

Chicha beverage

“Chicha is a fermented (alcoholic) or non-fermented beverage of Latin America, emerging from the Andes and Amazonia regions. In both the pre- and post-Spanish conquest periods, corn beer (chicha de jora) made from a variety of maize landraces has been the most common form of chicha. However, chicha is also made from a variety of other cultigens and wild plants, including, among others, quinoa (Chenopodium quinia), kañiwa (Chenopodium pallidicaule), peanut, manioc (also called yuca or cassava), palm fruit, potato, oca (Oxalis tuberosa), and chañar (Geoffroea decorticans). There are many regional variations of chicha. In the Inca Empire, chicha had ceremonial and ritual uses.” ref

“The exact origin of the word chicha is debated. One belief is that the word chicha is of Taino origin and became a generic term used by the Spanish to define any and all fermented beverages brewed by indigenous peoples in the Americas. It is possible that one of the first uses of the term chicha was from a group of people who lived in Colombia and Panama, the Kuna. However, according to the Real Academia Española and other authors, the word chicha comes from the Kuna word chichab, or “chiab” which means maize. According to Don Luis G. Iza it comes from the Nahuatl word chichiatl, which means “fermented water”; the verb chicha meaning “to sour a drink” and the postfix -atl meaning water. These etymologies are not mutually exclusive. The Spanish idiom ni chicha ni limonada (neither chicha nor lemonade) means “neither one thing nor another” (roughly equivalent to the English “neither fish nor fowl”).” ref

Maize chicha

“Chicha de jora is a corn beer prepared by germinating maize, extracting the malt sugars, boiling the wort, and fermenting it in large vessels, traditionally huge earthenware vats, for several days. Usually, the brewer makes chicha in large amounts and uses many of these clay vats to do so. These vats break down easily and can only be used a few times. The brewers can arrange their vessels in rows, with fires in the middle, to reduce heat loss.” ref

“The process for making chicha is essentially the same as the process for the production of malted barley beer. It is traditionally made with Jora corn, a type of malted corn from the Andes. The specific type or combination of corn used in the making of chicha de jora shows where it was made. Some add quinoa or other adjuncts to give it consistency; then it is boiled. During the boiling process, the chicha is stirred and aerated so as to prevent overboiling. Chancaca, a hard form of sugar (like sugar cane), helps with the fermentation process. Other ways of making chicha include having people chew the corn then spit it into the water and letting the mixture ferment for a few weeks. After the milling of the corn and the brewing of the drink, the chicha is then sieved. Traditionally, it is sieved through a large cloth. This is to separate the corn from the desired chicha.” ref

“In some cultures, instead of germinating the maize to release the starches therein, the maize is ground, moistened in the chicha maker’s mouth, and formed into small balls, which are then flattened and laid out to dry. Naturally occurring ptyalin enzymes in the maker’s saliva catalyses the breakdown of starch in the maize into maltose. This process of chewing grains or other starches was used in the production of alcoholic beverages in pre-modern cultures around the world, including, for example, sake in Japan. Chicha prepared in this manner is known as chicha de muko. Chicha morada is a non-fermented chicha usually made from ears of purple maize (maíz morado), which are boiled with pineapple rind, cinnamon, and cloves. This gives a strong, purple-colored liquid, which is then mixed with sugar and lemon. This beverage is usually taken as a refreshment, but in recent years many health benefits of purple corn have been found. Chicha morada is common in Bolivian and Peruvian cultures and is generally drunk as an accompaniment to food.” ref

“Women are most associated with the production of chicha. Men and children are still involved with the process of making chicha, but women control the production and distribution. For many women in Andean society, making and selling chicha is a key part of their identity because it provides a substantial amount of political power and leverage. Chicha de jora has been prepared and consumed in communities throughout in the Andes for millennia. The Inca used chicha for ritual purposes and consumed it in vast quantities during religious festivals. Mills in which it was probably made were found at Machu Picchu. During the Inca Empire women were taught the techniques of brewing chicha in Aqlla Wasi (feminine schools). Chicherias (chicha taverns) were places to consume chicha. Many have historically been unlicensed, home-based businesses that produce chicha on site.” ref

“Normally sold in large caporal (1/2 liter) glasses to be drunk on location, or by liter, if taken home, chicha is generally sold straight from the earthenware chomba where it was brewed. On the Northern coast of Peru, it is often served in a dried gourd known as a Poto while in the Peruvian Andes it is often served in a qero. Qeros are traditionally made from wood with intricate designs carved on the outside. In colonial times qeros transitioned to be painted with figurative depictions on the exterior instead of carving. Some qero’s were also made of metals and many are now made of glass. Inca leaders used identical pairs of qero’s to extend invitations to drink. These invitations represented an indebtedness upon the invitee. In this way, the drinking of chicha via qeros cemented relationships of power and alliances between people and groups. Chicha can be mixed with Coca Sek, a Colombian beverage made from coca leaf.” ref

Regional variations

“There are a number of regional varieties of chicha, which can be roughly divided into lowland (Amazonia) and highland varieties, of which there are many.” ref

Amazonia

“Throughout the Amazon Basin (including the interiors of Ecuador, Peru, and Brazil), chicha is usually made from cassava, but also cooking plantain is known to be used. Traditionally, the women chew the washed and peeled cassava and spit the juice into a bowl. Cassava root is very starchy, and therefore the enzymes in the preparer’s saliva rapidly convert the starch to simple sugar, which is further converted by wild yeast or bacteria into alcohol. After the juice has fermented in the bowl for a few hours, the result will be mildly sweet and sour chicha, similar in appearance to defatted milk. In Peruvian Amazonia, the drink is called masato. It is traditional for families to offer chicha to arriving guests. Children are offered new chicha that has not fermented, whereas adults are offered fermented chicha; the most highly fermented chicha, with its significant alcohol content, is reserved for men.” ref

Bolivia

“In Bolivia chicha is most often made from maize, especially in the highlands, but amaranth chicha is also traditional and popular. Chicha made from sweet manioc, plantain, or banana is also common in the lowlands. Bolivian chicha often has alcohol. A good description of the preparation of a Bolivian way to make chicha can be found in Cutler, Hugh and Martin Cardenas, “Chicha a Native South American Beer.” ref

Chile

“In Chile, there are two main types of chicha: apple chicha produced in southern Chile and grape chicha produced in central Chile. Both are alcoholic beverages with no distillation, only fermentation. Chicha is mostly consumed in the countryside and during festivities, such as Fiestas Patrias on September 18. Chicha is usually not found in formal supermarkets unless close to September 18.” ref

Colombia

“In Bogotá, the capital of present-day Colombia, the recipe is plain; cooked maize with sugar, fermented for six to eight days.” ref

Ecuador

“A major chicha beer festival, Yamor, is held in early September in Otavalo. It has its roots in the 1970s, when the locals decided to revive an ancient tradition of marking the maize harvest before the September equinox. These locals spoke Quechua, and “Yamor” was the name for chicha. The festival includes bands, parades, fireworks, and chicha sampling.” ref

El Salvador

“In El Salvador, chicha usually refers to an alcoholic drink made with maize, panela, and pineapple. It is used as a drink and also as an ingredient on many traditional dishes, such as Gallo en Chicha, a local version of Coq au vin. A non-alcoholic version usually named fresco de chicha (chicha soft drink) is made with the same ingredients, but without allowing it to ferment.” ref

Honduras

“In Honduras, the Pech people practiced a ritual called Kesh where a shaman contacted the spiritual world. A Kesh could be held for various reasons, a few including to help appease the angry spirits or to help a deceased member of the community on his or her journey after death. During this ritual, they drank Chicha made of yucca, minia, and yucca tamales. The ritual is no longer practiced, but the drink is still reserved for special occasions with family only.” ref

Nicaragua

“In Managua and Granada,”chicha de maiz” is a typical drink, unfermented and served very cold. It is often flavored with banana or vanilla flavors, and its saleswomen can be heard calling “¡Chicha, cafe y jugo frio!” in the squares. Nicaraguan “chicha de maiz” is made by soaking the corn in water overnight. On the following day it is ground and placed in water, red food coloring is added, and the whole mixture is cooked. Once cooled, sugar and more water is added. On the following day, one adds further water, sugar, and flavoring. Although fermented chicha is available, the unfermented type is the most common.” ref

Panama

“In Panama, chicha can simply mean “fruit drink”. Unfermented chicha often is called batido, another name for any drink containing a fruit puree. Locally, among the Kuna or Gundetule of the San Blas chain of islands “chicha fuerte” refers to the fermented maize and Grandmother Saliva mixture, which chicha is enjoyed in special or Holy days. While chicha fuerte most traditionally refers to chicha made of germinated corn (germination helps to convert starch to sugar), any number of fruits can be fermented into unique, homemade versions of the beverage. In rural areas, chicha fuerte is the refreshment of choice during and after community work parties (juntas), as well as during community dances (tamboritos).” ref

Peru

“Chicha’s importance in the social and religious world of Latin America can best be seen by focusing on the drink’s central role in ancient Peru. Corn was considered a sacred crop, but Chicha, in particular, was considered very high status. Chicha was consumed in great quantities during and after the work of harvesting, making for a festive mood of singing, dancing, and joking. Chicha was offered to gods and ancestors, much like other fermented beverages around the world were. For example, at the Incan capital of Cuzco, the king poured chicha into a gold bowl at the navel of the universe, an ornamental stone dais with throne and pillar, in the central plaza. The chicha cascaded down this “gullet of the Sun God” to the Temple of Sun, as awestruck spectators watched the high god quaff the precious brew. At most festivals, ordinary people participated in days of prodigious drinking after the main feast, as the Spanish looked on aghast at the drunkenness.” ref

“Human sacrifices first had to be rubbed in the dregs of chicha, and then tube-fed with more chicha for days while lying buried alive in tombs. Special sacred places, scattered throughout the empire, and mummies of previous kings and ancestors were ritually bathed in maize flour and presented with chicha offerings, to the accompaniment of dancing and panpipe music. Even today, Peruvians sprinkle some chicha to “mother earth” from the communal cup when they sit down together to drink; the cup then proceeds in the order of each drinker’s social status, as an unending succession of toasts are offered.” ref

Venezuela[edit]

“In Venezuela chicha or chicha de arroz is made of boiled rice, milk, sugar; it is generally of white color and has the consistency of eggnog. It is usually served as a sweet, refreshing beverage with ground cinnamon or condensed milk toppings. This chicha de arroz contains no alcohol as it is not fermented. Sometimes it is made with pasta or semolina instead of rice and is commonly called chicha de pasta. In most large cities, chicha can be offered by street vendors, commonly referred to as Chicheros, these vendors usually use a flour-like mix and just add water, and generally serve them with chopped ice and a straw and may ask to add cinnamon, chocolate chips or sugared condensed milk on top. It can also be found in commercial presentations just like milk and juices. The Venezuelan Andean regions (such as Mérida) prepare an alternative version, with added fermented pineapple, which has a more liquory taste. This variety is commonly referred to as Chicha Andina and is a typical Christmas time beverage.” ref

Significance of Chicha in Inca Society

Identity

Chicha use can reveal how people perceive their own cultural identity and express ideas about gender, race, nationality, and community. Chicha use contributes to how people build community and a collective identity for maintaining social networks. It is often consumed in the context of feasts and festivals, which are valuable contexts for strengthening social and cultural connections. The production and consumption of chicha contributes to social organization and can affect social status.” ref

Rites of Passage

“Chicha consumption included its use in rites of passage for indigenous peoples such as the Incas. Chicha was important in ceremonies for adolescent boys coming of age, especially for the sons of Inca nobility. Young men would get their adult names in ceremonies using chicha. One thing that these boys did was to go on a pilgrimage to mountains such as Huanacauri that had significant meaning. Boys did this about a month before a ceremony honoring maturation. After the pilgrimage, the boys chewed maize to make the chicha they would drink at the end of the month-long ceremony. One activity was running down the side of a mountain to get a kero of chicha given to them by young women in order to encourage them. Chicha played an important role in ceremonies for young men and the ceremony where these young men get their adult name is a prime example.” ref

Women Making Chicha

“The use of chicha can also be seen when looking at women who lived during the Incas reign before the arrival of the Spanish. Women were important to the community of the Incas. There was a select group of women that would receive formal instruction, these women were the aclla, also known as “Chosen Women”. This group of women was extracted from their family-homes and taken to the acllahuasi or “House of the Chosen Women”. These women were dedicated to Inca religion, weaving, cooking, and chicha-brewing. Much of the chicha they would go to ceremonies, or when the community would get to together to worship their god. They started the chicha process by chewing maize to create mushy texture that would be fermented. The product of the acllas was considered sacred because of the women who produced it. This was a special privilege that many women did not have except for the “most attractive women.” ref

Perceptions of Chicha by Inca Royalty

“The Incas themselves show the importance of chicha. The lords or royalty probably drank chicha from silver and gold cups known as keros. Also, after defeating an enemy Inca rulers would have heads of the defeated enemy converted into cup to drink chicha from. An example of this could be seen when Atawallpa drank chicha from opposing foes) skull. By doing this it showed how superior the Incas themselves were to by leading their army to victory and chicha was at the forefront. After major military victories the Incas would celebrate by drinking chicha. When the Incas and the Spanish conquistadors met, the conquistadors would not understand the significance of chicha. Titu Cusi explains how his uncle, Atahualpa reacted when the intruders did not respect chicha. Kusi says, “The Spaniard, upon receiving the drink in his hand, spilled it which greatly angered my uncle. And after that, the two Spaniards showed my uncle a letter, or book, or something, saying that this was the inscription of God and the King and my uncle, as he felt offended by the spilling of the chicha, took the letter and knocked to the ground saying: I don’t know what you have given me. Go on, leave.” Another instance like this occurred between Atawallpa and the Spanish, it left with Atawallpa saying, “Since you don’t respect me I won’t respect you either.” This story recorded by Titu Cusi shows the significant relationship the Incas had with chicha. If someone insulted this beverage they would take it personally because it offended their beliefs and community.” ref

Economy

“In the economy of the Incas, there was not an exchange of currencies. Rather, the economy depended on trading products, the exchanging of services, and the Inca distributing items out to the people that work for him. Chicha that was produced by men along the coastline in order to trade or present to their Inca. This differed from the women that were producing the chicha inland because they were doing so for community gathers and other important ceremonies. Relationships were important in the Inca community and good relations with the Inca could allow a family to be provided with supplementary goods that not everyone had access to. The Inca would give chicha to families and to the males that that contributed to mit’a.” ref

“In the economy of the Incas it was important that there was a steady flow of chicha, amongst other goods that were important to everyday life. In the fields of the Andes, there was special emphasis where maize would be planted and it was taken seriously where the maize fields would be located. “Agricultural rituals linked the production of maize to the liquid transfer of power in society with chicha.” The ability to plant maize showed an important social role someone had amongst their community. Due to the significance of planting maize, the state would probably be in charge of these farms. The significance of drinking chicha together as a community was another important aspect to the way the Incas went about everyday life. It was incorporated into the meals that the Incas ate.” ref

Religious Purposes

The production of chicha was a necessity to all because it was a sacred item to the people. “Among the Incas, corn was a divine gift to humanity, and its consumption as a fermented beverage in political meetings formed communion between those where drinking and the ancestors, the and the entirety of the Inca cosmology.” This beverage allowed the people to go back to the story of creation and be reminded of the creator god Wiraqocha. The Incas saw this beverage in sexual way because of the way the earth produced for them. The Incas saw chicha as semen and when dumped onto the Earth they thought that they were feeding the Earth.” ref

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Dikili Tash

Oldest known European alcohol in Greece

“The inhabitants of Dikili Tash used a wide range of vessels. Most of those recovered were made of clay, but some were of stone, and we should of course not forget those made of perishable materials (wood, leather, basketry) that have not been preserved. These fulfilled a variety of everyday needs: temporary storage of liquid or solid foodstuffs, food preparation with or without heating, food consumption on an individual or collective basis, etc. Vessels were also used for less common purposes, such as the filtering of various substances, lighting, or the purification of air by burning aromatics. Unfired clay vessels were also used, but these have only been preserved when baked accidentally: these are big indoor storage jars.” ref

“Petrographic and chemical analyses show that the majority of vessels were produced locally, i.e. in the settlement itself or nearby, although there is so far no trace of structures connected with pottery production. Conversely, local manufacture of stone vessels is not at all certain: white marbles and other kinds of limestone are abundant in the region, but there is no proof that they were used for the vessels found in the Neolithic settlement. Several elements suggest that a direct link existed between the intended function of the ceramic vessels and their manufacture (choice of raw materials, shaping, surface treatment, execution, and display of a decoration). This does not mean, however, that the relation was univocal (one ceramic “recipe” = one function) or permanent. There are many examples of vessels) used obviously for a different purpose than the presumed original one: they show that, like in all societies, Neolithic people used their utensils according to the needs and opportunities of the moment.” ref

Neolithic Settlement of Dikili Tash Share Tweet Pin it Email If you visit the site of Ancient Philippi, a walk at the Neolithic Settlement of Dikili Tash is surely worth the visit, as it is one of the oldest settlements of Europe, located at the town of Krinides. It is generally believed that the first people settled down in this region in 6,000 BCE. The Turkish name Dikili Tash (standing stone) obviously comes from a big stone located at the site. The Latin letters that are barely distinguished on the stone prove that it was the tombstone of the Roman Officer Cointus Vibius Quartus. The oldest wines worldwide were discovered here and they are 6,500 years old!” ref

“The 6,200-year-old wine residue was discovered in ancient ceramics from the Dikili Tash prehistoric settlement. Analysis of the pottery revealed traces of tartaric acid—a byproduct of fermentation. The previously oldest known wine came from Armenia 6,100 years ago. Little is known of the inhabitants of Dikili Tash. It was only in the latest excavations that archaeologists were able to penetrate the settlement’s deepest levels. Researchers are currently unaware how significant alcohol’s role was in shaping this prehistoric society. The same team that discovered the ancient wine residue may have also discovered even more ancient evidence of winemaking. While excavating a Neolithic house from 4,500 BCE, they found carbonized grape pips with skins—a sure sign of grape pressing.” ref

Dikili Tash settlement

“Dikili Tash (also known as Dikilitaş) is a prehistoric tell settlement rising 16m above the Drama plain, in Eastern Macedonia, and located about 1.5 km east of ancient Philippi. The tell is a major Neolithic and Bronze Age site (c 5000-1200 BCE), known since the 19th century, and excavated by the French School at Athens and the Archaeological Society of Athens. Among the notable discoveries are timber-framed buildings of the Late Neolithic period. One of these was decorated with a bull’s skull plastered over with clay in the manner seen in the building model from the contemporary site of Promachonas on the Greek-Bulgarian frontier. The site name means “upright stone” in Turkish (it is also called by the Greek name Ορθόπετρα /Orthopetra which means the same). This refers to the grave stele of C. Vibius Quartus, a Roman officer from the Roman colony of Philippi who was buried in the cemetery which lies beside the Via Egnatia which passes the foot of the tell.” ref

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Areni-1 winery

The Areni-1 winery is a 6100-year-old winery that was discovered in the Areni-1 cave complex in the village of Areni in the Vayots Dzor province of Armenia. The winery consists of fermentation vats, a wine press, storage jars, pottery sherds, and is believed to be at least a thousand years older than the winery unearthed in the West Bank in 1963, which is the second oldest currently known. The Areni-1 shoe was found in the same cave in 2008. Excavations at the Areni-1 site began in 2007 and continued until September 2010. Armenian, American, and Irish archaeologists fully unearthed a large, well-preserved 60-centimetre-deep (2-foot) vat, along with a 1-metre-long (3 ft 3 in) basin made of clay and covered with malvidin. In addition to these discoveries, grape seeds, remains of pressed grapes, prunes, walnuts, and desiccated vines were found. A number of drinking cups, found next to a set of ancient graves, were also excavated, suggesting that the site was used for funeral ceremonies and ritualistic practices. The cave was abandoned after its roof caved in, and the organic material was preserved thanks to sheep dung, which prevented fungi from destroying the remains.” ref

“Botanical analysis and radiocarbon tests carried out by researchers at the University of California, Irvine, and Oxford University have revealed the date of the Areni-1 winery to around 4100 to 4000 BCE or the Late Chalcolithic Period. According to Areshian, the vintners used their feet to press the wine in the clay basin, the juice of which would then drain into the vat, where it would remain to ferment until being stored in jars. The capacity of the vat has been estimated to be about 14–15 gallons. According to Areshian, the discovery of the winery has provided greater insight to the study of horticulture. Patrick E. McGovern, a biomolecular archaeologist at the University of Pennsylvania Museum, has likewise emphasized the importance of the discovery, describing it as “important and unique, because it indicates large-scale wine production, which would imply, I think, that the grape had already been domesticated.” The exact identity of the people who lived in the region at the time is not known, although some researchers have postulated that they may have belonged to the Kura-Araxes people and added that they may have been very involved in trade.” ref

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Godin Tepe

“Barley Beer Created: c.3400 – 3000 BCE Godin Tepe, Zagros Mountains, Iran.” ref

“Godin Tepe is an archaeological site in western Iran, situated in the valley of Kangavar in Kermanshah Province. The importance of the site may have been due to its role as a trading outpost in the early Mesopotamian trade networks. The earliest evidence for occupation at Godin comes from Periods XI through VII, spanning the Early and Middle Chalcolithic. The site was already inhabited as early as c. 5200 BCE.” ref

Seh Gabi

“Because Godin has such a deep stratigraphy, it was decided that a related site of Seh Gabi nearby should also be studied. Seh Gabi is located 6 km northeast of Godin Tepe in the Kangavar valley. The deeper levels were easier to reach there. Originally, the excavations at Godin concentrated on levels II (ended c. 500 BCE?) to V (c. 3200-3000 BCE), but the transition from the Neolithic to Chalcolithic was studied primarily at Seh Gabi. The earliest pottery found was of the painted pottery traditions, including J ware (Godin pre-XI), and impressed Dalma ware (de:Dalmā Tepe), belonging to Godin XI/X. J ware is related to Halaf culture pottery. Dalma ware is very similar to the pottery traditions from the highlands north of Godin, especially from the area of Lake Urmia.” ref

Level VIII

“Level VIII is dated 4200–4000 BCE, contemporary with Terminal Ubaid period. According to Mitchell Rothman, at this time, during the Late Chalcolithic 1 period (LC 1), some substantial trading networks emerged in the area for trade in metals, and in precious or semi-precious stones. “During the time of Godin VIII, the LC 1, a real increase in the movement of these goods is evident across the region. For example, lapis lazuli, a semi-precious blue stone known to occur naturally only in the Badakshan area of northeastern Afghanistan, began to appear in LC1 sites in significant amounts (Herman 1968).” Thus, the importance of Godin Tepe may have been due to its position serving the early trade from the east, from as far as Afghanistan, and to the Mesopotamian flood plain. For example, lapis-lazuli was brought from Badakhshan in Afghanistan to Mesopotamia.” ref

Level V

“level V was excavated through a deep cut from the citadel. It was occupied during the period 3200–3000 BCE. At the end of level V there was a clear gap in the settlement sequence. There were signs of fire, such as room 22 whose roof was burned. The houses were in general well-preserved and contained many artifacts, but objects made of the precious metal were lacking. The archaeological evidence support the idea the settlement was abandoned quickly, but in an orderly manner. The pottery of level V show influences from the Uruk culture, with parallels at Susa, Uruk (IV), and Nippur The typical Jemdet Nasr tall storage jars, known from Nippur, and the beveled rim bowls of Uruk are missing, however. Cuyler-Young suggested the existence of Elamite trading posts at the site during this period, established by merchants from Susa.” ref

“Thirteen seal impressions and two cylinder seals were found at level V. They were obviously produced locally, as shown by the discovery of an uncarved cylinder. The seal impressions show a parallel with Uruk, Susa and other sites in Khuzestan. They were partly decorated with drill holes. Steatite served as raw material for these, sometimes treated with tempering. At level V some 43 clay tablets were found of which 27 were preserved in one piece. They contained primarily accounts, like those discovered at temporary Proto-Elamite and Uruk period sites in western Iran and Mesopotamia.” ref

Early wine-making

“Traces of wine and beer found in ceramics dated to c. 3100–2900 BCE and along with the findings at Hajji Firuz Tepe, provide evidence of the early production of those beverages in the Zagros Mountains. Some Kura-Araxes culture potsherds also seem to appear in association with wine making.” ref

Level IV

“Level IV (3000–2650 BCE) represents the “invasion” of the northern Yanik-culture (or “Transcaucasian Early Bronze I culture”, also known as Kura-Araxes culture), well known from Yanik Tepe, Iran, near Lake Urmia. (Nevertheless, some other Kura-Araxes potsherds were found in yet deeper layers going back to the late fourth millennium BCE.)” ref

“The only notable architectural remains of this period consist of a number of plastered hearths .T.Cuyler Young Jr. defined three main groups of pottery for Level IV. Two of these groups belong to Transcaucasian Early Bronze Age Culture. One of these groups bears two types of coarse ware tempered with coarse grit. One of these types is characterized by a grey-black burnished surface mostly with contrasting colors in the interior and exterior of the vessels. This type of coarse ware was used for producing bowls entirely. Conical bowls decorated with incised and excised designs are common; the incised designs are occasionally filled with a whitish paste. The second type of coarse ware is lighter in color, often tan or pinkish buff. The surface of the vessels is either burnished or plain. Besides bowls there are jars with protruding rims and concave or recessed necks.” ref

“The second group of Transcaucasian Pottery found at Godin Tepe was classified as Common Ware. The fabric of this group was tempered by medium-fine grit and was not well-fired. This group of pottery has the same color range like the coarse ware. The surfaces are highly burnished though the vessels with a light interior and dark exterior are predominant. The forms consist entirely of cups, including the recessed neck types. The decoration is similar in style and technique to the previous coarse wares, but the excised designs are less common.” ref

Level III

“Level III (c. 2600–1500/1400 BCE) shows connections with Susa and most of Luristan, and it has been suggested that it belonged to the Elamite confederacy. A pottery link to Lagash has been established which may affect the chronology of this layer. Near 1400 BCE, Godin Tepe was abandoned and was not re-occupied until c. 750 BCE.” ref

Level II

“Level II is represented by a single structure, a fortified, mud brick-walled architectural complex (133 m x 55 m) occupied by a Mede chief. The columned halls are in the same architectural tradition of the later Persian halls (Pasargadae, Susa, Persepolis), first documented at Hasanlu (V). The Level II pottery (only wheel-made micaceous buff ware) have strong parallels with Iron Age sites as Bābā Jān Tepe(I), Jameh Shuran (IIa), Tepe Nush-i Jan, and Pasargadae. Godin was again abandoned during the 6th century BCE, perhaps as a result or in anticipation of the expansion of Cyrus the Great (c. 550 BCE) or due to the interruption of a social stratification and secondary State formation process after the fall of Assyria.” ref

Level I

“A late, Islamic shrine (c. 15th century).” ref

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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“The production of pottery was revolutionized by the invention of the potter’s wheel in the course of the 4th millennium, which was developed in two stages: first a slow wheel and then a rapid one. As a result of this it was no longer necessary to shape ceramics with the hands alone and the shaping process was more rapid. Potters’ kilns were also improved. Pottery was simply coated with slip to smooth the surface and decoration became less and less complex until there was basically none. Painted pottery was then secondary and the rare examples of decoration are mainly incisions (lozenge patterns or grid lines). Archaeological sites from this period produce large quantities of pottery, showing that a new level of mass-production had been reached, for a larger population—especially in cities in contact with large administrative systems. They were mainly used for holding various kinds of agricultural production (barley, beer, dates, milk, etc.) and were thus pervasive in everyday life. This period marks the appearance of potters who specialized in the production of large quantities of pottery, which resulted in the emergence of specialized districts within communities. Although the quality was low, the diversity of shapes and sizes became more important than previously, with the diversification of the functions served by pottery. Not all the pottery of this period was produced on the potter’s wheel: the most distinctive vessel of the Uruk period, the beveled rim bowls, were hand-moulded.” ref

City-states in Mesopotamia

Further information: Cities of the Ancient Near East 

“In the late 4th millennium BC, Sumer was divided into many independent city-states, which were divided by canals and boundary stones. Each was centered on a temple dedicated to the particular patron god or goddess of the city and ruled over by a priestly governor (ensi) or by a king (lugal) who was intimately tied to the city’s religious rites.” ref

“The five “first” cities, said to have exercised pre-dynastic kingship “before the flood”:

1. Eridu (Tell Abu Shahrain)

2. Bad-tibira (probably Tell al-Madain)

3. Larsa (Tell as-Senkereh)

4. Sippar (Tell Abu Habbah)

5. Shuruppak (Tell Fara)” ref

“Other principal cities:

6. Uruk (Warka)

7. Kish (Tell Uheimir and Ingharra)

8. Ur (Tell al-Muqayyar)

9. Nippur (Afak)

10. Lagash (Tell al-Hiba)

11. Girsu (Tello or Telloh)

12. Umma (Tell Jokha)

13. Hamazi 1

14. Adab (Tell Bismaya)

15. Mari (Tell Hariri) 2

16. Akshak 1

17. Akkad 1

18. Isin (Ishan al-Bahriyat)” ref

“Minor cities (from south to north):

1. Kuara (Tell al-Lahm)

2. Zabala (Tell Ibzeikh)

3. Kisurra (Tell Abu Hatab)

4. Marad (Tell Wannat es-Sadum)

5. Dilbat (Tell ed-Duleim)

6. Borsippa (Birs Nimrud)

7. Kutha (Tell Ibrahim)

8. Der (al-Badra)

9. Eshnunna (Tell Asmar)

10. Nagar (Tell Brak) 2″ ref

“Apart from Mari, which lies full 330 kilometres (205 miles) north-west of Agade, but which is credited in the king list as having “exercised kingship” in the Early Dynastic II period, and Nagar, an outpost, these cities are all in the Euphrates-Tigris alluvial plain, south of Baghdad in what are now the Bābil, Diyala, Wāsit, Dhi Qar, Basra, Al-Muthannā and Al-Qādisiyyah governorates of Iraq.” ref

“The Sumerian city-states rose to power during the prehistoric Ubaid and Uruk periods. Sumerian written history reaches back to the 27th century BCE and before, but the historical record remains obscure until the Early Dynastic III period, c. 23rd century BCE, when a now deciphered syllabary writing system was developed, which has allowed archaeologists to read contemporary records and inscriptions. Classical Sumer ends with the rise of the Akkadian Empire in the 23rd century BC. Following the Gutian period, there was a brief Sumerian Renaissance in the 21st century BCE, cut short in the 20th century BCE by invasions by the Amorites. The Amorite “dynasty of Isin” persisted until c. 1700 BCE, when Mesopotamia was united under Babylonian rule. The Sumerians were eventually absorbed into the Akkadian (Assyro-Babylonian) population.” ref

· Ubaid period: 6500–4100 BCE (Pottery Neolithic to Chalcolithic)

· Uruk period: 4100–2900 BCE (Late Chalcolithic to Early Bronze Age I)

o Uruk XIV–V: 4100–3300 BCE

o Uruk IV period: 3300–3100 BCE

o Jemdet Nasr period (Uruk III): 3100–2900 BCE

· Early Dynastic period (Early Bronze Age II–IV)

o Early Dynastic I period: 2900–2800 BCE

o Early Dynastic II period: 2800–2600 BCE (Gilgamesh)

o Early Dynastic IIIa period: 2600–2500 BCE

o Early Dynastic IIIb period: c. 2500–2334 BCE

· Akkadian Empire period: c. 2334–2218 BCE (Sargon)

· Gutian period: c. 2218–2047 BCE (Early Bronze Age IV)

· Ur III period: c. 2047–1940 BCE” ref

Ubaid period

“The Ubaid period is marked by a distinctive style of fine quality painted pottery which spread throughout Mesopotamia and the Persian Gulf. During this time, the first settlement in southern Mesopotamia was established at Eridu, c. 6500 BCE, by farmers who brought with them the Hadji Muhammed culture, which first pioneered irrigation agriculture. It appears that this culture was derived from the Samarran culture from northern Mesopotamia. It is not known whether or not these were the actual Sumerians who are identified with the later Uruk culture. The story of the passing of the gifts of civilization (me) to Inanna, goddess of Uruk and of love and war, by Enki, the god of wisdom and chief god of Eridu, may reflect the transition from Eridu to Uruk.” ref

Uruk period

“The archaeological transition from the Ubaid period to the Uruk period is marked by a gradual shift from painted pottery domestically produced on a slow wheel to a great variety of unpainted pottery mass-produced by specialists on fast wheels. The Uruk period is a continuation and an outgrowth of Ubaid with pottery being the main visible change.” ref

“By the time of the Uruk period (c. 4100–2900 BCE calibrated), the volume of trade goods transported along the canals and rivers of southern Mesopotamia facilitated the rise of many large, stratified, temple-centered cities (with populations of over 10,000 people) where centralized administrations employed specialized workers. It is fairly certain that it was during the Uruk period that Sumerian cities began to make use of slave labor captured from the hill country, and there is ample evidence for captured slaves as workers in the earliest texts. Artifacts, and even colonies of this Uruk civilization have been found over a wide area—from the Taurus Mountains in Turkey, to the Mediterranean Sea in the west, and as far east as central Iran. The Uruk period civilization, exported by Sumerian traders and colonists (like that found at Tell Brak), had an effect on all surrounding peoples, who gradually evolved their own comparable, competing economies and cultures. The cities of Sumer could not maintain remote, long-distance colonies by military force.” ref

“Sumerian cities during the Uruk period were probably theocratic and were most likely headed by a priest-king (ensi), assisted by a council of elders, including both men and women. It is quite possible that the later Sumerian pantheon was modeled upon this political structure. There was little evidence of organized warfare or professional soldiers during the Uruk period, and towns were generally unwalled. During this period Uruk became the most urbanized city in the world, surpassing for the first time 50,000 inhabitants. The ancient Sumerian king list includes the early dynasties of several prominent cities from this period. The first set of names on the list is of kings said to have reigned before a major flood occurred. These early names may be fictional, and include some legendary and mythological figures, such as Alulim and Dumizid. The end of the Uruk period coincided with the Piora oscillation, a dry period from c. 3200–2900 BCE that marked the end of a long wetter, warmer climate period from about 9,000 to 5,000 years ago, called the Holocene climatic optimum.” ref

Early Dynastic Period

“The dynastic period begins c. 2900 BCE and was associated with a shift from the temple establishment headed by council of elders led by a priestly “En” (a male figure when it was a temple for a goddess, or a female figure when headed by a male god) towards a more secular Lugal (Lu = man, Gal = great) and includes such legendary patriarchal figures as Dumuzid, Lugalbanda, and Gilgamesh—who reigned shortly before the historic record opens c. 2900 BCE, when the now deciphered syllabic writing started to develop from the early pictograms. The center of Sumerian culture remained in southern Mesopotamia, even though rulers soon began expanding into neighboring areas, and neighboring Semitic groups adopted much of Sumerian culture for their own.” ref

“The earliest dynastic king on the Sumerian king list whose name is known from any other legendary source is Etana, 13th king of the first dynasty of Kish. The earliest king authenticated through archaeological evidence is Enmebaragesi of Kish (Early Dynastic I), whose name is also mentioned in the Gilgamesh epic—leading to the suggestion that Gilgamesh himself might have been a historical king of Uruk. As the Epic of Gilgamesh shows, this period was associated with increased war. Cities became walled, and increased in size as undefended villages in southern Mesopotamia disappeared. (Both Enmerkar and Gilgamesh are credited with having built the walls of Uruk).” ref

1st Dynasty of Lagash

c. 2500–2270 BCE

“The dynasty of Lagash, though omitted from the king list, is well attested through several important monuments and many archaeological finds. Although short-lived, one of the first empires known to history was that of Eannatum of Lagash, who annexed practically all of Sumer, including Kish, Uruk, Ur, and Larsa, and reduced to tribute the city-state of Umma, an arch-rival of Lagash. In addition, his realm extended to parts of Elam and along the Persian Gulf. He seems to have used terror as a matter of policy.[48] Eannatum’s Stele of the Vultures depicts vultures pecking at the severed heads and other body parts of his enemies. His empire collapsed shortly after his death. Later, Lugal-Zage-Si, the priest-king of Umma, overthrew the primacy of the Lagash dynasty in the area, then conquered Uruk, making it his capital, and claimed an empire extending from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean. He was the last ethnically Sumerian king before Sargon of Akkad.” ref

Akkadian Empire

“The Akkadian Empire dates to c. 2234–2154 BCE (Middle chronology). The Eastern Semitic Akkadian language is first attested in proper names of the kings of Kish c. 2800 BCE, preserved in later king lists. There are texts written entirely in Old Akkadian dating from c. 2500 BCE. The use of Old Akkadian was at its peak during the rule of Sargon the Great (c. 2334–2279 BCE), but even then most administrative tablets continued to be written in Sumerian, the language used by the scribes. Gelb and Westenholz differentiate three stages of Old Akkadian: that of the pre-Sargonic era, that of the Akkadian empire, and that of the “Neo-Sumerian Renaissance” that followed it. Akkadian and Sumerian coexisted as vernacular languages for about one thousand years, but by around 1800 BCE, Sumerian was becoming more of a literary language familiar mainly only to scholars and scribes. Thorkild Jacobsen has argued that there is little break in historical continuity between the pre- and post-Sargon periods, and that too much emphasis has been placed on the perception of a “Semitic vs. Sumerian” conflict. However, it is certain that Akkadian was also briefly imposed on neighboring parts of Elam that were previously conquered, by Sargon.” ref

Gutian period

c. 2193–2119 BCE

2nd Dynasty of Lagash

c. 2200–2110 BCE

“Following the downfall of the Akkadian Empire at the hands of Gutians, another native Sumerian ruler, Gudea of Lagash, rose to local prominence and continued the practices of the Sargonid kings’ claims to divinity. The previous Lagash dynasty, Gudea, and his descendants also promoted artistic development and left a large number of archaeological artifacts.” ref

“Neo-Sumerian” Ur III period

c. 2112–2004 BCE

“Later, the 3rd dynasty of Ur under Ur-Nammu and Shulgi, whose power extended as far as southern Assyria, was the last great “Sumerian renaissance”, but already the region was becoming more Semitic than Sumerian, with the resurgence of the Akkadian speaking Semites in Assyria and elsewhere, and the influx of waves of Semitic Martu (Amorites) who were to found several competing local powers in the south, including Isin, Larsa, Eshnunna and sometime later Babylonia. The last of these eventually came to briefly dominate the south of Mesopotamia as the Babylonian Empire, just as the Old Assyrian Empire had already done so in the north from the late 21st century BCE. The Sumerian language continued as a sacerdotal language taught in schools in Babylonia and Assyria, much as Latin was used in the Medieval period, for as long as cuneiform was utilized.” ref

Fall and transmission

“This period is generally taken to coincide with a major shift in population from southern Mesopotamia toward the north. Ecologically, the agricultural productivity of the Sumerian lands was being compromised as a result of rising salinity. Soil salinity in this region had been long recognized as a major problem. Poorly drained irrigated soils, in an arid climate with high levels of evaporation, led to the buildup of dissolved salts in the soil, eventually reducing agricultural yields severely. During the Akkadian and Ur III phases, there was a shift from the cultivation of wheat to the more salt-tolerant barley, but this was insufficient, and during the period from 2100 BCE to 1700 BCE, it is estimated that the population in this area declined by nearly three fifths. This greatly upset the balance of power within the region, weakening the areas where Sumerian was spoken, and comparatively strengthening those where Akkadian was the major language. Henceforth, Sumerian would remain only a literary and liturgical language, similar to the position occupied by Latin in medieval Europe.” ref

“Following an Elamite invasion and sack of Ur during the rule of Ibbi-Sin (c. 2028–2004 BCE), Sumer came under Amorite rule (taken to introduce the Middle Bronze Age). The independent Amorite states of the 20th to 18th centuries are summarized as the “Dynasty of Isin” in the Sumerian king list, ending with the rise of Babylonia under Hammurabi c. 1800 BCE. Later rulers who dominated Assyria and Babylonia occasionally assumed the old Sargonic title “King of Sumer and Akkad”, such as Tukulti-Ninurta I of Assyria after c. 1225 BCE.” ref

Population

“Uruk, one of Sumer’s largest cities, has been estimated to have had a population of 50,000–80,000 at its height; given the other cities in Sumer, and the large agricultural population, a rough estimate for Sumer’s population might be 0.8 million to 1.5 million. The world population at this time has been estimated at about 27 million. The Sumerians spoke a language isolate, but a number of linguists have claimed to be able to detect a substrate language of unknown classification beneath Sumerian because names of some of Sumer’s major cities are not Sumerian, revealing influences of earlier inhabitants. However, the archaeological record shows clear uninterrupted cultural continuity from the time of the early Ubaid period (5300–4700 BCE) settlements in southern Mesopotamia. The Sumerian people who settled here farmed the lands in this region that were made fertile by silt deposited by the Tigris and the Euphrates.” ref

“Some archaeologists have speculated that the original speakers of ancient Sumerian may have been farmers, who moved down from the north of Mesopotamia after perfecting irrigation agriculture there. The Ubaid period pottery of southern Mesopotamia has been connected via Choga Mami transitional ware to the pottery of the Samarra period culture (c. 5700–4900 BC C-14) in the north, who were the first to practice a primitive form of irrigation agriculture along the middle Tigris River and its tributaries. The connection is most clearly seen at Tell Awayli (Oueilli, Oueili) near Larsa, excavated by the French in the 1980s, where eight levels yielded pre-Ubaid pottery resembling Samarran ware. According to this theory, farming peoples spread down into southern Mesopotamia because they had developed a temple-centered social organization for mobilizing labor and technology for water control, enabling them to survive and prosper in a difficult environment. Others have suggested a continuity of Sumerians, from the indigenous hunter-fisherfolk traditions, associated with the bifacial assemblages found on the Arabian littoral. Juris Zarins believes the Sumerians may have been the people living in the Persian Gulf region before it flooded at the end of the last Ice Age.” ref

Social and family life

“In the early Sumerian period, the primitive pictograms suggest that “Pottery was very plentiful, and the forms of the vases, bowls, and dishes were manifold; there were special jars for honey, butter, oil, and wine, which was probably made from dates. Some of the vases had pointed feet, and stood on stands with crossed legs; others were flat-bottomed, and were set on square or rectangular frames of wood. The oil-jars, and probably others also, were sealed with clay, precisely as in early Egypt. Vases and dishes of stone were made in imitation of those of clay.”  “A feathered head-dress was worn. Beds, stools, and chairs were used, with carved legs resembling those of an ox. There were fire-places and fire-altars.”  “Knives, drills, wedges, and an instrument that looks like a saw were all known. While spears, bows, arrows, and daggers (but not swords) were employed in war.”  “Tablets were used for writing purposes. Daggers with metal blades and wooden handles were worn, and copper was hammered into plates, while necklaces or collars were made of gold.”  “Time was reckoned in lunar months.” ref

“There is considerable evidence concerning Sumerian music. Lyres and flutes were played, among the best-known examples being the Lyres of Ur. Inscriptions describing the reforms of king Urukagina of Lagash (c. 2350 BCE) say that he abolished the former custom of polyandry in his country, prescribing that a woman who took multiple husbands be stoned with rocks upon which her crime had been written.” ref

“Sumerian culture was male-dominated and stratified. The Code of Ur-Nammu, the oldest such codification yet discovered, dating to the Ur III, reveals a glimpse at societal structure in late Sumerian law. Beneath the lu-gal (“great man” or king), all members of society belonged to one of two basic strata: The “lu” or free person, and the slave (male, arad; female geme). The son of a lu was called a dumu-nita until he married. A woman (munus) went from being a daughter (dumu-mi), to a wife (dam), then if she outlived her husband, a widow (numasu) and she could then remarry another man who was from the same tribe. Marriages were usually arranged by the parents of the bride and groom; engagements were usually completed through the approval of contracts recorded on clay tablets. These marriages became legal as soon as the groom delivered a bridal gift to his bride’s father. One Sumerian proverb describes the ideal, happy marriage through the mouth of a husband who boasts that his wife has borne him eight sons and is still eager to have sex.” ref

“The Sumerians generally seem to have discouraged premarital sex, but it was probably very commonly done in secret. The Sumerians, as well as the later Akkadians, had no concept of virginity. When describing a woman’s sexual inexperience, instead of calling her a “virgin”, Sumerian texts describe which sex acts she had not yet performed. The Sumerians had no knowledge of the existence of the hymen and whether or not a prospective bride had engaged in sexual intercourse was entirely determined by her own word. From the earliest records, the Sumerians had very relaxed attitudes toward sex and their sexual mores were determined not by whether a sexual act was deemed immoral, but rather by whether or not it made a person ritually unclean. The Sumerians widely believed that masturbation enhanced sexual potency, both for men and for women, and they frequently engaged in it, both alone and with their partners. The Sumerians did not regard anal sex as taboo either. Entu priestesses were forbidden from producing offspring and frequently engaged in anal sex as a method of birth control. Prostitution existed but it is not clear if sacred prostitution did.” ref

Language and writing

“The most important archaeological discoveries in Sumer are a large number of clay tablets written in cuneiform script. Sumerian writing is considered to be a great milestone in the development of humanity’s ability to not only create historical records but also in creating pieces of literature, both in the form of poetic epics and stories as well as prayers and laws. Although pictures—that is, hieroglyphs—were used first, cuneiform and then ideograms (where symbols were made to represent ideas) soon followed.” ref

“Triangular or wedge-shaped reeds were used to write on moist clay. A large body of hundreds of thousands of texts in the Sumerian language have survived, including personal and business letters, receipts, lexical lists, laws, hymns, prayers, stories, and daily records. Full libraries of clay tablets have been found. Monumental inscriptions and texts on different objects, like statues or bricks, are also very common. Many texts survive in multiple copies because they were repeatedly transcribed by scribes in training. Sumerian continued to be the language of religion and law in Mesopotamia long after Semitic speakers had become dominant. A prime example of cuneiform writing would be a lengthy poem that was discovered in the ruins of Uruk. The Epic of Gilgamesh was written in the standard Sumerian cuneiform. It tells of a king from the early Dynastic II period named Gilgamesh or “Bilgamesh” in Sumerian. The story relates the fictional adventures of Gilgamesh and his companion, Enkidu. It was laid out on several clay tablets and is thought to be the earliest known surviving example of fictional literature.” ref

“The Sumerian language is generally regarded as a language isolate in linguistics because it belongs to no known language family; Akkadian, by contrast, belongs to the Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic languages. There have been many failed attempts to connect Sumerian to other language families. It is an agglutinative language; in other words, morphemes (“units of meaning”) are added together to create words, unlike analytic languages where morphemes are purely added together to create sentences. Some authors have proposed that there may be evidence of a substratum or adstratum language for geographic features and various crafts and agricultural activities, called variously Proto-Euphratean or Proto Tigrean, but this is disputed by others. Understanding Sumerian texts today can be problematic. Most difficult are the earliest texts, which in many cases do not give the full grammatical structure of the language and seem to have been used as an “aide-mémoire” for knowledgeable scribes.” ref

“During the 3rd millennium BCE, a cultural symbiosis developed between the Sumerians and the Akkadians, which included widespread bilingualism. The mutual influences between Sumerian on Akkadian are evident in all areas including lexical borrowing on a massive scale—and syntactic, morphological, and phonological convergence. These influences have prompted scholars to refer to Sumerian and Akkadian of the 3rd millennium BCE as a Sprachbund. Akkadian gradually replaced Sumerian as a spoken language somewhere around the turn of the 3rd and the 2nd millennium BCE, but Sumerian continued to be used as a sacred, ceremonial, literary, and scientific language in Babylonia and Assyria until the 1st century CE.” ref

Religion

“The Sumerians credited their divinities for all matters pertaining to them and exhibited humility in the face of cosmic forces, such as death and divine wrath. Sumerian religion seems to have been founded upon two separate cosmogenic myths. The first saw creation as the result of a series of hieroi gamoi or sacred marriages, involving the reconciliation of opposites, postulated as a coming together of male and female divine beings, the gods.” ref

“This pattern continued to influence regional Mesopotamian myths. Thus, in the later Akkadian Enuma Elish, creation was seen as the union of fresh and salt water, between male Abzu, and female Tiamat. The products of that union, Lahm and Lahmu, “the muddy ones”, were titles given to the gate keepers of the E-Abzu temple of Enki in Eridu, the first Sumerian city. Mirroring the way that muddy islands emerge from the confluence of fresh and salty water at the mouth of the Euphrates, where the river deposits its load of silt, a second hieros gamos supposedly resulted in the creation of Anshar and Kishar, the “sky-pivot” (or axle), and the “earth pivot”, parents in turn of Anu (the sky) and Ki (the earth).” ref

“Another important Sumerian hieros gamos was that between Ki, here known as Ninhursag or “Lady of the Mountains”, and Enki of Eridu, the god of fresh water which brought forth greenery and pasture. At an early stage, following the dawn of recorded history, Nippur, in central Mesopotamia, replaced Eridu in the south as the primary temple city, whose priests exercised political hegemony on the other city-states. Nippur retained this status throughout the Sumerian period.” ref

Deities

“Sumerians believed in an anthropomorphic polytheism, or the belief in many gods in human form. There was no common set of gods; each city-state had its own patrons, temples, and priest-kings. Nonetheless, these were not exclusive; the gods of one city were often acknowledged elsewhere. Sumerian speakers were among the earliest people to record their beliefs in writing, and were a major inspiration in later Mesopotamian mythology, religion, and astrology.” ref

The Sumerians worshiped:

* “An as the full-time god equivalent to heaven; indeed, the word an in Sumerian means sky, and his consort Ki, means earth.” ref

* “Enki in the south at the temple in Eridu. Enki was the god of beneficence and of wisdom, ruler of the freshwater depths beneath the earth, a healer and friend to humanity who in Sumerian myth was thought to have given humans the arts and sciences, the industries and manners of civilization; the first law book was considered his creation.” ref

* “Enlil was the god of storm, wind, and rain. He was the chief god of the Sumerian pantheon and the patron god of Nippur. His consort was Ninlil, the goddess of the south wind.” ref

* “Inanna was the goddess of love, beauty, sexuality, prostitution, and war; the deification of Venus, the morning (eastern) and evening (western) star, at the temple (shared with An) at Uruk. Deified kings may have re-enacted the marriage of Inanna and Dumuzid with priestesses.  The sun-god Utu at Larsa in the south and Sippar in the north and the moon god Sin at Ur.” ref

“These deities formed a core pantheon; there were additionally hundreds of minor ones. Sumerian gods could thus have associations with different cities, and their religious importance often waxed and waned with those cities’ political power. The gods were said to have created human beings from clay for the purpose of serving them. The temples organized the mass labor projects needed for irrigation agriculture. Citizens had a labor duty to the temple, though they could avoid it by a payment of silver.” ref

Cosmology

“Sumerians believed that the universe consisted of a flat disk enclosed by a dome. The Sumerian afterlife involved a descent into a gloomy netherworld to spend eternity in a wretched existence as a Gidim (ghost). The universe was divided into four quarters: To the north were the hill-dwelling Subartu, who were periodically raided for slaves, timber, and other raw materials. To the west were the tent-dwelling Martu, ancient Semitic-speaking peoples living as pastoral nomads tending herds of sheep and goats. To the south was the land of Dilmun, a trading state associated with the land of the dead and the place of creation. To the east were the Elamites, a rival people with whom the Sumerians were frequently at war. Their known world extended from The Upper Sea or Mediterranean coastline, to The Lower Sea, the Persian Gulf and the land of Meluhha (probably the Indus Valley) and Magan (Oman), famed for its copper ores.” ref

Temple and temple Organization

“Ziggurats (Sumerian temples) each had an individual name and consisted of a forecourt, with a central pond for purification. The temple itself had a central nave with aisles along either side. Flanking the aisles would be rooms for the priests. At one end would stand the podium and a mudbrick table for animal and vegetable sacrifices. Granaries and storehouses were usually located near the temples. After a time the Sumerians began to place the temples on top of multi-layered square constructions built as a series of rising terraces, giving rise to the Ziggurat style.” ref

Funerary practices

“It was believed that when people died, they would be confined to a gloomy world of Ereshkigal, whose realm was guarded by gateways with various monsters designed to prevent people entering or leaving. The dead were buried outside the city walls in graveyards where a small mound covered the corpse, along with offerings to monsters and a small amount of food. Those who could afford it sought burial at Dilmun.[76] Human sacrifice was found in the death pits at the Ur royal cemetery where Queen Puabi was accompanied in death by her servants.” ref

Agriculture and hunting

“The Sumerians adopted an agricultural lifestyle perhaps as early as c. 5000–4500 BCE. The region demonstrated a number of core agricultural techniques, including organized irrigation, large-scale intensive cultivation of land, mono-cropping involving the use of plough agriculture, and the use of an agricultural specialized labour force under bureaucratic control. The necessity to manage temple accounts with this organization led to the development of writing (c. 3500 BCE). In the early Sumerian Uruk period, the primitive pictograms suggest that sheep, goats, cattle, and pigs were domesticated. They used oxen as their primary beasts of burden and donkeys or equids as their primary transport animal and “woollen clothing as well as rugs were made from the wool or hair of the animals. … By the side of the house was an enclosed garden planted with trees and other plants; wheat and probably other cereals were sown in the fields, and the shaduf was already employed for the purpose of irrigation. Plants were also grown in pots or vases.” ref

“The Sumerians were one of the first known beer drinking societies. Cereals were plentiful and were the key ingredient in their early brew. They brewed multiple kinds of beer consisting of wheat, barley, and mixed grain beers. Beer brewing was very important to the Sumerians. It was referenced in the Epic of Gilgamesh when Enkidu was introduced to the food and beer of Gilgamesh’s people: “Drink the beer, as is the custom of the land… He drank the beer-seven jugs! and became expansive and sang with joy!” The Sumerians practiced similar irrigation techniques as those used in Egypt. American anthropologist Robert McCormick Adams says that irrigation development was associated with urbanization, and that 89% of the population lived in the cities.” ref

“They grew barley, chickpeas, lentils, wheat, dates, onions, garlic, lettuce, leeks, and mustard. Sumerians caught many fish and hunted fowl and gazelle. Sumerian agriculture depended heavily on irrigation. The irrigation was accomplished by the use of shaduf, canals, channels, dykes, weirs, and reservoirs. The frequent violent floods of the Tigris, and less so, of the Euphrates, meant that canals required frequent repair and continual removal of silt, and survey markers and boundary stones needed to be continually replaced. The government required individuals to work on the canals in a corvee, although the rich were able to exempt themselves.” ref

“As is known from the “Sumerian Farmer’s Almanac“, after the flood season and after the Spring equinox and the Akitu or New Year Festival, using the canals, farmers would flood their fields and then drain the water. Next, they made oxen stomp the ground and kill weeds. They then dragged the fields with pickaxes. After drying, they plowed, harrowed, and raked the ground three times, and pulverized it with a mattock, before planting seed. Unfortunately, the high evaporation rate resulted in a gradual increase in the salinity of the fields. By the Ur III period, farmers had switched from wheat to the more salt-tolerant barley as their principal crop. Sumerians harvested during the spring in three-person teams consisting of a reaper, a binder, and a sheaf handler. The farmers would use threshing wagons, driven by oxen, to separate the cereal heads from the stalks and then use threshing sleds to disengage the grain. They then winnowed the grain/chaff mixture.” ref

Art

“The Sumerians were great creators, nothing proving this more than their art. Sumerian artifacts show great detail and ornamentation, with fine semi-precious stones imported from other lands, such as lapis lazuli, marble, and diorite, and precious metals like hammered gold, incorporated into the design. Since stone was rare it was reserved for sculpture. The most widespread material in Sumer was clay, as a result many Sumerina objects are made of clay. Metals such as gold, silver, copper, and bronze, along with shells and gemstones, were used for the finest sculpture and inlays. Small stones of all kinds, including more precious stones such as lapis lazuli, alabaster, and serpentine, were used for cylinder seals. Some of the most famous masterpieces are the Lyres of Ur, which are considered to be the world’s oldest surviving stringed instruments.” ref

Architecture

“The Tigris-Euphrates plain lacked minerals and trees. Sumerian structures were made of plano-convex mudbrick, not fixed with mortar or cement. Mud-brick buildings eventually deteriorate, so they were periodically destroyed, leveled, and rebuilt on the same spot. This constant rebuilding gradually raised the level of cities, which thus came to be elevated above the surrounding plain. The resultant hills, known as tells, are found throughout the ancient Near East.” ref

“According to Archibald Sayce, the primitive pictograms of the early Sumerian (i.e. Uruk) era suggest that “Stone was scarce, but was already cut into blocks and seals. Brick was the ordinary building material, and with it cities, forts, temples, and houses were constructed. The city was provided with towers and stood on an artificial platform; the house also had a tower-like appearance. It was provided with a door which turned on a hinge, and could be opened with a sort of key; the city gate was on a larger scale, and seems to have been double. The foundation stones—or rather bricks—of a house were consecrated by certain objects that were deposited under them.” The most impressive and famous of Sumerian buildings are the ziggurats, large layered platforms that supported temples. Sumerian cylinder seals also depict houses built from reeds, not unlike those built by the Marsh Arabs of Southern Iraq until as recently as 400 CE. The Sumerians also developed the arch, which enabled them to develop a strong type of dome. They built this by constructing and linking several arches. Sumerian temples and palaces made use of more advanced materials and techniques, such as buttresses, recesses, half columns, and clay nails.” ref

Mathematics

“The Sumerians developed a complex system of metrology c. 4000 BCE. This advanced metrology resulted in the creation of arithmetic, geometry, and algebra. From c. 2600 BCE onwards, the Sumerians wrote multiplication tables on clay tablets and dealt with geometrical exercises and division problems. The earliest traces of the Babylonian numerals also date back to this period. The period c. 2700–2300 BCE saw the first appearance of the abacus, and a table of successive columns which delimited the successive orders of magnitude of their sexagesimal number system. The Sumerians were the first to use a place value numeral system. There is also anecdotal evidence the Sumerians may have used a type of slide rule in astronomical calculations. They were the first to find the area of a triangle and the volume of a cube.” ref

Economy and trade

“Discoveries of obsidian from far-away locations in Anatolia and lapis lazuli from Badakhshan in northeastern Afghanistan, beads from Dilmun (modern Bahrain), and several seals inscribed with the Indus Valley script suggest a remarkably wide-ranging network of ancient trade centered on the Persian Gulf. For example, Imports to Ur came from many parts of the world. In particular, the metals of all types had to be imported. The Epic of Gilgamesh refers to trade with far lands for goods, such as wood, that were scarce in Mesopotamia. In particular, cedar from Lebanon was prized. The finding of resin in the tomb of Queen Puabi at Ur, indicates it was traded from as far away as Mozambique. The Sumerians used slaves, although they were not a major part of the economy. Slave women worked as weavers, pressers, millers, and porters. Sumerian potters decorated pots with cedar oil paints. The potters used a bow drill to produce the fire needed for baking the pottery. Sumerian masons and jewelers knew and made use of alabaster (calcite), ivory, iron, gold, silver, carnelian, and lapis lazuli.” ref

“Evidence for imports from the Indus to Ur can be found from around 2350 BCE. Various objects made with shell species that are characteristic of the Indus coast, particularly Trubinella Pyrum and Fasciolaria Trapezium, have been found in the archaeological sites of Mesopotamia dating from around 2500–2000 BCE. Carnelian beads from the Indus were found in the Sumerian tombs of Ur, the Royal Cemetery at Ur, dating to 2600–2450 BCE. In particular, carnelian beads with an etched design in white were probably imported from the Indus Valley, and made according to a technique of acid-etching developed by the Harappans. Lapis lazuli was imported in great quantity by Egypt, and already used in many tombs of the Naqada II period (c. 3200 BCE). Lapis Lazuli probably originated in northern Afghanistan, as no other sources are known, and had to be transported across the Iranian plateau to Mesopotamia, and then Egypt.” ref

Trade with the Indus valley

“Several Indus seals with Harappan script have also been found in Mesopotamia, particularly in Ur, Babylon, and Kish. Gudea, the ruler of the Neo-Summerian Empire at Lagash, is recorded as having imported “translucent carnelian” from Meluhha, generally thought to be the Indus Valley area. Various inscriptions also mention the presence of Meluhha traders and interpreters in Mesopotamia. About twenty seals have been found from the Akkadian and Ur III sites, that have connections with Harappa and often use Harappan symbols or writing. The Indus Valley Civilization only flourished in its most developed form between 2400 to 1800 BCE, but at the time of these exchanges, it was a much larger entity than the Mesopotamian civilization, covering an area of 1.2 million square meters with thousands of settlements, compared to an area of only about 65.000 square meters for the occupied area of Mesopotamia, while the largest cities were comparable in size at about 30–40,000 inhabitants.” ref

Money and credit

“Large institutions kept their accounts in barley and silver, often with a fixed rate between them. The obligations, loans, and prices, in general, were usually denominated in one of them. Many transactions involved debt, for example, goods consigned to merchants by temple and beer advanced by “ale women”. Commercial credit and agricultural consumer loans were the main types of loans. The trade-credit was usually extended by temples in order to finance trade expeditions and was nominated in silver. The interest rate was set at 1/60 a month (one shekel per mina) sometime before 2000 BC and it remained at that level for about two thousand years. Rural loans commonly arose as a result of unpaid obligations due to an institution (such as a temple), in this case, the arrears were considered to be lent to the debtor.” ref

“They were denominated in barley or other crops and the interest rate was typically much higher than for commercial loans and could amount to 1/3 to 1/2 of the loan principal. Periodically, rulers signed “clean slate” decrees that canceled all the rural (but not commercial) debt and allowed bondservants to return to their homes. Customarily, rulers did it at the beginning of the first full year of their reign, but they could also be proclaimed at times of military conflict or crop failure. The first known ones were made by Enmetena and Urukagina of Lagash in 2400–2350 BCE. According to Hudson, the purpose of these decrees was to prevent debts mounting to a degree that they threatened the fighting force, which could happen if peasants lost their subsistence land or became bondservants due to inability to repay their debt.” ref

Military

“The almost constant wars among the Sumerian city-states for 2000 years helped to develop the military technology and techniques of Sumer to a high level. The first war recorded in any detail was between Lagash and Umma in c. 2450 BCE on a stele called the Stele of the Vultures. It shows the king of Lagash leading a Sumerian army consisting mostly of infantry. The infantry carried spears, wore copper helmets, and carried rectangular shields. The spearmen are shown arranged in what resembles the phalanx formation, which requires training and discipline; this implies that the Sumerians may have made use of professional soldiers.” ref

“The Sumerian military used carts harnessed to onagers. These early chariots functioned less effectively in combat than did later designs, and some have suggested that these chariots served primarily as transports, though the crew carried battle-axes and lances. The Sumerian chariot comprised a four or two-wheeled device manned by a crew of two and harnessed to four onagers. The cart was composed of a woven basket and the wheels had a solid three-piece design. Sumerian cities were surrounded by defensive walls. The Sumerians engaged in siege warfare between their cities, but the mudbrick walls were able to deter some foes.” ref

Technology

“Examples of Sumerian technology include: the wheel, cuneiform script, arithmetic and geometry, irrigation systems, Sumerian boats, lunisolar calendar, bronze, leather, saws, chisels, hammers, braces, bits, nails, pins, rings, hoes, axes, knives, lancepoints, arrowheads, swords, glue, daggers, waterskins, bags, harnesses, armor, quivers, war chariots, scabbards, boots, sandals, harpoons, and beer. The Sumerians had three main types of boats: 1· clinker-built sailboats stitched together with hair, featuring bitumen waterproofing. 2 · skin boats constructed from animal skins and reeds. 3 · wooden-oared ships, sometimes pulled upstream by people and animals walking along the nearby banks” ref

Legacy

“Evidence of wheeled vehicles appeared in the mid 4th millennium BC, near-simultaneously in Mesopotamia, the Northern Caucasus (Maykop culture), and Central Europe. The wheel initially took the form of the potter’s wheel. The new concept led to wheeled vehicles and mill wheels. The Sumerians’ cuneiform script is the oldest (or second oldest after the Egyptian hieroglyphs) which has been deciphered (the status of even older inscriptions such as the Jiahu symbols and Tartaria tablets is controversial). The Sumerians were among the first astronomers, mapping the stars into sets of constellations, many of which survived in the zodiac and were also recognized by the ancient Greeks.[108] They were also aware of the five planets that are easily visible to the naked eye.” ref

“They invented and developed arithmetic by using several different number systems including a mixed radix system with an alternating base 10 and base 6. This sexagesimal system became the standard number system in Sumer and Babylonia. They may have invented military formations and introduced the basic divisions between infantry, cavalry, and archers. They developed the first known codified legal and administrative systems, complete with courts, jails, and government records. The first true city-states arose in Sumer, roughly contemporaneously with similar entities in what are now Syria and Lebanon. Several centuries after the invention of cuneiform, the use of writing expanded beyond debt/payment certificates and inventory lists to be applied for the first time, about 2600 BC, to messages and mail delivery, history, legend, mathematics, astronomical records, and other pursuits. Conjointly with the spread of writing, the first formal schools were established, usually under the auspices of a city-state’s primary temple. Finally, the Sumerians ushered in domestication with intensive agriculture and irrigation. Emmer wheat, barley, sheep (starting as mouflon), and cattle (starting as aurochs) were foremost among the species cultivated and raised for the first time on a grand scale.” ref

Hungarian-Sumerian hypothesis

“A hypothesis exists in Hungarian and international historiography that relates the Sumerians to the Hungarians. According to it, the Sumerian and Hungarian languages would be related and the ancestors of both peoples would have had contact in the past and share a common origin. This leaves a huge temporal gap and suggests a very extensive origin for the Uralic peoples (as their Urheimat is generally believed to be at the west of the Ural Mountains). Most of its supporters deny a direct linguistic relationship between Hungarian and the other Finno-Ugric languages. The hypothesis had more popularity among Sumerologists in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Nowadays, it is mostly dismissed, although it is acknowledged that Sumerian is an agglutinative language, just like the Hungarian, Turkish and Finnish languages and regarding linguistic structure resembles these and some Caucasian languages; however, in vocabulary, grammar, and syntax Sumerian still stands alone and seems to be unrelated to any other language, living or dead.” ref

The Modern Recreation of Ancient Sumerian Beer

“Beer appears to have been an important part of Sumerian culture: the word “beer” appears in many contexts relating to religion, medicine, and myth.  In fact, the oldest evidence of beer comes from a 6,000-year-old Sumerian tablet depicting people drinking a beverage through reed straws from a communal bowl, and the oldest surviving beer recipe can be found in a 3,900-year-old ancient Sumerian poem honoring Ninkasi, the goddess of brewing, fertility and the harvest.  The poem describes how bappir, Sumerian bread, is mixed with “aromatics” to ferment in a big vat.” ref

“The production of beer in Mesopotamia is a controversial topic in archaeological circles. Some believe that beer was discovered by accident and that a piece of bread or grain could have become wet and a short time later, it began to ferment into an inebriating pulp. However, others believe that the technique of brewing beer was an early technological achievement and may have even predated the Sumerians in the lowlands of the Mesopotamian alluvial plane. But the Sumerian’s beer-making capabilities have not just caught the attention of historians and archaeologists.  Brewing companies have been trying to replicate the ancient Sumerian recipe for decades and have already recreated beers from prehistoric China and from ancient Egypt.  The latest to take their hand to the challenge was the Great Lakes Brewing Company, a craft beer maker based in Ohio, which has a particular interest in artisan beer. Archaeologists teamed up with the Great Lakes Brewing Company to resurrect an ancient recipe to recreate a  5,000-year-old Sumerian beer.” ref

“The oldest evidence of beer is believed to be a 6,000-year-old Sumerian tablet depicting people drinking a beverage through reed straws from a communal bowl. In Mesopotamia (ancient Iraq), there is early evidence of beer in form of a 3,900-year-old Sumerian poem honoring Ninkasi, the patron goddess of brewing, which contains the oldest surviving beer recipe, describing the production of beer from barley via bread.” ref

“Archaeologists have unearthed ceramic vessels from 3400 BCE. still sticky with beer residue, and 1800 BCE.’s “Hymn to Ninkasi”—an ode to the Sumerian goddess of beer—describes a recipe for a beloved ancient brew made by female priestesses. In ancient Mesopotamia, clay tablets indicate that the majority of brewers were probably women, and that brewing was a fairly well-respected occupation during the time. The fermented cereal beverage enjoyed by Sumerians, so-called Sumerian beer, may have been alcohol-free.” ref

“Historians believe – namely that ancient Sumerians in today’s Iraq were among the first to build agriculture-based cities approximately 6,000 years ago and produce a fermented grain-based beverage that came to be known as beer. According to popular theory, Sumerian brewers crumbled flat bread made from barely or emmer into a mash, called “bappir,” which is Sumerian for “beer bread.” ref

‘Hymn of Ninkasi’

“The problem is, that’s only theory: no one knows for sure, as Damerow points out in great detail. Although many of the more than 4,000-year-old cuneiform texts contain records of deliveries of emmer, barley, and malt to breweries, hardly any information exists on details of the production processes, he notes. Even the “Hymn of Ninkasi,” one of the most significant sources on the ancient art of brewing, provides no reliable information on the ingredients and the brewing process, Damerow claims. The lyric text from the Old Babylonian period around 1800 B.C. is a mythological poem that glorifies the brewing process.” ref

“Ninkasi Beer dates to around 1800 BCE Southern Mesopotamia, modern-day southern Iraq. Derived From:  Bappir bread made from several grains, honey, and malt. The Hymn to Ninkasi, the Sumerian goddess of alcohol, contains the world’s oldest beer recipe. Beer was one of the most important drinks in the Sumerian culture that they worshipped Ninkasi, who blessed their beer and brewing. In the early 1990s, Miguel Civil, Professor of Sumerology at the University of Chicago, was the first to translate the hymn from clay tablets and discovered the beer recipe. The recipe calls for bappir bread, which was made from various grains, to be combined with honey and twice baked. The resulting granolalike food is then added to a mash with lots of malt and left to ferment. After the release of Civil’s translation, Fritz Maytag, founder of the Anchor Brewing Company in San Francisco, recreated the beer and presented it to American Association of Micro Brewers in 1991. However, Maytag was unable to bottle the beer commercially because it is supposed to be enjoyed immediately.” ref

Ninkasi

“Ninkasi is the tutelary goddess of beer in ancient Sumerian religious mythology. Her father was the King of Uruk, and her mother was the high priestess of the temple of Inanna, the goddess of procreation. She is also one of the eight children created in order to heal one of the eight wounds that Enki receives. Furthermore, she is the goddess of alcohol. She was also born of “sparkling fresh water”. She is the goddess made to “satisfy the desire” and “sate the heart.” She would prepare the beverage daily.” ref

“The Sumerian written language and the associated clay tablets are among the earliest human writings. Scholarly works from the early 1800s onward have developed some facility translating the various Sumerian documents. Among these is a poem with the English title, A Hymn to Ninkasi. The poem is a recipe for brewing beer. It can be argued that the art of brewing is broken down and explained in order to be passed down from generation to generation. Furthermore, the Hymn to Ninkasi is the oldest record of a direct correlation between the importance of brewing, and the responsibility that women had with regard to supplying both bread and beer to the household. Ninkasi is female, and the fact that a female deity was invoked in prayer with regards to the production of brewed beverages illustrated the relationship between brewing and women as a domestic right and responsibility. The repetitive nature suggests that it was used as a tool in order to pass down information as a way of learning. The poem, from c. 1800 BCE, explains that grain was converted into bappir bread before fermentation, and grapes as well as honey were added to the mix. The resulting gruel was drunk unfiltered, hence the need for straws. A translation from the University of Oxford describes combining bread, a source for yeast, with malted and soaked grains and keeping the liquid in a fermentation vessel until finally filtering it into a collecting vessel.” ref

Other references to Ninkasi

“Ninkasi appears several times in this collection. In the poem Enki and Ninḫursaĝa, Enki states that his mouth (ka) hurts him, as it gave birth to Ninkasi; Ninḫursaĝa, explaining the domains over which her children will rule, says: “Ninkasi shall be what satisfies the heart.” In Lugalbanda in the Mountain Cave, the king Lugalbanda falls asleep in a cave, where thanks to: “Ninkasi’s wooden cask (i.e. with the help of beer), sleep finally overcame Lugalbanda.” ref

“In Lugalbanda and the Anzud Bird, the king, once again alone in the mountains, vows to entertain the Anzud bird and his family at a banquet, with assistance from “Ninkasi the expert who redounds to her mother’s credit. Her fermenting-vat is of green lapis lazuli, her beer cask is of refined silver and of gold. If she stands by the beer, there is joy, if she sits by the beer, there is gladness; as cupbearer she mixes the beer, never wearying as she walks back and forth, Ninkasi, the keg at her side, on her hips; may she make my beer-serving perfect.” She appears “in her vat” in the fragmentary translation of A lullaby for a son of Šulgi and is referred to in another fragmentary poem, A praise poem of Išme-Dagan, in the context of “delicious beer mixed with aromatic cedar essence” In The debate between Grain and Sheep, Grain says to Sheep: “When the beer dough has been carefully prepared in the oven, and the mash tended in the oven, Ninkasi (the goddess of beer) mixes them for me while your big billy-goats and rams are despatched for my banquets.” ref

“In The debate between Winter and Summer, one of the disputants (the fragmentary nature of the translation makes which one uncertain), states: “I am Ninkasi’s help, for her I sweeten the beer, with as much cold water, the tribute of the hills, as you brought.” The Drinking song details a ritual: “You have poured a libation over the fated brick, and you have laid the foundations in peace and prosperity – now may Ninkasi dwell with you! She should pour beer and wine for you! Let the pouring of the sweet liquor resound pleasantly for you!” Finally, from this collection, a fragment remains in The instructions of Šuruppag: “My little one ……. The beer-drinking mouth ……. Ninkasi.” ref

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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Abydos

5,170 years old Ancient Egyptian Herbal Wine

“Created: c.3150 BCE or 5,170 years ago Abydos, Egypt, derived from herbs, tree resins, and grape wine. “Herbal wines from ancient Egypt were alcoholic beverages used a medicine rather than for recreation or enjoyment. These wines show that people have been using natural remedies for thousands of years. The Egyptians put herbs and tree resins in grape wine or beer to create effective plant remedies.” ref, ref

“Ancient Egyptian pottery includes all objects of fired clay from ancient Egypt. First and foremost, ceramics served as household wares for the storage, preparation, transport, and consumption of food, drink, and raw materials. Such items include beer and wine mugs and water jugs, but also bread molds, fire pits, lamps, and stands for holding round vessels, which were all commonly used in the Egyptian household. Other types of pottery served ritual purposes. Ceramics are often found as grave goods.” ref

“Specialists in ancient Egyptian pottery draw a fundamental distinction between ceramics made of Nile clay and those made of marl clay, based on chemical and mineralogical composition and ceramic properties. Nile clay is the result of eroded material in the Ethiopian mountains, which was transported into Egypt by the Nile. This clay has deposited on the banks of the Nile in Egypt since the Late Pleistocene by the inundation. Marl clay is a yellow-white stone which occurs in limestone deposits. These deposits were created in the Pleistocene, when the primordial waters of the Nile and its tributaries brought sediment into Egypt and deposited in on what was then the desert edge.” ref

“Our understanding of the nature and organization of ancient Egyptian pottery manufacture is based on tomb paintings, models, and archaeological remains of pottery workshops. A characteristic of the development of Egyptian ceramics is that the new methods of production which were developed over time never entirely replaced older methods, but expanded the repertoire instead, so that eventually, each group of objects had its own manufacturing technique. Egyptian potters employed a wide variety of decoration techniques and motifs, most of which are associated with specific periods of time, such as the creation of unusual shapes, decoration with incisions, various different firing processes, and painting techniques.” ref

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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“An archaic writing tablet from Mesopotamia (approx. 3000 BCE). The tablet, which contains proto-cuneiform writing, belongs to the most ancient group of written records on Earth. It contains calculations of basic ingredients required for the production of cereal products, such as different types of beer. The fermented cereal beverage enjoyed by Sumerians, so-called Sumerian beer, may have been alcohol-free, suggests a recent review of ancient Sumerian practices. While ancient writings and vessel remnants show that Mesopotamia’s inhabitants were fond of fermented cereal juice, how the brew was actually made is still a mystery.” ref

“To investigate the brewing technologies of Mesopotamia, the late Peter Damerow, a historian of science and cuneiform-writing scholar at the Max Planck Institute in Germany, reviewed archaeological finds of ancient beer production and consumption, as well as 4000-year-old cuneiform writings, which included Sumerian administrative documents and literary texts dealing with myths and legislation. Despite being able to pull information from various sources, Damerow concluded that the remnants of Mesopotamia held little clue to the brewing techniques of the Sumerians, and expressed doubts that the popular beverage could be considered beer.” ref

“Given our limited knowledge about the Sumerian brewing processes, we cannot say for sure whether their end product even contained alcohol,” Damerow wrote in his study, first published in November in the Cuneiform Digital Library Journal. Looking over the cuneiform texts, Damerow found that many contained records of brewery deliveries of emmer wheat, barley, and malt, but hardly a scrap of information on the beer production processes. While seemingly surprising, the lack of a beer recipe makes sense, as the administrative documents were likely written for an audience already familiar with the details of brewing, according to Damerow.” ref

Whatever information Damerow could glean from the documents was clouded by the fact that the methods used for recording the information differed between locations and time periods. Moreover, the Sumerian bureaucrats didn’t base their records and calculations on any consistent number system. Analyzing the folklore of the time didn’t prove any more fruitful. Even the “Hymn of Ninkasi,” a mythological poem or song that glorifies the brewing of beer, didn’t conclusively describe the process of beer brewing, Damerow stated.” ref

“Damerow also reviewed research from 2006 that set out to reconstruct the ancient brewing processes. In the study, archaeologists combined their interpretation of archaeological finds at Tall Bazi, a 13th-century settlement located in northern Syria, about 37 miles south of the Turkish border, with their own brewing experiments using local ingredients and brewing devices. While the scientists were able to produce a brew of barley and emmer, Damerow stressed that the experiment only demonstrates how modern methods can produce a beer under the same conditions that were prevalent in Tall Bazi, which may not be representative of other areas in Mesopotamia. Such an approach, however, could help work out the mysteries behind the Sumerian art of brewing. “Such interdisciplinary research efforts might well lead to better interpretations of the ‘Hymn of Ninkasi’ than those currently accepted among specialists working on cuneiform literature,” Damerow wrote in the journal article.” ref

“In Mesopotamia, the oldest evidence of beer is believed to be a 6,000-year-old Sumerian tablet depicting people consuming a drink through reed-straws from a communal bowl. A 3,900-year-old Sumerian poem honoring Ninkasi, the patron goddess of brewing, contains the oldest surviving beer recipe, describing the production of beer from bread made from barley. In China, residue on pottery dating from around 5,000 years ago shows beer was brewed using barley and other grains. The invention of bread and beer has been argued to be responsible for humanity’s ability to develop technology and build civilization. The earliest chemically confirmed barley beer to date was discovered at Godin Tepe in the central Zagros Mountains of Iran, where fragments of a jug, from between 5,400 and 5,000 years ago was found to be coated with beerstone, a by-product of the brewing process. Beer may have been known in Neolithic Europe as far back as 5,000 years ago, and was mainly brewed on a domestic scale.” ref

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Paganism (beginning around 12,000 years ago)

Paganism (such as that seen in Turkey: 12,000 years ago). Gobekli Tepe: “first human-made temple” around 12,000 years ago. Sedentism and the Creation of goddesses around 12,000 years ago as well as male gods after 7,000 years ago. Pagan-Shaman burial in Israel 12,000 years ago and 12,000 – 10,000 years old Paganistic-Shamanistic Art in a Remote Cave in Egypt. Skull Cult around 11,500 to 8,400 Years Ago and Catal Huyuk “first religious designed city” around 10,000 years ago.

Paganism is approximately a 12,000-year-old belief system and believe in spirit-filled life and/or afterlife that can be attached to or be expressed in things or objects and these objects can be used by special persons or in special rituals that can connect to spirit-filled life and/or afterlife and who are guided/supported by a goddess/god, goddesses/gods, magical beings, or supreme spirits. If you believe like this, regardless of your faith, you are a hidden paganist.

Around 12,000 years ago, in Turkey, the first evidence of paganism is Gobekli Tepe: “first human-made temple” and around 9,500 years ago, in Turkey, the second evidence of paganism is Catal Huyuk “first religious designed city”. In addition, early paganism is connected to Proto-Indo-European language and religion. Proto-Indo-European religion can be reconstructed with confidence that the gods and goddesses, myths, festivals, and form of rituals with invocations, prayers, and songs of praise make up the spoken element of religion. Much of this activity is connected to the natural and agricultural year or at least those are the easiest elements to reconstruct because nature does not change and because farmers are the most conservative members of society and are best able to keep the old ways.

The reconstruction of goddesses/gods characteristics may be different than what we think of and only evolved later to the characteristics we know of today. One such characteristic is how a deity’s gender may not be fixed, since they are often deified forces of nature, which tend to not have genders. There are at least 40 deities and the Goddesses that have been reconstructed are: *Pria, *Pleto, *Devi, *Perkunos, *Aeusos, and *Yama.

The reconstruction of myths can be connected to Proto-Indo-European culture/language and by additional research, many of these myths have since been confirmed including some areas that were not accessible to the early writers such as Latvian folk songs and Hittite hieroglyphic tablets. There are at least 28 myths and one of the most widely recognized myths of the Indo-Europeans is the myth, “Yama is killed by his brother Manu” and “the world is made from his body”. Some of the forms of this myth in various Indo-European languages are about the Creation Myth of the Indo-Europeans.

The reconstruction of rituals can be connected to Proto-Indo-European culture/language and is estimated to have been spoken as a single language from around 6,500 years ago. One of the earliest ritual is the construction of kurgans or mound graves as a part of a death ritual. kurgans were inspired by common ritual-mythological ideas. Kurgans are complex structures with internal chambers. Within the burial chamber at the heart of the kurgan, elite individuals were buried with grave goods and sacrificial offerings, sometimes including horses and chariots.

The speakers of Pre-Proto-Indo-European lived in Turkey and it associates the distribution of historical Indo-European languages with the expansion around 9,000 years ago, with a proposed homeland of Proto-Indo-European proper in the Balkans around 7,000 years ago. The Proto-Indo-European Religion seemingly stretches at least back around 6,000 years ago or likely much further back and I believe Paganism is possibly an approximately 12,000-year-old belief system.

The earliest kurgans date to 6,000 years ago and are connected to the Proto-Indo-European in the Caucasus. In fact, around 7,000 years ago, there appears to be pre-kurgan in Siberia. Around 7,000 to 2,500 years ago and beyond, kurgans were built with ancient traditions still active in Southern Siberia and Central Asia, which display the continuity of the archaic forming methods. Kurgan cultures are divided archaeologically into different sub-cultures such as Timber Grave, Pit Grave, Scythian, Sarmatian, Hunnish, and Kuman–Kipchak. Kurgans have been found from the Altay Mountains to the Caucasus, Ukraine, Romania, and Bulgaria. Around 5,000 years ago, kurgans were used in the Ukrainian and Russian flat unforested grasslands, and their use spread with migration into eastern, central, and northern Europe, Turkey, and beyond. ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, & ref

Alcohol and The Bible

“The biblical narrative records the positive and negative aspects of wine. Wine is a beverage of significance and import, utilized in ceremonies, for example, celebrating Abraham’s military victory and successful liberation of Lot, festive meals, and the libations comprising the sacrificial service. In Gen. 9:20-27, Noah becomes intoxicated from his wine on exiting the ark and lies unclothed in his tent where his youngest son, Ham, discovers Noah asleep, and “views his (Noah’s) nakedness.” Noah becomes aware of this the following day and curses Ham’s son Canaan. In Gen. 19:31-37, in the aftermath of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Lot became inebriated on wine and had sexual intercourse with his two daughters. Moab (the father of the biblical nation by the same name) and Ben-Ammi (the father of the nation of Ammon) were born to Lot of this incest with his daughters. Religious service in the Temple must be void of consumption of alcohol or wine, as the priests are admonished, “Do not drink wine nor strong drink… when you enter the tabernacle of the congregation, lest you die.” ref

In halakha

“Halakha (Jewish law) mandates the use of wine in various religious ceremonies (such as sanctifying the Sabbath and festivals with wine at their start and conclusion and at circumcision and at marriage ceremonies). The beverage required as “wine” by Jewish law generally permits the use of a non-alcoholic grape extraction (grape juice) for all ceremonies requiring wine. Excessive consumption and drunkenness, however, are discouraged. According to the thirteenth century Orchot Chaim, as quoted in Beit Yosef “inebriation is entirely prohibited and there is no greater sin than drunkenness” and it is “the cause of many sins”. A Nazirite voluntarily takes a vow to abstain from grapes or any of their by-products (including wine), he refrains cutting the hair on his head, and he may not become ritually impure by contact with corpses or graves. While one motivation for becoming a Nazirite may be a reaction to “risky behaviors” associated with alcohol abuse (Tractate Sotah, BT 2a), the term of the vow of the Nazirite is ordinarily a fixed term, with grapes and wine again permitted at the end of the term.” ref

During the time of Muhammad

“At the beginning of Islam, even during the first battles, Muslims possibly drank alcohol. The prohibition of alcohol came many years after Muhammad had started his mission. This is documented in the Sunni Hadiths (the sayings and traditions of Muhammad). Jābir ibn Abd Allah narrated: “Some people drank alcoholic beverages in the morning [of the day] of the ’Uhud battle and on the same day they were killed as martyrs, and that was before wine was prohibited.” ’Anas ibn Mālik narrated that the people said: “…some people [Muslims] were killed in the Battle of ’Uhud while wine was in their stomachs.’ […] So Allah revealed: ‘There is not upon those who believe and do righteousness [any] blame concerning what they have eaten [in the past] if they [now] fear Allah and believe and do righteous deeds…'” [sura 5:93] Some scholars and writers, for example, Gerald Drissner, suggested that the fact that the Muslims were sober (and their enemies possibly drunk) led to an advantage in battles. This could have been the reason why the Muslims – although most of the time outnumbered – were advancing so quickly and defeated the enemy (Meccans) with relative ease.” ref

Contemporary Judaism

“Anecdotal evidence supports that Jewish communities, on the whole, view alcoholic consumption more negatively than Protestant Christian groups. The small sample of Jewish individuals viewed alcohol as destructive while a sample of Protestants referred to it as “relaxing”.The proliferation of “kiddush clubs” in some synagogues, and the institutional backlash to that proliferation, however, may provide an indication of growing awareness of alcohol abuse issues in Jewish communities. A number of specifically Jewish non-profit addiction rehabilitation and education programs, such as the Chabad Residential Treatment Center in Los Angeles and Retorno in Israel, provide treatment for alcoholism (and other substance) abuse within a specifically Jewish framework for recovery. The non-profit Jewish institutions are supplemented by for-profit rehab centers with a Jewish focus.” ref

Yeast Fermentation and the Making of Beer and Wine

“Humans have taken advantage of the metabolism in a tiny fungus called yeast to create beer and wine from grains and fruits. What are the biological mechanisms behind this alcohol production? Once upon a time, many, many years ago, a man found a closed fruit jar containing a honeybee. When he drank the contents, he tasted a new, strange flavor. Suddenly his head was spinning, he laughed for no reason, and he felt powerful. He drank all the liquid in the jar. The next day he experienced an awful feeling. He had a headache, pain, an unpleasant taste in his mouth, and dizziness — he had just discovered the hangover. You might think this is just a tale, but is it? Several archaeological excavations have discovered jars containing the remains of wine that are 7,000 years old, and it is very likely that humankind’s first encounter with alcoholic beverages was by chance. How did this chance discovery lead to the development of the beer and wine industry (Figure 1), and how did scientists eventually learn about the biological mechanisms of alcohol production? The History of Beer and Wine Production Over the course of human history, and using a system of trial, error, and careful observation, different cultures began producing fermented beverages. Mead, or honey wine, was produced in Asia during the Vedic period (around 1700–1100 BCE), and the Greeks, Celts, Saxons, and Vikings also produced this beverage. In Egypt, Babylon, Rome, and China, people produced wine from grapes and beer from malted barley.” ref

“In South America, people produced chicha from grains or fruits, mainly maize; while in North America, people made octli (now known as “pulque”) from agave, a type of cactus. At the time, people knew that leaving fruits and grains in covered containers for a long time produced wine and beer, but no one fully understood why the recipe worked. The process was named fermentation, from the Latin word fervere, which means “to boil.” The name came from the observation that mixtures of crushed grapes kept in large vessels produced bubbles, as though they were boiling. Producing fermented beverages was tricky. If the mixture did not stand long enough, the product contained no alcohol; but if left for too long, the mixture rotted and was undrinkable. Through empirical observation, people learned that temperature and air exposure are key to the fermentation process. Wine producers traditionally used their feet to soften and grind the grapes before leaving the mixture to stand in buckets. In so doing, they transferred microorganisms from their feet into the mixture. At the time, no one knew that the alcohol produced during fermentation was produced because of one of these microorganisms — a tiny, one-celled eukaryotic fungus that is invisible to the naked eye: yeast. It took several hundred years before quality lenses and microscopes revolutionized science and allowed researchers to observe these microorganisms.” ref

“This Babylonian cylinder seal from Ur (c. 2600 BCE.) shows two people drinking beer out of a jar using straws. A Cleveland-based brewing company, with the help of University of Chicago archaeologists, has recently crafted their own version of Sumerian beer. Great Lakes Brewing Company, based in Cleveland, Ohio, is going back to its roots—way, way back, some 5,000 years to the earliest recordings of brewing from Sumer, the first civilization in Mesopotamia. With the help of archaeologists from the University of Chicago, the company has replicated a Sumerian recipe using only tools that would have been available in the fourth millennium BCE—ceramic vessels and wooden spoons. While beer is mentioned in Sumerian texts from 3200 BCE, the recipe and instructions used by Great Lakes Brewing are based on the Hymn to Ninkasi (c. 1800 BCE), a song dedicated to Ninkasi, the Sumerian patron goddess of beer. Despite being flavored with spices, the Sumerian brew created by Great Lakes is very sour. While the company plans to sweeten future batches with honey or dates, it still might be too acidic for the modern palate. Interested in trying it? Although Great Lakes does not intend to sell the Sumerian beer, they are planning to feature it at events this summer in Cleveland and Chicago.” ref

History of beer

“Beer is one of the oldest drinks humans have produced. The first chemically confirmed barley beer dates back to the 5th millennium BCE in Iran, and was recorded in the written history of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia and spread throughout the world. Though, the ancient Chinese artifacts suggested that beer brewed with grapes, honey, hawthorns, and rice were produced as far back as 7,000 BCE.” ref

“As almost any cereal containing certain sugars can undergo spontaneous fermentation due to wild yeasts in the air, it is possible that beer-like drinks were independently developed throughout the world soon after a tribe or culture had domesticated cereal. Chemical tests of ancient pottery jars reveal that beer was produced as far back as about 7,000 years ago in what is today Iran. This discovery reveals one of the earliest known uses of fermentation and is the earliest evidence of brewing to date. In Mesopotamia, the oldest evidence of beer is believed to be a 6,000-year-old Sumerian tablet depicting people consuming a drink-through reed straws from a communal bowl. A 3,900-year-old Sumerian poem honoring Ninkasi, the patron goddess of brewing, contains the oldest surviving beer recipe, describing the production of beer from bread made from barley.” ref

“In China, residue on pottery dating from around 5,000 years ago shows beer was brewed using barley and other grains. The invention of bread and beer has been argued to be responsible for humanity’s ability to develop technology and build civilization. The earliest chemically confirmed barley beer to date was discovered at Godin Tepe in the central Zagros Mountains of Iran, where fragments of a jug, from between 5,400 and 5,000 years ago was found to be coated with beerstone, a by-product of the brewing process. Beer may have been known in Neolithic Europe as far back as 5,000 years ago, and was mainly brewed on a domestic scale. Beer produced before the Industrial Revolution continued to be made and sold on a domestic scale, although by the 7th century AD beer was also being produced and sold by European monasteries.” ref

Early beers

“As almost any cereal containing certain sugars can undergo spontaneous fermentation due to wild yeasts in the air, it is possible that beer-like drinks were independently developed throughout the world soon after a tribe or culture had domesticated cereal. Chemical tests of ancient pottery jars reveal that beer was produced about 3,500 BCE in what is today Iran, and was one of the first-known biological engineering tasks where the biological process of fermentation is used. Also, archaeological findings show that Chinese villagers were brewing fermented alcoholic drinks as far back as 7000 BCE on small and individual scale, with the production process and methods similar to that of ancient Egypt and ancient Mesopotamia. The earliest archaeological evidence of fermentation consists of 13,000-year-old residues of a beer with the consistency of gruel, used by the semi-nomadic Natufians for ritual feasting, at the Raqefet Cave in the Carmel Mountains near Haifa in Israel.” ref

“In Mesopotamia (ancient Iraq), early evidence of beer is a 3,900-year-old Sumerian poem honoring Ninkasi, the patron goddess of brewing, which contains the oldest surviving beer recipe, describing the production of beer from barley via bread. Approximately 5,000 years ago, workers in the city of Uruk were paid by their employers in beer. “Ninkasi, you are the one who pours out the filtered beer of the collector vat” “It is [like] the onrush of Tigris and Euphrates.” Beer is also mentioned in the Epic of Gilgamesh, in which the ‘wild man’ Enkidu is given beer to drink. “… he ate until he was full, drank seven pitchers of beer, his heart grew light, his face glowed and he sang out with joy.” ref

“In 2019, archaeologists from Mola Headland Infrastructure and experts from Highways England found evidence of first Iron Age beer dated back over 2,000 years during road works in Cambridgeshire. In 2021, archaeologists found a 5,000-old beer factory in Abydos, Egypt, dating back to the reign of King Narmer, Early Dynastic Period. “It’s a well-known fact that ancient populations used the beer-making process to purify water and create a safe source of hydration, but this is potentially the earliest physical evidence of that process taking place in the UK”, said archaeologist Steve Sherlock.” ref

“Confirmed written evidence of ancient beer production in Armenia can be obtained from Xenophon in his work Anabasis (5th century BCE) when he was in one of the ancient Armenian villages in which he wrote: There were stores within of wheat and barley and vegetables, and wine made from barley in great big bowls; the grains of barley malt lay floating in the beverage up to the lip of the vessel, and reeds lay in them, some longer, some shorter, without joints; when you were thirsty you must take one of these into your mouth, and suck. The beverage without admixture of water was very strong, and of a delicious flavor to certain palates, but the taste must be acquired. Beer became vital to all the grain-growing civilizations of Eurasian and North African antiquity, including Egypt—so much so that in 1868 James Death put forward a theory in The Beer of the Bible that the manna from heaven that God gave the Israelites was a bread-based, porridge-like beer called wusa.” ref

“These beers were often thick, more of a gruel than a drink, and drinking straws were used by the Sumerians to avoid the bitter solids left over from fermentation. Though beer was drunk in Ancient Rome, it was replaced in popularity by wine.[28] Tacitus wrote disparagingly of the beer brewed by the Germanic peoples of his day. Thracians were also known to consume beer made from rye, even since the 5th century BCE, as the ancient Greek logographer Hellanicus of Lesbos says. Their name for beer was brutos, or brytos. The Romans called their brew cerevisia, from the Celtic word for it. Beer was apparently enjoyed by some Roman legionaries. For instance, among the Vindolanda tablets (from Vindolanda in Roman Britain, dated c. 97–103 CE), the cavalry decurion Masculus wrote a letter to prefect Flavius Cerialis inquiring about the exact instructions for his men for the following day. This included a polite request for beer to be sent to the garrison (which had entirely consumed its previous stock of beer). Ancient Nubians had used beer as an antibiotic medicine.” ref

“In ancient Mesopotamia, clay tablets indicate that the majority of brewers were probably women, and that brewing was a fairly well-respected occupation during the time, being the only profession in Mesopotamia which derived social sanction and divine protection from female deities/goddesses, specifically: Ninkasi, who covered the production of beer, Siris, who was used in a metonymic way to refer to beer, and Siduri, who covered the enjoyment of beer. Mesopotamian brewing appears to have incorporated the usage of a twice-baked barley bread called bappir, which was exclusively used for brewing beer. It was discovered early that reusing the same container for fermenting the mash would produce more reliable results; brewers on the move carried their tubs with them.” ref

“The Ebla tablets, discovered in Ebla, Syria, show that beer was produced in the city in 2500 BCE. Early traces of beer and the brewing process have been found in ancient Babylonia as well. At the time, brewers were women as well, but also priestesses. Some types of beers were used especially in religious ceremonies. In 2100 BCE, the Babylonian king Hammurabi included regulations governing tavern keepers in his law code for the kingdom. In Ancient India, the Vedas and Ramayana mention a beer-like drink called sura consumed during the Vedic Period (c. 1500 – c. 500 BCE). It was the favorite of the god Indra. Kautilya has also mentioned two intoxicating beverages made from rice called Medaka and Prasanna.” ref

“Beer was part of the daily diet of Egyptian pharaohs over 5,000 years ago. Then, it was made from baked barley bread, and was also used in religious practices. During the building of the Great Pyramids in Giza, Egypt, each worker got a daily ration of four to five liters of beer, which served as both nutrition and refreshment that was crucial to the pyramids’ construction. The Greek writer Sophocles (450 BCE) discussed the concept of moderation when it came to consuming beer in Greek culture, and believed that the best diet for Greeks consisted of bread, meats, various types of vegetables, and beer (zythos) as they called it. The ancient Greeks also made barleywine (Greek: “κρίθινος οἶνος” – krithinos oinos, “barley wine”) mentioned by Greek historian Polybius in his work The Histories, where he states that Phaeacians kept barleywine in silver and golden kraters.” ref

“During the £1.5bn upgrade of the A14 in Cambridgeshire evidence beer brewed in the UK, dating back more than 2,000 years was found. Steve Sherlock, the Highways England archaeology lead for the A14 project said, “It’s a well-known fact that ancient populations used the beer-making process to purify water and create a safe source of hydration, but this is potentially the earliest physical evidence of that process taking place in the UK.” Roger Protz, the former editor of the Campaign for Real Ale’s Good Beer Guide, said, “When the Romans invaded Britain they found the local tribes brewing a type of beer called curmi.” ref

“In Europe during the Middle Ages, a brewers’ guild might adopt a patron saint of brewing. Arnulf of Metz (c. 582–640) and Arnulf of Oudenburg (c. 1040–1087) were recognized by some French and Flemish brewers. Belgian brewers, too, venerated Arnulf of Oudenburg (aka Arnold of Soissons), who is also recognized as the patron saint of hop-pickers. Christian monks built breweries, to provide food, drink, and shelter to travelers and pilgrims. Charlemagne, Frankish king and ruler of the Holy Roman Empire during the 8th century, considered beer to be an important part of living, and is often thought to have trained some brewers himself.” ref

Barley, Malt, and Ale in the Neolithic

“The techniques and biochemistry of brewing: the craft of brewing is dictated by the biochemistry. The processing required to convert grain into ale is actually a sequence of three biochemical reactions, each requiring its own quite specific conditions. Malting renders the grain friable and much easier to grind. When mashed, the malted grain produces sweet ‘cakes’ or a sweet barley mash and a malt liquid that are rich in B-vitamins and an excellent food source. More sweet liquid (wort) can be washed (sparged) out of the barley mash, boiled up with herbs as flavorings or preservatives and fermented to produce alcoholic liquor.” ref

“This section examines in detail how the sweet malts and ale are made from barley grain and what conditions and material equipment are needed to achieve this. Historical descriptions of processes are relevant, since the techniques are based on the same unchanging biochemistry since earliest times. There are some archaeological examples from later prehistory that illustrate the basic methods employed. Practical experiments in mashing and fermentation, using appropriate equipment, were carried out in order to properly assess the possibility that early Neolithic cultures were converting grain into malts and ale. This research began by studying the probable techniques and methods of maltsters and brewers in the Bronze Age. The focus soon turned to the Neolithic, given the identification of cereal-based residues mixed with pollen on sherds from large Grooved Ware vessels that were dated to the early 4th millennium BC, found at a ritual and ceremonial site at Balfarg, Fife, Scotland. Barley, as well as being a source of carbohydrates in the diet is also a potential source of malt, malt sugars, and ale if processed correctly. the earliest grain gatherers and processors of the 9th millennium BC and the consequent development of domestication, cultivation, and processing of grain throughout the Levant, the Near East, and Egypt. Also, there is an evaluation of some of the archaeological evidence for these processes in Europe, from the 6th to the 3rd-millennium BCE.” ref

“Specific cultural groups are considered, for example, the Bulgarian settlement tells of the 6th and 5th millennia BCE, the widespread agricultural groups of the 5th and 4th millennia BCE, known as the Linearbandkeramik and the TRB or Funnel Beaker culture of the 4th and 3rd millennia BCE. The coastal European Mesolithic cultures of the 5th and 4th millennia BCE, known as the Ertebølle and Ellerbeck cultures are also considered. An analysis of the well-preserved stone buildings of the Orcadian Neolithic that date to the 4th and 3rd millennia BCE. Excavations since the publication of this thesis at the Ness of Brodgar, Mainland Orkney, have revealed a ceremonial center, described as a ‘Temple Precinct’ by the excavation team (Card et al, ORCA). Vast amounts of highly decorated Grooved Ware vessels, a complex drainage system, and hundreds of cattle bones indicate that large-scale feasting took place there in the Neolithic. Chapter Six assesses the Grooved Ware culture of Mainland Britain and the potential for transforming grain into sweet malts and ale. The role of women as grain cultivators and processors is also considered. Since the publication of this thesis, excavations at the Neolithic site of Durrington Walls have revealed large-scale feasting events (Stonehenge Riverside Project). Here, pig meat was consumed as well as ale, given the vast amounts of Grooved Ware found in Wainwright’s excavations in the 1970s.” ref

Grain in prehistoric diet

“The preparation and consumption of food and drink are important aspects of prehistory that can provide a valuable insight into the daily lives of people in past societies. The introduction of the cultivation of grain in the Near East and the spread of the agricultural lifestyle across Europe and into the British Isles was a great change in the lives and habits of Mesolithic people. It is one of the most important changes to have occurred in prehistory. After millennia of subsistence activities based on hunting, gathering, and fishing people began to cultivate and therefore to have control over a variety of crops, including wheat and barley. They also began to domesticate animals. Much has been written of this so-called “Neolithic Revolution”, that is, the period of change from gathering, hunting, and fishing to that of farming and herding. It was a change of lifestyle that occurred at different times in different parts of the world, but what was it that made people choose to cultivate wheat and barley, in particular?” ref

“Cereal grains are a major source of carbohydrate in the human diet, being useful for making porridge, bread, and flour. They are also unique as a potential source of malt and malt sugars that can be fermented into beer or ale. With a minimum of simple equipment, such as containers, water, and heat, it is possible to trick the barley into digesting itself into sugars. This aspect of grain processing has been overlooked in much of the archaeological literature relating to the transition from Mesolithic to Neolithic. Brewing in the 21st century has become a global, multi-million-pound technological business, with large breweries producing billions of gallons of beer annually. Many of these large breweries whose names are so familiar today such as Bass, Worthington, Younger, and Guinness have only been in existence since the middle of the 18th Century. Prior to this quite recent industrialization malt, beer and ale were manufactured either domestically or locally on a small scale. The techniques of brewing small amounts of beer from malted grain have become largely neglected and the skill of domestic brewing is no longer a part of most peoples’ daily experience. This thesis, based upon the biochemistry of malting, and brewing and upon small-scale domestic brewing methods proposes that Mesolithic cultures were interested in making particular products from the grain, that is, sweet malts and ale, and that this was a major factor in the decision to selectively cultivate grain.” ref

The ‘bread or beer’ debate

“Robert Braidwood of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago in 1953 first posed the question ‘Did man once live by beer alone?’ and this debate still continues today. Solomon Katz has coined the phrase ‘biocultural evolution’ and he argues for the importance of the transference of specialized food processing techniques to subsequent generations. Certain processing activities, such as brewing, become enshrined in ritual. Brian Hayden agrees with Katz and Voigt that grain was first domesticated to produce ale for consumption at feasts and at other special occasions. However, he notes the difficulty of finding direct archaeological evidence for early farming techniques and such grain processing activity as brewing. Most recently Alexander Joffe  has proposed “the production, exchange, and consumption of alcoholic beverages form a significant element and regularity in the emergence of complex, hierarchically organized societies, along with the restructuring of labor and gender relations.” Although these arguments are in the context of early Neolithic cultures in the Near East, the Levant, and Egypt, they are equally as relevant to grain cultivation and processing across Europe and in the British Isles during the Neolithic. Brewing in history and prehistoryBoth the manufacture and the consumption of a wide range of alcoholic beverages are understood to have been important aspects of social, economic, religious, and ritual life in Iron Age Europe, in Viking cultures, and in early medieval Europe.” ref

“Drinking horns and a huge bronze cauldron that contained the remnants of mead was found in a rich ‘princely’ grave at Hochdorf, Germany, dated to the 1st millennium BCE. A large quantity of carbonized malt, accidentally burnt as it was being kilned, was found at Eberdingen-Hochdorf. Malt is the primary ingredient for beer or ale. The earliest written references to ale being made in the British Isles can be found in the Vindolanda tablets, dated to the early 1st millennium CE. Roman soldiers recorded their purchases of barley ale made by the local tribes. Pliny refers to the Gallic tribes of Northern Europe making “intoxicating drinks from corn steeped in water…that are capable of being kept until they have attained a considerable age” (Pliny XIV Ch 29). There are also many references to the manufacture and consumption of ale and mead in the myths, legends, and skaldic verse of the Viking Age in northern Europe. Ale and mead were consumed on many occasions, for example at religious feasts and festivals, at funerals, in drinking competitions, and before the men departed to sea in the spring. Women were usually responsible for the manufacture of alcoholic drinks in the societies cited above and there were close associations between the consumption of ale and the worship of deities.” ref

“Ale is manufactured from malt, with herbs added for flavor and preservation. Mead is fermented honey and water with similar flavorings and preservatives as those used in the brewing of ale, such as Meadowsweet (Filipendula ulmaria). Honey was frequently added to the malt and so it is difficult to be clear as to the precise nature of the ‘ale’ and ‘mead’ referred to in ancient texts, myths, and legends. There is convincing evidence for the manufacture of both ale and mead during the Bronze Age in Europe and in the British Isles. Organic residues within a beaker accompanying a female burial in a stone-lined cist at North Mains, Strathallan, Fife, were analyzed and found to consist of cereal residues and Meadowsweet pollen. They were dated to c1540 BCE. The excavators interpreted this as being the probable remains of a fermented cereal-based drink. At Ashgrove, Fife, Scotland, a beaker containing significant quantities of Lime Flower (Tilia cordata) and Meadowsweet pollen was discovered, again in a stone-lined cist accompanying a burial. The contents of the beaker were probably mead rather than ale. Vessels made of birch bark have been found at Egtved and at other Danish bog burial sites. Analysis of the contents indicates the “debris of wheat grains, leaves of bog myrtle (Myrica gale) and fruits of cranberry”. Bog myrtle was an additive used regularly as a preservative in the manufacture of ale prior to the introduction of hops in the late Middle Ages.” ref

Neolithic Britain

“In recent years organic residues that might indicate the manufacture of alcoholic drinks have been found on Neolithic pottery assemblages at ritual and domestic sites within the British Isles. Residues on sherds of Grimston-Lyles pottery and Grooved Ware from pits at Machrie Moor, Arran, were analyzed and found to contain cereal pollen together with macro plant remains. These were interpreted as the probable remains of a mead-type drink. Cereal-based residues were found on sherds of large Grooved Ware vessels that had been buried in pits situated close by a rectangular timber structure at a Neolithic and Bronze Age ceremonial site at Balfarg/Balbirnie, Tayside. Pollen from plants including  Meadowsweet, Henbane, Deadly Nightshade, Cabbage, and Mustards were noted in these residues, an interesting mixture of additives perhaps indicating some kind of fermented mead/ale type brew with special properties. At the Neolithic village at Barnhouse, Orkney, barley residues have been identified on some of the Grooved Ware vessels. Scientific analysis, specifically Gas Chromatography and Mass Spectrometry, has indicated the presence of ‘unidentified sugars’ within the fabric of some of these vessels. These sugars might be maltose. Thousands of charred cereal grains were found at the site of a large timber hall at Balbridie, Kincardine, dated to the early 4th millennium BCE. Charred grain was also found at the site of a rectangular timber building at Lismore Fields, Buxton. These finds and the cereal-based residues described above are an indication of grain processing, perhaps for the manufacture of malts and ale, during the early Neolithic in the British Isles. The possibility that grain processing activities during the early Neolithic of the British Isles included malting, mashing, and fermentation should be considered and further investigated. Ian Hodder has argued for a destabilization of “taken-for-granted” assumptions in the interpretation of archaeological data and for the need to look at material culture assemblages as a  complete whole.” ref

“This multidisciplinary research and the subsequent interpretation of Neolithic grain processing techniques take this approach. Brewing is “one of the oldest biotechnological processes of all” requiring skill as well as specialized knowledge. Each stage of the process requires very specific and different conditions. In prehistory, the transformation of grain into malts and ale was very likely to have been an important social, symbolic and economic activity, as well as being a specialized and skilled craft that was passed on from one generation to the next. Malting, mashing, and brewing have a great potential for apprenticeships, for the creation of social hierarchies and status, and for the possession of secret or specialized knowledge. These grain-processing activities may also have been extremely significant in terms of both ritual and social behavior. Andrew Sherratt has investigated and discussed the possibilities that drugs, such as cannabis and opium poppy seeds, were consumed in the Neolithic and Bronze Ages, perhaps as ritual or specialist activities. Ale is also an intoxicant and a great deal of evidence exists for its manufacture and consumption during the Neolithic. There is also some tentative evidence for the ale to have been enhanced, at times, with psychoactive drugs such as Henbane and Deadly Nightshade although there is some contention and debate surrounding this issue. Whether or not alcoholic brews were enhanced with such additives is difficult to prove.” ref

Malting and brewing in prehistory

“In order to recognize the extant archaeological evidence for malting, mashing, and fermentation it is helpful to understand the basics of the biochemistry as well as the methods and techniques of grain processing for malt sugars and ale. To start there is an examination of the specific craft skills of the maltster and the brewer. Then there is an examination involving some of the traditional and ancient use of herbal additives that preserve, flavor, or strengthen the ale. The archaeological evidence for malting, mashing, and brewing activity in the Levant, in the Near East, and in Egypt. Next is the assesses this evidence with respect to the European early Neolithic and then examines the stone buildings of Neolithic Orkney in terms of grain storage and processing activities. Next involves the investigation of whether the Grooved Ware Culture of mainland Britain had a suitable material culture to make malt and ale from the barley grain that they grew. Research for this thesis initially began with the Bronze Age of the British Isles. The original intention was to investigate the manufacturing techniques of Bronze Age brewers. However, barley has been cultivated in Britain since the early 4th millennium BCE. The focus of research soon turned to the Neolithic of the British Isles. In order to place British Neolithic grain cultivation and processing techniques into context, it was necessary to look at the earliest development of cereal cultivation in the Near East, the Levant, and Europe. The remit of this thesis has changed considerably as it has developed. The Neolithic extends from the 9th/8th millennia BCE in the Levant and Near East to the 4th/3rd millennia BCE in the British Isles. This thesis covers a wide geographical area and an extensive timescale. It has not been possible to investigate every area in detail. Therefore selective sites have been chosen for analysis. This is an initial investigation into the possibilities for malting, mashing, and brewing during the Neolithic.” ref

Malting: the controlled germination of grain

“Unprocessed barley is unsuitable for brewing because it contains only starch, which cannot be fermented. In order to make alcohol, this starch must be first converted into sugars that can then be fermented. This process begins with the germination of the barley grain. Grain is steeped in water for several days to trigger the growth mechanism. The water must be changed regularly in order to prevent spoilage of the grain and to provide oxygen. A simple and effective method of doing this is to put the grain in a sack and leave it in a stream for two or three days (Flett, H. pers comm). If a stream is not available and the grain is to be steeped in a vessel, then the water must be changed daily to maintain the freshness of the grain. After this, the grain is spread out in a layer 4-6 inches deep on the malting floor and regularly raked, turned, and tended. It must be kept in a warm, dark environment so that the grain produces a rootlet and a shoot, known together as the acrospire, and as the grain grows the starch is converted into malt flour.” ref

“These changes are triggered by enzymes, molecules that living cells use to transform other molecules. The enzymatic process is a complex one. There are many different enzymes that are activated by germination and which carry out specific functions within the grain, for example, cytase, proteolase, and amylase. Maltsters today control the malting process with precision, allowing the seedling to grow until the acrospire is about two-thirds the length of the grain. Current techniques involve spreading “a six-inch layer of barley on the floor of a large room, where it can be easily raked to keep it aerated and moist but not wet”. Ancient malting techniques were exactly the same, with the barley grain being spread out on a malting floor, preferably within a dimly lit building that would provide shelter from the elements and protection from birds and animals. The grain was watered and raked at regular intervals to prevent the grain from drying out or moulds from developing on grain that became too wet. Close observation and care of the grain’s growth are essential at this stage. In the ‘Hymn to Ninkasi’, an ancient Sumerian hymn of praise to the Goddess of Brewing that is dated to the mid 2nd millennium BCE, mention is made of watering the malt and of the ‘noble dogs’ guarding the precious malt and keeping away ‘even the potentates.” ref

“According to descriptions of the 9th century CE, Ireland, malt takes between 12 and 15 days to produce. The process involves 24 hours of steeping, 36 hours draining, four and a half days under cover, and three days lying exposed until “it is heaped up in piles, then raked or combed into ridges before being finally dried in a kiln”. Variations occur according to local climate and season. A malting floor is a level surface that may be made of beaten earth, clay, plaster, stone, or wood. Shelter from the elements and protection from domestic and wild animals are essential since the malt is an attractive food source. Over years of use, the floor would require repair, being re-plastered if made of plaster, or the addition of newly packed layers of earth or clay, if that was its original base. b) Kilning the maltIf grain is allowed to grow unchecked then the starch will be used up, so the grain must be dried out or kilned. This terminates germination and dries the malt so that it can be stored until needed. Dry malt keeps well. Malted grain is easier to grind than unmalted. For the mashing and fermentation experiments, described below, pale crushed malt purchased from brewing suppliers was used. In later experiments, it was possible to use Bere Malt that had been grown on Orkney and malted by Harry Flett at the Corrigall Farm Museum. Bere barley is now only grown in a few fields in Scotland and Orkney, although it is slowly regaining its popularity. The Bere barley grain was malted in a barn on an earth malting floor that is over 200 years old and, according to Harry Flett, in need of some repair and attention. The surface was broken and it needed to be smoother to allow for raking and turning the malt.” ref

Barley in the Levant, Ancient Near East, and Egypt 

“The ‘Bread or Beer’ debate The question whether barley and other cereal grains were cultivated for the manufacture of bread or of beer has been an ongoing debate since 1953. Robert Braidwood of the Oriental Institute of Chicago asked whether “the discovery that a mash of fermented grain yielded a palatable and nutritious beverage acted as a greater stimulant toward the experimental selection and breeding of the cereals than the discovery of flour and bread making?”. He was attracted to the idea that the manufacture of beer or ale was the main motivation behind early grain domestication and he invited the opinions of other archaeologists and anthropologists in a now-famous symposium that was published in American Anthropologist. Jonathon Sauer agreed with Braidwood’s idea that “thirst rather than hunger may have been the stimulus behind the origin of small grain agriculture”. Hans Helbaek strongly disagreed, pointing out that carbonized rather than malted grain had been found at Jarmo interpreting this as the baking of bread. Paul  Mangelsdorf noted that cereals were the only carbohydrate furnishing food source available to early Neolithic people. He felt it to be highly unlikely that “the foundation of Western Civilisation was laid by an ill-fed people living in a state of intoxication”. Leo Oppenheim believed that the quest for food, storage, and the different processing techniques of that food were instrumental in the discovery of both bread and ale.” ref

“This seems to be a reasonable compromise of the several arguments and it is the most likely explanation. The probability is that bread, malt, and subsequently, ale were made in the early neolithic Near East. Zohary and Hopf point out “when charred slowly and mildly, wood, seed, nuts, and sometimes even fleshy fruits or whole ears of cereals can still retain most of their morphological and anatomical features”. Such features are preserved “with astonishing clarity”. At high temperatures carbonization causes certain “characteristic deformations” of grain, such as shrinkage in the length of the kernel, ‘puffing’ of the kernel around the circumference, and/or cracking of the grain. Therefore it should be possible to examine the internal structure of ancient carbonized grain using scanning electron microscopy to try to ascertain the level of heat to which it was subjected. Malting requires very gentle warmth. Archaeological evidence of well-preserved charred grain might be indicative of malt burnt accidentally during kilning. The debate generated by Braidwood’s symposium still continues 50 years later. Solomon Katz and Mary Voigt have pointed out the dietary disadvantages of unprocessed wheat and barley.  Unprocessed grains are not nutritious. Cereal grains are made up mainly of carbohydrates with only 13-20% protein and very low amounts of fats, B-vitamins, minerals, and lysine. Lysine is an essential amino acid that enables the human body to process the other amino acids of the grain into proteins. As the yeast grows in ale and bread it “produces a rich source of lysine, significantly improves the B-vitamin content of the mixture…. thereby permitting the absorption of more essential minerals such as calcium.” ref

“In short, this means that processed grain contains digestible B-vitamins. It is more nutritious than unprocessed grain. In prehistory, people were not aware of the complex biochemistry that is necessary for the improved nutritional value of cereals. But they did observe that malting (partial germination and subsequent drying) made the grain taste sweeter and make it more palatable. Malting has the advantage of making the grain friable and therefore much easier to crush or grind up. Crushed malted grain, when gently heated in a bowl or oven with copious amounts of water, will always produce a sweet barley mash with malt liquid because of the enzyme activity. Unmalted grain can only produce a starchy porridge or gruel. Having mashed the malt, it is but a few steps from the first, perhaps accidental, fermentation of the sweet malt liquid by wild airborne yeasts to the successful control and management of the whole malting, mashing, and fermentation process. Observation, skill, and practice are all that is required to learn how to manage these processes. Knowledge of the complex biochemistry is not necessary. Ale has been made successfully from the grain for millennia, long before the complexities of the biochemistry were understood and explained by scientists. Katz and Voigt’s theories of ‘biocultural evolution’ and the development of ‘cuisine’ center on the ways that people process foods in these highly complex ways to “transform marginally nutritious and outright toxic substances into high-quality foods.” ref

“Food processing techniques are learned by one generation and passed on to, perhaps even improved upon by the next generation. Katz makes the point that “this information transfer requires stability. In all probability, myths, stories, and legends, some of which are woven into ritual practices, all play a critical role in the process of stabilizing the content of traditions that are passed from one generation to the next, as well as the social context through which they flow. Once stability has been achieved, the trial and error process that must originally have led to the evolution of the specific traditions is no longer necessary”. The most crucial and important rituals and traditions relate to the acquisition, processing techniques, and consumption of food. The conversion and transformation of barley grain into malts and ale is a set of activities that very easily lends itself to the acquisition of complex ritual practices and to the transfer of these practices through the generations. The manufacture of malt and ale from the grain comprises a set of traditions, rituals, skills, and knowledge that could accurately be described as a domestic ritual activity.” ref

Hunting and gathering groups in the Near East and Levant: 9th/ 8th millennia BCE

“Modern species of six-rowed barley (Hordeum vulgare subsp polystichum) have been developed and selectively bred by agriculturalists over millennia from its wild ancestor, the wild two-rowed barley (Hordeum vulgare subsp. spontaneum).” ref

“Wild barley is a natural plant of the area known as the ‘Fertile Crescent’. This includes the modern countries of Israel, Jordan, southern Turkey, Iraq, Kurdistan, and southwest Iran. Barley grows prolifically in the Jordon Rift Valley and the Tigris/Euphrates basin and sporadically in the Aegean region, around the Mediterranean coast, central Asia, and Afghanistan. A number of sites were occupied during the 9th and 8th millennia BCE in the Levant, the area is now known as Syria, Jordon, and Israel, for example, Tell Abu Hureyra and Mureybit, both in north Syria and Tell Aswad, near modern Damascus. Sickle blades have been found in the earliest levels at these sites. Some were even made from baked clay. Wild grain seeds were stored in pits. The native species of wheat and barley were gathered by hunter-gathering groups, known as the Natufian culture. Jack Harlan, visiting an area by the Karacadag Mountain in the province of Diyarbakir, southeast Turkey, during the 1960s has described “vast seas of primitive wild wheat”. He conducted harvesting experiments, collecting the wild grain by hand and also using a flint sickle. With the flint sickle he gathered 2.45 kg of grain within an hour and he estimated that, in a three-week period, enough grain to last a family for a year could be gathered easily and quickly. Unprocessed grain is not a good nutritional food source and it had to be processed in some way. It is often assumed that, in the Neolithic, grain was only ground into flour for bread. However, grain can also be malted. This process of partial germination alters grain, making it friable and releasing enzymes that convert starch into sugar.” ref

“The Natufian culture is usually seen as “a transitional phase between two cultural sequences, these being the Palaeolithic hunter-gatherers on the one hand and the Neolithic agricultural societies on the other”. These people lived a nomadic life. They gathered wild foods, hunted birds and animals, fished and moved around the area seasonally in order to exploit a wide variety of natural food resources, amongst which were wild barley (Hordeum spontaneumi) and einkorn of two varieties (tritium boeoticum var aegilipoides and var thaudor) which grew abundantly in the area (Thorpe 1996:6). The material remains of the early Natufian culture precede the earliest food-producing groups of the Neolithic Near East and Levant (Byrd & Moynahan 1995).” ref

“The culture can be divided into two or three developmental stages, based upon technological and stratigraphic criteria. It is not clear when the Natufian people first learned how to convert grain into malt sugars. They were either gathering wild grains or beginning to cultivate them by c8500 BCE. It is likely that they were making several products and that malting was an early discovery. Allowing the grain to grow a little before grinding or crushing with mortars makes it a much easier task. This is because enzymes activated during the germination process break down the husk of the grain and make the starchy endosperm friable. This process naturally produces malt flour. Tell Abu Hureyra, northern Syria Tell Abu Hureyra is situated in northern Syria, by the Euphrates, about 40 kilometers from Mureybit. The skeletal remains of 162 individuals were found. These human remains span 3000 years of the site’s occupation and have been analyzed by Theya Molleson at the Natural History Museum. Activities that were regularly carried out by the inhabitants have left their marks on the bones. Molleson discovered that bones of the upper spine were deformed, indicating the carrying of heavy loads on the head. Skeletal evidence indicates that grain was regularly pounded in pestles and mortars or crushed using querns.” ref

“According to Theya Molleson, the introduction of pottery technology c6000 BCE coincided with an increase in the numbers of dental caries and decay in the teeth of the Abu Hureyra people. She attributes this to “a greater emphasis on cooked cereals made into bread and porridge…sticky foods that adhere to the teeth and provide the medium for the growth of bacteria that cause caries”. Similarly, high levels of periodontal disease and dental caries have apparently been noted at the Natufian site of Nahal Oren. Today sugars are a well-known cause of caries and dental decay. Perhaps these people had discovered the processes of malting and mashing the grain and the manufacture of malt sugars. As shown in the experiments described and illustrated earlier malted barley, when heated gently with water, always produces not a bland, starchy gruel or porridge, but an extremely sweet and sticky barley mash, together with liquid malt sugars. Malt is nutritious and it is an excellent source of easily digestible B-vitamins. It is interesting to note that, according to Molleson, there was a larger proportion of infant skeletons recovered from the pottery levels compared within the earlier strata. This might be an indication of the consumption of these malt sugars at Abu Hureyra. The addition of B-Vitamins to the diet would certainly have improved the health and probably the life expectancy of all inhabitants, both adults, and children alike.” ref

Early grain cultivation and processing in the 7th/6th millennia BCE

“Cultivated varieties of both barley and emmer wheat have been found during excavations at aceramic Neolithic sites of the late 8th and early 7th millennia BCE, for example at Tell Aswad, Jarmo, Jericho, and Ali Kosh. The seeds differ from their wild counterparts, suggesting the beginning of deliberate and selective cultivation and domestication. The presence of grinding stones at these settlements indicates that grain processing was an activity. It is not clear what end product was being manufactured. Malt is a possible and likely candidate, since querns and grinding stones are as useful for crushing malt as they would be for grinding unmalted grain into flour. It has been suggested that “the event that ‘primed the pump’ and led people to invest energy in the collection and propagation of wild wheat and barley was the discovery of new food processing techniques – the sprouting and fermentation of these grains.” ref

“Malting and mashing require only a malting floor, a hearth, oven or kiln, hot stones, and containers. Fermentation of the wort only requires a large container with a suitable cover to keep airborne contaminants out of the ferment. Yeast and access to a water supply are also necessary. A few small ceramic vessels were found in early levels at Mureybit dating to c8000 BCE, namely two cups with flat bottoms, a cylindrical vase, and a small oval bowl, together with clay-baked female figurines and artifacts described as “batons”. Maisels considers these to be genuine ceramics and they are the earliest so far found in the Near East. There have been a few finds of White Ware, or Vaiselle Blanche. This is a precursor to clay-fired pottery and is described as “a composite of lime…and salty grey ashes. Vessels, often of a large size, were built up in coils round a basket…and when dried and fired this White Ware turns into a hard white material resembling limestone”. Although White Ware is not pottery in the true sense of the word, it would have functioned in a similar way to pottery vessels. White Ware is dated to between the second half of the 7th millennium BCE and the first half of the 6th millennium BCE. Remains of White Ware have been found at Ain Ghazal in eastern Amman, at Tell Sukas in Syria, at Tell Ramad II, close by Mount Hermon, Syria, and at Byblos, on the Lebanese coast. As well as the manufactured White Ware vessels described above, pre-pottery cultures also made vessels and containers from stone.” ref

“At Beidha, a pre-pottery Neolithic village dated from c7000 BCE and situated high in the mountains south of the Dead Sea, the people used stone bowls, troughs, and mortars, with baskets coated with bitumen and lime plaster also serving as containers. Such vessels would be suitable for the containment of liquid products from grain processing, for example, the malt sugars and the ale. Strains of wild barley were cultivated and access to a reliable water supply would not have been a problem since the settlement is situated close by the spring of Dibadiba, in Wadi Gharab. At Ali Kosh, dated from c7200 BCE, the evidence points to a community that cultivated grain and also gathered the wild strains of wheat and barley. Wild game was hunted. The floors of the houses were made of stamped mud, often surfaced with a layer of clean clay, and then sometimes overtopped with reeds. There is evidence of regular repair and maintenance of floor surfaces. The inhabitants built domed mud brick ovens. They made stone mortars and used “stone bowls made of limestone or marble…most likely for the gruel.”. The product is more likely to have been not ‘gruel’ but liquid malt sugars. The mud and clay floors would have been suitable as malting floors for spreading out the grain as it began to grow. The stone mortars could have been used for crushing the malt and the stone vessels for mashing the malted grain. At this early Neolithic site, they had all the necessary equipment and material culture to process the grain that they harvested into a sweet barley mash and malt liquid.” ref

“Ain Ghazal, Jordan Ain Ghazal is a large early Neolithic settlement in Jordan. Contemporary with Jericho, it is situated by a spring that flows throughout the year so it was a permanent site. The earliest radiocarbon dates obtained from Ain Ghazal are c7250 BCE, when the settlement was between 4 and 5 hectares in area. By c6500 BCE, the site had developed to 12.5 hectares (31 acres) and was situated on both sides of the Zarqa River. Excavations have revealed, “architectural remains, flint tools, stone bracelet fragments, stone bowls, animal figurines, bone tools, human burials, domesticated plant remains (including wheat, fig, pea, and lentil), grinding stones, ornaments, shells, plastered vessels, one obsidian tool and what have been designated ‘white objects’. White Ware objects from Ain Ghazal were examined by X-ray fluorescence and were discovered to have been made of a chalky limestone material containing calcite and were carved or otherwise formed by hand. Basalt pestles and grinders/crushers were also found, as well as limestone querns and large “stone bowl” type mortars, used for crushing and grinding. Pottery technology was beginning to develop and over twenty fired sherds of vessels “from securely dated mid-7th-millennium locations were located in the first four seasons. The presence of red-painted and burnished plastered floors at Ain Ghazal and of similarly painted plaster floors in Jericho might be evidence of a specially made malting floor but this is very difficult to prove without analyzing grains from that context for signs of partial germination. Malting floors could look like any other plastered floor surface that may be found in domestic or ritual buildings. It appears that the inhabitants of Ain Ghazal may have had adequate facilities for malting and mashing grain: they had suitable floor surfaces within substantial buildings, vessels, containers, crushing stones, and ovens or kilns.” ref

“Of great interest to the excavators, indeed, a unique find, were the unusual statues and figurines that had been deliberately buried together in a pit dug into the remains of an abandoned house. The 10 largest statues were 80-90 cm high and had been made by the construction of a reed and twig ‘skeleton’, bound with up with twine and covered with plaster. The statues had personal details, such as noses, fingers, toes, ears, and eyes and they are indicative of “sophisticated art and a ritual and social complexity”. These statues are striking. They are described as being “quite different from the usual pregnant woman fecundity blobs, usually headless and legless, found in so many Neolithic contexts”. Female figurines, so disparagingly described by Maisels, are represented at Ain Ghazal and many other early Neolithic sites of the Near East, Levant, and Central Europe. Maisel’s description seems to be unfair and inaccurate. Female figurines are much more than just ‘fecundity blobs’. Some from Central Europe are carved from marble; others from ivory and bone and some from the 6 th and 5th millennia BCE have been made from baked terracotta with cereal grain impressions decorating the torso.” ref

“The level of artistic and technological skill is impressive. A wide variety of beautifully manufactured figurines depicting male, female, and animal entities are found on most sites of the early Neolithic throughout Europe. Their existence demonstrates that ritual activity and spiritual beliefs were very important aspects of life to these early agricultural people. Some rituals may have been related to the sowing, cultivation, harvesting, and processing of grain and other crops. Tell Ramad II This site dates from the late 7th millennium BCE. The houses at Tell Ramad were adobe huts with hearths and large basins, perhaps used for grain processing. The presence of querns, grinders, and wooden storage bins are indicative of an “agricultural regime”, although hunting, fishing, and fowling probably remained important subsistence activities for the people there at this time. White Ware was found at this and other contemporary sites. This unbaked coil ware was made of a mixture of limestone and salty grass ashes. The mixture was soft enough to fashion and construct coiled pots and became as hard as cement when dried in the sun. Firing in a kiln was not necessary. No complete White Ware vessels or objects have been found and the fragments so far excavated indicate that platters, deep and thick-walled bowls of various sizes, pendants, cylinders, and anthropomorphic figurines were being made from this material. Barley was grown from the very beginning of the settlement at Tell Ramad, being made into ‘porridge’, according to the excavators. It is just as likely that the grain was malted and mashed using White Ware vessels and stone bowls. ” ref

Early pottery Neolithic cultures: 6th/5th millennia BCE

“Catal Huyuk, Konya Plain, AnatoliaCatal Huyuk is a well-known neolithic site on the Konya Plain in Anatolia. It is a large settlement tell that covers 32 acres and it was occupied between c6250 BCE until c5400 BCE. There is the evidence at Catal Huyuk of many features necessary for malting and mashing the grain, such as, plastered floors, ovens, kilns with domed chambers, grain bins, and vessels of pottery, stone, and wood. Mellaart listed “… coiled baskets, with or without covers, leather bags, wooden vessels and boxes with lids of various shapes, a few luxury vessels in stone and pottery”. Some of the pottery vessels were deep, round-based, and could be described as ‘bag shaped’.” ref

“Pottery was found in the earliest levels, with plain bowl forms predominating. Lids have not been found but Mellaart suggests that wood, textiles, or leather may have been used and tied onto the lugs of vessels. Basic equipment such as this would have provided suitable anaerobic conditions for mashing or fermentation. Ovens and kilns are usually interpreted as being necessary for bread making and baking but they are also suitable equipment for drying malt. Mellaart interpreted the ‘huge ovens’, discovered in Levels IV and V, as a bakery. The grain bins, made of dried clay, were about one meter in height and were found in pairs or in rows. They were filled from the top and emptied from the bottom, via a small hole made at the base of the bin so that the oldest grain was used up first. That the grain may have been regarded as a special, sacred, and important crop is perhaps suggested by the discovery of a female figurine made of terracotta.” ref

“This has been interpreted as the representation of a fertility goddess and it was found within one of the grain storage bins in Level II. Such ‘goddess’ figurines are found in at a great many other sites in Anatolia, for example, at Hacilar. The symbolism within the ritual areas at Catal Huyuk is complex and powerful, with women appearing to have control over wild creatures, such as leopards and lions. The images on the walls could depict hunting deities. The female deities represented as figurines at Catal Huyuk and at other similarly dated sites are powerful images. Hilda Ellis Davidson sees them as embodying reproductive power, fertility, and the domestication of the wild. She notes that, from later prehistory and documented in early history, there are many powerful female deities strongly associated with fertility and with the sowing, cultivation, and processing of grain crops. For example, in Egypt, Isis was the deity that presided over bread, beer, green wheat, barley, and also flax. She was reputed to have taught the people how to grow their crops and make their bread and beer. The connection between bread and ale is emphasized in a ‘Hymn to Hathor’, another Egyptian Goddess who is sometimes identified with Isis. She is addressed as  “Mistress of Bread, who made Beer.” Demeter, the Greek goddess, was associated with the sowing of grain, and her principal festival took place before the first plowing of the season. Animal sacrifice and ritual activities were associated with the plowing of the land, the sowing of grain, and the harvest, and these rituals are connected with the cult of Demeter. It is probable that rituals such as these had their origins in the early Neolithic and they are associated with the earliest cultivators.” ref

“The archaeological evidence of Catal Huyuk, where sacred and ritual spaces, images of deities, and elaborate wall paintings have been uncovered seems to support this idea. Ceremony and ritual activity were clearly very important to the early Neolithic people on the Konya Plain. It seems very likely that malt and ale were being made at this time, perhaps ritually and as a special product. The association of a powerful female deity with grain storage is, therefore, a credible concept in this early Neolithic context.” ref

Fermentation of barley wort into ale: 4th/3rd millennia BCE

“Godin Tepe, Zagros MountainsThe earliest chemical evidence so far discovered for the manufacture of ale has been found at the site of Godin Tepe, an Uruk site of late 4th millennium BCE. The settlement appears to have been a trading center and it is located in the Zagros Mountains of modern Iran. An organic residue inside a double-handled jug, found in  Room 18 of the Oval Enclosure on the citadel of Godin Tepe, was analyzed and identified as ‘beer stone’ or calcium oxalate. This is a substance that always settles out on the internal surfaces of vessels that are regularly used for the fermentation or storage of barley wort. Residues of tartaric acid were found in other vessels that had been stoppered and were found lying on their sides in the same room, indicating that they probably had contained wine rather than ale.” ref

“According to one of the excavators, Virginia Badler, the presence of wine and beer containers in such an important area of the enclave indicates that these products were being manufactured and distributed along with other foodstuffs and possibly transported to and traded with people in the lowlands. Joffe points out that the discovery of another site with similar ceramic assemblages and architectural structures at Habuba Kabira South on the bend of the Euphrates perhaps indicates “parallel redistributive mechanisms”. Brewing in MesopotamiaBy the late 4th/early 3rd millennia BCE malting, mashing, and fermentation were being practiced on a large scale in Mesopotamia. Approximately 40% of the barley harvested was being used for malting and brewing purposes. Cylinder seals, evidence of the highly organized administrative system of the Uruk culture, have been found with illustrations depicting the consumption of an alcoholic drink, presumably either wine or ale, being drunk from large vessels through straws. Evidence for the large-scale production of bread, malt, and ale has been found at the 3rd-millennium site of Abu Salabikh in southern Iraq, a large settlement complex. So far 29 fire installations from Area E have been excavated, including several ‘tannurs’ or bread ovens, clay-lined open hearths, and one example of a two-storey oven which could probably have functioned for drying malt. Further research clearly needs to be done into the differences in kiln or oven design and their specific function. There is evidence for the centralized storage of grain in specially constructed buildings during the 3rd millennium BCE in Northern Mesopotamia.” ref

“A number of sites with storage and processing facilities for amounts of grain in quantities “well beyond that needed to support the local population” have been located and excavated in the middle Khabur Valley, northeast Syria. These sites, namely Tell Atij, Kerma, Tell al-Raqa’i, Bderi, and Tell Ziyadeh, are clustered along the banks of the Khabur River and are dated to the mid to late Ninevite V period. At Tell Atij six semi-vaulted structures with plastered interiors were interpreted as grain silos. Storage jars were plaster lined, perhaps to aid the preservation of the contents. A suggestion that can be made in the light of experiments described in Chapter One is that this plaster lining of pottery jars was to facilitate the containment of a liquid product, such as wort or ale. At Tell al-Raqa’i the existence of silos, mud-brick platforms, ovens, and pottery sherds suggests processing of the grain, probably by malting and kilning. The dominant grain grown in this region was barley. It may have been grown as an animal fodder crop to feed the herds of the rich and powerful elite groups, but it is also the fundamental ingredient for the manufacture of sweet malts and ale. It has been suggested that the extent of the agricultural and administrative development in the middle Khabur Valley indicates increased social complexity and the rise of elite and powerful individuals or groups who had control over the trade and distribution of agricultural produce (ibid). Clearly, the Khabur Valley was an important trade route for the exchange of goods and products destined for both the south and the north using river transport.” ref

“One of these products may have been ale. Both the manufacture and the consumption of ale and wine were of significant social, religious, and economic importance to the Sumerian culture. Alexander Joffe sees the manufacture, exchange, and consumption of alcohol as forming “a significant element …in the emergence of complex, hierarchically organized societies.” His detailed analysis, based on Michael Dietler’s model, concentrates on the social, economic, and political aspects of the consumption of alcohol rather than on the practicalities of its manufacture. From the available evidence, it seems that beer and wine were being manufactured and consumed on a huge scale during the Ubaid and Uruk periods. Pottery was being mass-produced and large public buildings were being constructed, both administrative and religious. Alcoholic beverages had become an important and integral part of the economic and religious systems, with complex redistribution systems and centers of mass production. Numerous administrative texts record brewing as a craft activity and the redistribution and trade in beer. Drinking scenes appear on seals, often in ceremonial or celebratory situations. The Royal Standard of Ur, dated to c2600 BCE and found in grave number 779 of the Royal Cemetery, depicts feasting and celebrations after a military victory. Animals are depicted being brought either for slaughter or as booty and grain is being carried, apparently, as important and valuable a commodity as the animals were.” ref

“The Sumerians brewed eight types of ale from barley, eight from wheat, and three from mixed types of grain. Both the Sumerians and the Egyptians mashed the malted barley by making so-called ‘beer bread’ or bappir. Corran argues that “with the making of beer bread, the processes of baking and brewing have become linked together”. According to annotations referring to bappir and ale in the Sumerian and Akkadian dictionaries, bappir was, however, only eaten during times of famine or necessity. The grain was being mashed as bappir and then stored as a raw material for the purpose of making ale, not as bread for daily consumption. Certainly, by the early 3rd Millennium BCE, a ‘drinking culture’ was well established in the Near East and Levant. Solomon Katz and Fritz Maytag reproduced a Sumerian-style ale based on the methods described in the Hymn to Ninkasi and working in association with the Anchor Brewing Company of San Francisco. A few modifications were made for legal reasons and also because they were unsure that the mix would contain enough sugars for fermentation. Honey was added instead of dates to the bappir and malt extract was added to the mash tank. Nevertheless, in spite of these changes, they proved that the ancient techniques worked and the resultant ale was described as having “the smoothness and effervescence of champagne and a slight aroma of dates.” ref

“The mashing experiments undertaken as part of this research indicate that their fears of inadequate amounts of grain sugars for fermentation were completely unfounded. With the correct equipment, conditions, and temperatures, and the specialized knowledge of the crafts of malting and mashing it is possible to make a wort with a very high sugar content from the barley grain alone.” ref

Brewing in Egypt: 3rd/2nd millennia BCE

“Ale was a staple item of diet in Egypt from the 3rd millennium BC onwards, a drink for both the poor and the wealthy. It was drunk on a daily basis and it was also brewed for state occasions and festivals, being an essential part of offerings to gods and goddesses. Ale was of considerable economic and social importance. Frequently it was a part of wages or payment for work done or services rendered. The villages of Amarna and Deir el Medina provide excellent evidence for large-scale bread-making and brewing during the 2nd millennium BCE.” ref

“Due to the dry climate of Egypt organic residues are perfectly preserved on pottery. Budding yeast cells and even signs of enzyme attack on starch granules during germination can be seen using scanning electron microscopes. Residues on Eighteenth Dynasty Egyptian pottery were first noticed in 1928 by Dr J. Gruss, who observed starch grains, yeast cells, moulds, and bacteria under a microscope and concluded that this yeast was either deliberately or accidentally cultivated by the Egyptians. Techniques of grain processing are illustrated in scenes that decorate Egyptian tombs. Statuettes and models were sometimes placed in tombs in order to re-create all necessary provisions for the deceased in the afterlife. Delwen Samuel of Cambridge University has recently tested these ancient grain processing techniques in collaboration with the Egypt Exploration Society and Scottish and Newcastle Breweries. A re-created Egyptian beer was made and it was aptly named ‘Tutenkhamun’. It was, apparently, sweet and good to drink. If the manufacture and consumption of ale was of such great importance to Sumerian and Egyptian Bronze Age cultures, as is suggested by Joffe, then what of its significance in a Neolithic and European context? The next three chapters evaluate the possibilities for the processing of barley grain into sweet malts and ale in Neolithic Europe, during the Orcadian Neolithic, and in the Neolithic British Isles. As it has been so far, the emphasis is on the assessment of the practical aspects of the material culture, buildings, and equipment necessary for this kind of activity.” ref

“The consumption of ale has been the subject of several archaeological and anthropological studies. The intention of the next three chapters is to concentrate on assessing the extant archaeological evidence for the ritual, perhaps even magical activity of the manufacture of malt, malt sugars, and ale from the grain. Several crushed Henbane seeds were recently found in the same context as an organic residue described as “a lump of carbonized porridge” adhering to a sherd from a very large Grooved Ware vessel. The pottery had been deliberately deposited in a pit by a Neolithic timber mortuary enclosure at the ritual site at Balfarg/Balbirnie, Fife, Scotland. It could either indicate a medicinal use of the seed or it could indicate the ritual practice of adding Henbane to ale. The cereal residues are described as being “ritually charged material” and are interpreted as ‘porridge’. They are much more likely to be the remains of sediments left by the fermentation of a barley wort into ale. The Henbane seeds would have been added to the brew during the boiling stage in order to make it more potent with added hallucinatory effects.” ref

“This possible interpretation is discussed, where the practicalities and possibilities of the manufacture of malts and ale during the British early Neolithic are summarised and assessed. Henbane ale, if consumed in small amounts, would have very obvious intoxicating and hallucinogenic effects. If consumed in large quantities it would induce dementia, hallucinations, and ultimately death. Such potentially dangerous additives as Henbane were probably not regularly added to ale or taken on a regular basis, but were a part of special ritual events only. Sherratt argues for the ritual or medicinal consumption of a number of narcotic substances during the Bronze Age and the Neolithic, such as the opium poppy (Papaver somniferum), Henbane (Hyoscyamus niger), and the hemp plant (Cannabis sativa). He cites the discoveries of opium poppy seeds at the Neolithic lake villages, Neuchatal, Switzerland, and also at Linearbandkeramik sites in the Rhineland. He argues that the use of psychoactive substances in prehistory is “fundamental to the nature of sociality and an active element in the construction of religious experience, gender categories and the rituals of social life”. From the evidence at Balfarg/Balbirnie it appears that such activities and rituals occurred during the British Neolithic.” ref

“It is generally accepted that ritual and social activities that included “feasting, from domestic celebration to communal occasions, requiring the large scale slaughter or sacrifice of animals and the brewing of drinks” were a significant aspect of Bronze Age life, both in Europe and in the British Isles. This is supported by the analysis of cereal-based residues from the Strathallan Beaker, radiocarbon dated to c1540+/-60 BCE. The food vessel or beaker accompanied a female burial in a stone-lined cist at North Mains, Strathallan, Fife. A mixture of cereal residues and Meadowsweet pollen within the beaker was interpreted by the excavators as being the probable remnants of fermented cereal-based drink, namely ale. A beaker that was found in a stone-lined and clay-sealed cist grave dated to the Middle Bronze Age at Ashgrove, Fife, Scotland, contained plant debris and pollen from immature meadowsweet (Filipendula ulmaria) flowers and from flowers of the small-leaved lime tree (Tilia cordata), indicating that the beaker had contained mead. Vessels made of birch bark containing the residues of a mead or ale type drink have been found at Egtved, Denmark, and at other Danish Bronze Age bog burial sites. The contents of one vessel, described as a ‘birch bark bucket’ by Professor Gram in the late 1920s, contained “debris of wheat grains, leaves of bog myrtle and fruits of cranberry.” ref

“There is, then, significant and convincing evidence for the consumption of ale and mead during the Bronze Age. These alcoholic drinks were probably made by the women who were the principal gatherers, cultivators, and food processors within the community. Arguments have been made for Bronze Age “male drinking cults” but there is no real archaeological evidence for this. The Strathallan Beaker, for example, was found in the cist grave of a female. Beakers have been found accompanying both males and females, indicating the probable consumption of alcoholic drinks by both genders. Women may have been the maltsters, the brewers, and the ale manufacturers. It seems very unlikely that they did not consume the product that they so carefully and skillfully made. Ale made prior to the introduction of hops was a very different drink compared with the gaseous, carbonated beer that we are now accustomed to, even though it is fundamentally the same product and is made according to the same unchanging biochemical laws. The various herbal additives would make the ale taste quite unlike hopped beer. Ale was a flat, not a fizzy, carbonated drink. Carbonization was an invention of the mid 20th century and it was introduced into Britain in the 1940s by American servicemen during the Second World War.” ref

“The use of Hops as a preservative and flavoring was first promoted by the Christian monks of the Medieval period and, although popular in Europe from the 8th or 9th centuries CE, hops were not used throughout the British Isles until the 15th or 16th century. The use of herbs in ale, particularly Henbane, had close associations with paganism and with witchcraft practices and would understandably have been a practice that the Church greatly wanted to discourage. The material culture of the Neolithic is very similar to that of the Bronze Age. At both periods of prehistory there were buildings suitable for grain storage and processing, and suitable large pottery vessels for food and drink storage and for mashing and fermentation purposes. The early Neolithic cultures grew barley and wheat for the products that could be made from them, not only the flour and bread but also the sweet malts and the ale. In Egypt and Syria during the 4th and 3rd millennia BCE, ale and other alcoholic beverages were an important part of ritual, domestic, commercial, and economic life. The next chapter examines the first cereal and grain cultivation and processing activity in the Levant and in the Near East. It assesses the possibility that these early Neolithic groups were processing the wild barley and wheat into sweet malts and ale and cultivating grain deliberately as a source of sweetness.” ref

Grain in Neolithic Europe.

“The transition to agriculture in EuropeThe introduction of grain cultivation and processing into Europe is an enormous and complex area for investigation. Much has been written about the particular reasons for the Mesolithic/Neolithic transition in Europe. There are many theories and assessments of the reasons for the transition from a hunting, gathering, and fishing lifestyle to an agriculturally based one. The archaeological debate has been, for the most part, theoretical, and has used anthropological and ethnographic analysis to reconstruct the past. This chapter will investigate practical aspects of early Neolithic cultures in Europe and assess the viability and potential of their material culture for malt and ale production. Ian Hodder proposed the concept of ‘domus’ which focuses upon the importance of hearth and home and upon the control or domestication of the wild in the early Neolithic. The definition of ‘domus’ is best summarised in his own words as “practical activities carried out in the house, food preparation and the sustaining of life. But it is also an abstract term. Secondary, symbolic connotations are given to the practical activities, leading to the house as a focus for symbolic elaboration and the use of the house as a metaphor for social and economic strategies and relations of power”. Christopher Tilley has interpreted the Neolithic in ethnographic terms. He refers to food as “a highly symbolic medium. Its production, consumption, and distribution is never just a practical and technological matter but is loaded with symbolism and hedged around by political and social relations. Acts of eating, sharing, food preparation, and consumption must, in the Neolithic as in our own and other societies have formed a basic medium for sociability and for ritual practice.” ref

“The contribution made by women to these fundamental and important areas of life, such as food production, nurturing babies and children, and other domestic activities is significant. It seems that, at last, the focus of archaeological thought and interpretation is turning away from concepts of death and an obsession with burial rites and rituals. Archaeological thought is now turning towards more practical aspects such as food production, food processing, consumption, and the rituals of daily life. The Neolithic involves the introduction of new technologies such as the introduction of ceramics technology, which transformed food preparation methods and techniques. At the same time, grain products were an important and new addition to the diet in early Neolithic Europe. As well as providing carbohydrates in the form of flour and bread, grain is the primary ingredient for malt and ale. As has been discussed in earlier chapters, ale was an important commodity in ritual, social and economic terms in the context of Mesopotamian, Sumerian and Egyptian cultures of the Neolithic and Bronze Age. Alcoholic drinks that produced intoxicated states were significant aspects of ritual belief systems, ritual practice, and ritual behavior in these early complex societies.” ref

“For example, the Sumerians had a goddess of brewing named Ninkasi. As well as having ritual significance, alcoholic drinks were also an important part of the social and political economy, being paid as a tribute to the elite and powerful as well as being part of a ‘wages’ system in the construction of large monuments and tombs. Competitive feasting between rival elite and powerful groups within society also seems to have occurred. The concept of ‘competitive feasting’ has recently been introduced to the discussion of cultural evolution in Europe. Brian Hayden suggests that “one of the best candidates for a prehistoric competitive feasting system is the European Neolithic”. There were feasting sites at causewayed enclosures and at megalithic tomb sites, as well as evidence for complex trading systems, exchange networks, and high-status individuals within neolithic society. Special ceramic vessels were used at feasts. It is very likely that special foods and drinks, for example, ale or mead, were consumed at these and at other ritual or social occasions. Not all feasts need to be competitive or ritualistic in nature. Feasting can be a celebratory event, creating social bonds between individuals and groups. It can involve ‘work-party feasts’, that is, feasting as a payment or reward for the collective accomplishment of a task by the community. Monumental constructions involving communal effort are an important aspect of the early and later Neolithic in Europe and the British Isles. Such work may have been rewarded by the provision of a feast to the workforce.” ref

“In the light of the evidence presented so far in this thesis, it is highly improbable that early and later Neolithic groups of Europe were cultivating barley and wheat only for their porridge or bread-making potential. It is even more unlikely that these were the special foods that people consumed at feasts. It has been proposed that ale did not become a part of life in Europe and Britain until the Bronze Age. Andrew Sherratt has suggested that “pure beers did not appear until the Iron Age” although he acknowledges that stimulants of other kinds, such as cannabis, henbane, and opium poppy seeds, may have been a part of Neolithic ritual activity. Alcohol is a drug that alters the mood and consciousness of people. It is also a stimulant. It is easy to manufacture, provided one has knowledge of the special processes necessary. The intention of this chapter is to show that early Neolithic groups of Europe had the necessary and required material culture to convert the wheat and barley grain that they grew into malt and ale, based upon the experimental grain processing. The proposal is that the manufacture of malt and ale was a major driving force behind the change from a hunting and gathering lifestyle to that of grain cultivation within Europe. The attraction of grain cultivation lay in a desire for the products that could be manufactured from the grain rather than in the acquisition of a new lifestyle of farming.” ref

European Neolithic: 6th /5th millennia BCE

“The 6th and 5th millennia were a transitional period in prehistoric Europe, when the lifestyle of the indigenous Mesolithic population was influenced and changed by new ideas of cereal cultivation and processing. Cereals are not a native European plant. They were introduced from the Near East and Anatolia, where they grow in the wild. In Europe, there was not a single ‘Mesolithic’ or ‘Neolithic’ way of life, but rather “a diverse set of lifestyles and practices”. Some Mesolithic groups, for example, the Ertebolle/Ellerbeck cultures of the Northern European coast, maintained their hunting and gathering lifestyles for over a millennium, living alongside well-established agricultural communities, namely, the Linearbandkeramik culture who lived along the river valleys of central Europe. Northeast Bulgaria: Tell Ovchorovo.” ref

“After the grain has been sown, cultivated, harvested, and stored it has to be processed for consumption. Water and wood have to be fetched. Heavy storage or cooking pots need to be lifted and equipment has to be washed and cleaned on a regular basis to avoid contamination. It is also important to maintain a careful and close watch on the grain in all stages. Even making relatively small amounts of malt or ale is a task more easily achieved by a group of people rather than by an individual. Evidence for collective grain processing has been found in Northeast Bulgaria at Tell Ovchorovo, a settlement tell almost 5m high and 100m in diameter, situated about 100 km west from the shores of the Black Sea. Radiocarbon dates from the early 5th millennium BCE have been obtained. There are many such settlement tells in Bulgaria but only a few have been excavated so far. Those that have been excavated reveal the remains of complex dwellings. Some may have been two-storeyed buildings with multiple entrances and may have had up to 5 rooms that were “full of furniture, conveying a sense of comfort and domesticity”. Most of the buildings seem to have been dwellings but in some “figurines and cult vessels were found which were used in some form of domestic ritual.” ref

“Ritual items associated with this culture include anthropomorphic figurines of males, females, and animals, artifacts inscribed with ritual designs, and decorated pottery vessels. This was an early agricultural society with a complex social and ritual structure that appears to have been, in many ways, similar to early Neolithic pottery cultures of the Near East. House 59 at Tell Ovchorovo is one of 112 houses on the settlement tell. Two principal work areas were defined within the house. One area was for textile producing activities and the other was for grain preparation and processing. As well as a large grain silo that was situated between the main room and the doorway there were grinding stones, pottery sherds, an oven, a hearth, and an interesting raised clay platform. Grain processing was an increasingly important activity over time within the settlement and Douglas Bailey has interpreted the house as “a work station for the storage, parching and grinding” of cereal grains. What exactly is meant by this description of grain processing? If the grain was made wet before being ‘parched’ and then ‘ground’ then it may have begun to germinate and, if so, the necessary enzymes that convert starch into sugars will have been activated within each grain. The necessary morphological and physiological changes for malting have occurred. Bailey notes “redistribution may have occurred on a settlement wide basis with many different individuals bringing their small quantities of grain to be processed in the house before storing the grain in their own houses. ” ref

“Given the limited number of products that can be made from barley or wheat, namely flour, bread, porridge, malted grain or ale, what is the evidence for malt and ale manufacture in House 59? Pottery sherds were found with potential volumes of vessels ranging from 500 cc (about a pint) in early levels to 10,500 cc (2 gallons) in the later levels of House 59. Most of the pots were less than a litre in capacity and would have been suitable as vessels for consumption. There was only one very large vessel, 10,500 cc in volume. This pottery assemblage is consistent with what might be expected for the manufacture of ale. One single large vessel is all that is needed for the fermentation of sweet wort and many smaller vessels are useful for the consumption of the end product. Bailey concludes that the house probably had a special function as a grain-processing center for the community rather than functioning as a house or dwelling. This kind of behavior and activity compares well with the central grain storage and processing centers that are evident in the Khabur Valley during the 3rd millennium BC, as described in the previous chapter. The process described by Bailey as ‘parching’ was probably the drying out or kilning of partially germinated grain (malt).” ref

“Some of the pottery vessels were quite large and, although there is no organic residue evidence yet available to confirm that they were used for storage and fermentation of barley wort, I believe that this is one of their most likely functions. The Linearbandkeramik There is widespread evidence of mixed agriculture during the 6th and 5th millennia BCE in Europe. Sites of the Linearbandkeramik, a remarkably homogenous cultural group who constructed large, elaborate longhouses, grew several varieties of crops, kept cattle, sheep, and pigs, and who also made fine decorated pottery have been found along the fertile river valleys of the Danube, the Rhine and other significant rivers and their tributaries throughout central Europe. The Linearbandkeramik culture flourished between c5500 to 4800 BCE. Prestige artifacts, such as spondylus shells from Greece and axes of basalt and of amphibolite, have been found at Linearbandkeramik sites and such finds indicate long-distance travel, communications, trade, and exchange between these early agriculturalists and other cultures. The knowledge of grain processing techniques would have been passed on through these far-reaching trade and exchange networks.” ref

“One view of their culture is expressed by Peter Bogucki. He proposes that they were primarily cattle herders, one of the main reasons for this lifestyle being the production of milk and meat. Small vessels with narrow spouts have been found in children’s graves of this period that might perhaps indicate the feeding of cow’s milk to infants. The processing of milk products is perhaps indicated by the ceramic sieve pottery. Sherds of this kind of pottery, generally interpreted as being the remains of sieves, presses, or strainers of some kind, have been found at many Linearbandkeramik sites. As well as being herders, the Linearbandkeramik also cultivated a wide range of crops including pulses and grain such as einkorn, emmer wheat, and barley for processing and consumption. Both pulses and cereal grains require abundant water for their preparation. The finely painted and decorated large pottery bowls and small drinking cups are generally understood to show “the importance of consuming food and drink in the context of feasting.” ref

“This finely made pottery may have been used for the manufacture and consumption of a prestigious liquid, probably ale. Carbonized grains are frequently found at these early Neolithic sites. They could perhaps indicate the accidental over kilning of malt or they may indicate the accidental burning of the wooden building used to make, store, or process malt. It is a very strong possibility that some of the grain processing taking place within this early Neolithic culture was the manufacture of malt and ale. Water would have been accessed from local springs, streams, and rivers or even specially constructed wells. Several wells dating to the mid 6th millennium BCE have been found at a number of Linearbandkeramik sites, for example, at Mohelnice, Most, Remsdorf, Zipfendorf, and Erkelenz-Kuckhoven. Weeds and wheat chaff representing grain-processing waste have been found in rubbish pits at a number of settlement sites. The cultivation of grain and the manufacture of malt and ale seem to have been an important element in their subsistence and lifestyle. The fine elaborate longhouses that they built appear to have been used as dwellings and shelter for both humans and animals.” ref

“They may also have functioned as grain storage and processing centers. These longhouses were the focus of Linearbandkeramik society and there was considerable variety in both size and in design. Some longhouses were up to 8 meters in width and up to 45 meters in length, others were much smaller buildings. Unfortunately, floor surfaces have not been preserved since many of these settlements or villages are situated on loess soils, good agricultural land that has been heavily plowed in modern times. This adds enormously to the problem of interpreting this cultural group, since hearth and floor evidence have been completely destroyed. Posthole evidence, however, indicates the internal division of the houses into distinct areas where different activities took place. It is likely that there were significant functional differences between the buildings. Some of these structures can be interpreted as “clubhouses” or as “ceremonial houses”. It is also possible that “primary processing” of the grain was carried out in some of the longhouses. Malting, a primary process It is a very strong possibility that some of the grain processing taking place within this early Neolithic culture was the manufacture of malt and ale. Water would have been accessed from local springs, streams, and rivers or even specially constructed wells. Several wells dating to the mid 6th millennium BCE have been found at a number of Linearbandkeramik sites, for example, at Mohelnice, Most, Remsdorf, Zipfendorf, and Erkelenz-Kuckhoven. Weeds and wheat chaff representing grain-processing waste have been found in rubbish pits at a number of settlement sites.” ref

“The cultivation of grain and the manufacture of malt and ale seem to have been an important element in their subsistence and lifestyle. The fine elaborate longhouses that they built appear to have been used as dwellings and shelter for both humans and animals. They may also have functioned as grain storage and processing centers. These longhouses were the focus of Linearbandkeramik society and there was considerable variety in both size and in design. Some longhouses were up to 8 meters in width and up to 45 meters in length, others were much smaller buildings. Unfortunately, floor surfaces have not been preserved since many of these settlements or villages are situated on loess soils, good agricultural land that has been heavily plowed in modern times. This adds enormously to the problem of interpreting this cultural group, since hearth and floor evidence have been completely destroyed. Posthole evidence, however, indicates the internal division of the houses into distinct areas where different activities took place. It is likely that there were significant functional differences between the buildings.  Some of these structures can be interpreted as “clubhouses” or as “ceremonial houses”. It is also possible that “primary processing” of the grain was carried out in some of the longhouses. Malting, a primary process in the conversion of grain into malts and ale was probably the activity concerned here. Modderman proposes that the grain distribution and control may have been in the hands of a priest or other community leader who controlled a central granary for the village.” ref

“Central control of grain might reflect its importance and value as a crop or it may simply have been more practical to store the grain collectively. Anick Coud art has interpreted the Linearbandkeramik as having been a largely egalitarian society but with elements of status differentiation of individuals within the group as a whole. She interprets the grain cultivation and its subsequent storage and processing as being a collective activity among extended family groups. Ehrenburg points out that in Linearbandkeramik burials querns are found in association with only female burials and not with males. She concludes that women “would almost certainly have been responsible for most, if not all, the agricultural work”. This would include the cooking of food and the preparation and processing of grain as well as tending crops in the field and harvesting them. There are many problems in the interpretation of the Linearbandkeramik culture not the least of which is the lack of well-preserved floor and hearth evidence. This makes a complete understanding of this early Neolithic culture difficult. In spite of this difficulty, it seems clear that they had an adequate material culture and the necessary requirements for the processing of grain by malting, mashing, and fermentation. These activities were very likely to have been carried out by women in the community who were the primary crop producers and processors.” ref

Late Mesolithic/Early Neolithic: 5th/4th Millennia BCE

“Ertebolle and Ellerbeck cultures: N. Europe, S. Sweden: At the same time that the early agricultural communities described above became established there were other European groups that maintained the Mesolithic lifestyle. Fishing, gathering, and hunting were their main subsistence activities.” ref

“These groups, whose settlement remains have been discovered along the coastline of Denmark, in southern Sweden and in northern Germany as well as by several inland lakes, are referred to as the Ertebolle or Ellerbeck cultures and they are believed to have lived in permanently settled communities. Anders Fischer investigated the distribution of Danubian shaft hole axes made by Linearbandkeramik groups. He believes that contact and trade must have occurred since some of these axes have also been found in late Ertebolle contexts. Therefore, trade in perishable goods such as furs and foodstuffs probably also occurred between these groups. The Mesolithic communities continued their fishing, hunting, and gathering lifestyle for almost a millennium alongside the well-established Northern Linearbandkeramik groups. The Ertebolle and Ellerbeck cultures “were not starving foragers waiting to be enlightened by the appearance of food production”. They were complex social groups living successfully by fishing, foraging, and hunting, as well as by trading with other groups.” ref

“When the transition to agriculture occurred it was a swift process, taking place over just a few generations. Reasons for this sudden transition are still unclear and they are much debated. Rowley Conwy’s model of the eventual acceptance of agriculture because of a seasonal decline in marine resources, specifically the oyster, is questioned by Blankholm. He points out that only the coastal groups were dependent upon the oyster as a food resource and he concludes, “there is still a long way to go before we may adequately outline and explain the transition to farming in Southern Scandinavia.”. Troels Smith believes the Ertebolle may have been ‘semi agrarian’ but this is not an idea that has received much support until recently. A single grain of cereal pollen type was found in a level dated to 5200 BCE at Farups Moss, an Ertebolle site in the Ystad area of Scania. This is minimal evidence from which to interpret an agricultural lifestyle for the Ertebolle. At Trundholm, in North West Zealand, pre elm decline wheat-type pollen, the pollen of Plantago lanceolata (a weed often associated with cereal cultivation), and a barley or large grass type of grain have been found. These finds can be interpreted in several ways. There may have been a “consistent or low-level presence of cereal cultivation in the later Ertebolle” or the pollen may have been naturally transported there, perhaps by the wind. A final possibility that cannot be ignored is that these finds are grass pollen and they have been misidentified. Ertebolle pottery first appears in the archaeological record around 4600 BCE. Small dishes that are thought to have been used as blubber lamps and large storage or cooking jars with pointed bases have been found. The analysis of residues of charred food remains on this pottery has produced some extremely interesting results.” ref

“Not surprisingly, herring and cod bones, as well as fish scales, have been identified. Significant quantities of land-based ingredients, presumably fruits, vegetables, and seeds, were being collected and cooked. The most interesting residue analysis was one of the vessels from Tybrind Vig that appeared to have contained “a fermented porridge with ingredients that included hazelnuts and possibly blood. The substance that was analyzed may be the remains of the sludgy residue that accumulates at the bottom of vessels used to ferment wort. Porridge is a starchy carbohydrate that cannot be fermented. The blood is an interesting interpretation and the residues need to be further analyzed for clarification. A similar interesting analysis of charred residues has been described as a “highly nutritious porridge consisting of mixed wild seeds, hazelnuts, egg-white and possibly blood that had been allowed to ferment. This was found on a pottery vessel from the Ertebolle site at Loddesburg, western Skane. Again, this residue probably represents brewing sludge or sediments. The identification of ‘egg white’ or ‘albumen’ within the mixture is particularly interesting. These are by-products of mashing, the four major soluble proteins of barley products being albumen, globulin, gliadin, and lutelin of which the first two predominate.” ref

“These interesting analyses of residues from Ertebolle pottery with similar mixtures of processed grain indicate that the Ertebolle could have been mashing or fermenting grain. If so, they appear to have been making very unusual and extremely interesting brews. The apparent addition of ‘blood’ and hazelnuts is intriguing. Without access to the details, the original excavation report, and residue analyses, it is impossible to comment further on these finds, except to note that albumen is one of the primary soluble proteins in a barley mash. It is clear that much further research into these interesting residues and into the lifestyle of the Ertebolle is required. How did the Ertebolle obtain the grain? Did they cultivate it, did they obtain it by gift exchange or by trading? It is impossible to be sure. Jennbert believes that the grain may have been imported, either as whole grain to be processed or as the finished product, namely, as flour, porridge, and bread or as manufactured alcoholic drinks. The residues found on Ertebolle pots seems to suggest the importation, trade, or exchange of the whole grain from nearby agricultural groups and the subsequent processing of it into an interesting kind of fermented drink by the Ertebolle themselves.” ref

Swifterbant and Hazendonk; Ijsel, Holland

“The confluence of the Rhine and Maas rivers on the North European plain forms an unusual estuarine environment, with lowland forest and river resources but also extensive marshes, tidal flats, and peat bogs. Here there is good preservation of plant material at Mesolithic/early Neolithic sites in the area. Over 50 sites have so far been located in the Swifterbant sand dunes area. Early cultures were aceramic until c4700 BCE when S-profile pots with pointed bases, similar to those made by the Ertebolle groups, begin to appear in the archaeological record. At later sites dating to c4300 BCE onwards the faunal assemblage includes the bones of domesticated cattle and pigs as well as wild birds, game, and fish, indicating a change to a mixed agricultural lifestyle. Plant remains were abundant, having been well preserved in the wet environment, and there is evidence of apples, berries, naked barley, and wheat as being part of their diet. Cereal chaff, including internodes as well as grain, have been found, indicating the local cultivation of the grain and, therefore, the local processing and consumption of its products.” ref

“Further inland, at Hazendonk, at sites dating to c4200 BCE domesticated cattle were being kept. These sites appear to have been “intermittently inhabited and surrounded by peat bog”. Because of wet conditions large amounts of carbonized grain, as well as cereal chaff, have been preserved, together with plain bowl pottery. At Hazendonk-1 large amounts of carbonized grains as well as chaff and internodes were recovered. Corrie Bakels believes the whole area to have been far too wet during the Neolithic for cereal cultivation to have been practical. She proposes that the population were importing the grain from agricultural groups in other areas. Louwe Kooijmans has also applied this interpretation to the Swifterbant groups. The presence of cereal chaff and carbonized grain is potential evidence for the processing of grain by malting, mashing, and probably fermentation as well. Small amounts of grain would have been imported and processed and it is possible to ferment a gallon of wort successfully. It is as yet unclear when these groups began to cultivate their own crops or whether they were trading with local agricultural groups. Zeiler suggests exports of fish, furs, and skins in return for the grain. It seems unlikely that the Swifterbant and Hazendonk groups made only flour, porridge, and unleavened bread from this imported grain. The attraction of making sweet malts as well as making ale for drinking at feasts is a much more likely interpretation.” ref

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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Neolithic groups: 4th / 3rd millennia BCE

“Within Europe, the early Neolithic cultures, such as the Linearbandkeramik appear to have broken up around the mid 4th millennium BCE and developed into regional cultures which are now referred to as the TRB or Funnel Beaker, Lengyal, Rossen, and Michelsberg cultures. Several Scanian sites have been excavated where “layers containing a mixture of Ertebolle and TRB pottery” have been found. Jennbert argues for settlement and continuity between the Ertebolle and the TRB with a gradual change in lifestyle from nomadic hunter/gatherer to settled agricultural. Whether there was a rapid or a gradual change in lifestyle is currently the subject of “heated debate”. Christopher Tilley describes the process as “continual structuration”, in which the old and the new become fused together, with a gradual alteration in the nature, scale, and emphasis of activities. The gathering of wild resources would have continued as before and the cultivation of grain began on a small scale at first, intensifying over time. The new cereal products and meat from newly domesticated animals had a high prestige and symbolic value due to their exotic nature. They would have been consumed at feasts, celebrations or other events.” ref

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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Funnel Beaker or ‘TRB’ culture

“The ‘TRB’ or ‘Funnel Beaker Culture’ is used as a “common denominator name for a number of culturally related agricultural populations which inhabited north and central Europe between 3600/3300 and 2150 BCE”. It was a very widespread cultural group. Sites have been found along the northern coasts in Central Europe and also in Southern Scandinavia. As is usual in archaeology, the name of the group has come from the style of pottery that they made. This includes elaborately decorated cups and beakers, plain bowls, and flat ceramics, perhaps used as baking plates or as lids for vessels. Funnel beakers clearly function as drinking vessels and, given the agricultural context from which they came, they were used for milk, water, or ale. Ritual, ceremony, and feasting were very important aspects of the early and late Neolithic. This is evidenced by the construction of huge communal monuments from timber and stone, for example, the long mounds and dolmens. Evidence of votive offerings of pottery vessels, probably containing food and drink, is frequently found at entrances to the tombs. Feasts to celebrate the completion of communal constructions are also a strong possibility. TRB pottery is found on settlement sites, at causewayed enclosures and megalithic graves or hunebedden, as these structures are known on the continent, over a wide area of Europe.” ref

“During the 4th millennium BCE, causewayed enclosures and settlements begin to appear in the archaeological record, as do earthen long barrows and megaliths. As well as the construction of large, impressive tombs and monuments, the practice of agriculture became a “dominant concern” of middle and later TRB groups of the 3rd millennium BCE, with increasingly elaborate ceramic forms, intensification of exchange networks, and votive depositions at causewayed enclosures and at the large and elaborate megalithic tombs. Artifacts that are typical of this era include flint sickle blades with sickle gloss, flint hammerstones, and trapezoidal arrowheads that are found in large quantities. Saddle querns and grindstones are also found as well as flint chisels and axes of fine quality and variety in shape and style. Shaft-hole “battle-axes” and double axes are more rarely found and their distribution pattern indicates the possibilities of their function as status objects. Less than sixty of these had been found up to the late 1970s. One site that gives some indication of the complexity and the size of TRB settlements is at Hindby Moss, in southern Scandinavia. At this middle Neolithic site, 283 kilograms of pottery sherds were found representing 1049 decorated and 581 undecorated pots, as well as 22,000 pieces of flint, over 200 arrowheads, 6,000 flint cores, 142 blade knives, more than 200 flint axes, 34  ground stone axes, and 7 battle axes.” ref

“This was a large settlement, covering 20,000 square meters. There was an explosion of pottery styles in the middle Neolithic. All point to the manufacture and consumption of a liquid product. There were drinking cups, funnel beakers, and a wide variety of bowl shapes, both open and pedestalled. Pottery found in funerary contexts in southern Scandinavia, such as in passage graves, survives better than that at settlement sites and appears to have taken different forms from that found at settlements, with elaborate designs and styles such as the pedestalled bowls, open bowls, ceramic spoons, and brimmed beakers. All pottery is highly decorated with elaborate patterns, perhaps reflecting their use in feasting as special vessels of consumption. For the most part, the designs are abstract consisting of lines and patterns, but there is the interesting and notable exception of the so-called ‘face’ pots. These are found in Denmark and are attributed to the middle Neolithic III and IV. The cups seem to have been decorated with recognizable representations of eyes, eyebrows, and noses, with the handle sometimes being incorporated as the nose feature. This interpretation is open to debate. The perception of a ‘face’ is perhaps a subjective one. The significance is of these pots is not at all clear and just over a hundred have been found to date.” ref

“Pottery has been discovered in buildings that have been interpreted as being ‘cult houses’ or ‘special buildings’. These are usually situated close by megalithic tombs. At Tustrup, Denmark, there is evidence for one of these houses measuring approximately 6 meters by 5 meters. Two dolmens and a passage grave formed a semi-circular arc around the building and these were situated about 50 meters away. A total of 28 pots comprising 10 pedestalled bowls together with assorted beakers, bowls, and clay spoons were discovered within the house, which had been destroyed by a fire, hence the survival in situ of the ritual equipment. These buildings have been interpreted as cult buildings or temples since there are no traces of human remains within them, yet they are frequently situated close by megalithic tombs, dolmens, or passage graves. Ritual feasting appears to have been a probable activity within these apparently special buildings. Emmer wheat (Triticum dicoccum) appears most in the archaeological record at settlement sites, the most likely place for the manufacture of all kinds of grain products. Barley and einkorn appear in much smaller quantities. This might be because one of the products of malt and ale production is the so-called ‘spent grain’. This is left after the sweet malt liquid has been washed out of the barley mash.” ref

“Spent grain is an excellent animal feed for ruminant animals, such as cattle. It is not a ‘waste product’ and it is not likely to have been thrown away. This would be a plausible explanation for the small number of barley grains found in the archaeological record. Barley was malted, the malt sugars extracted for immediate consumption or fermentation and the spent grain would have been fed to the cattle. Large shallow bowls and deep buckets are suitable vessels for mashing the malt and for fermenting wort into ale. These styles of pottery vessels appear in abundance in the archaeological record of the TRB West culture. A wide variety of pottery styles have been found in the Dutch Hunebedden and at settlement sites of the West Holland TRB of the 3rd millennium BCE. Middle TRB pottery styles include collared jugs, funnel beakers, lugged beakers, handled cups, buckets, and a variety of bowl shapes. Such pottery styles indicate the manufacture and the consumption of a liquid product. An interesting feature of this period in European prehistory are the deposits of “large caches of up to several kilograms of carbonized grain, often in large vessels…that are difficult to interpret…and do not appear to have been casually discarded”. These apparently deliberate depositions of carbonized grain have been found at sites of the 4th millennium BCE Lengyal culture in northern Poland, specifically, at Radziejow and Opatowice.” ref

“They have been interpreted as ritual offerings and Bogucki has suggested that the stored grain “was slowly carbonized through the heat generated by its rotting in the vessel”. A burning wooden building would be a more likely explanation to carbonize grain stored in pottery vessels. Carbonized grain that is discovered in a pit could indicate that kilning the malt had gone wrong, and the carbonization occurred as a result of an accidental fire, as at the Iron Age malting and brewery site at Eberdingen-Hochdorf.In conclusion, the TRB culture had the necessary material culture and pottery vessels for converting their grain into malt and ale. They had suitable buildings at settlement sites for malting, although posthole evidence on its own is often very difficult to interpret. Thomas described a “new Neolithic” on the Continent during the 4th millennium BCE, with greater complexity in domestic and ritual behavior. The development of monumentality, the building of large earthworks, and central places, such as causewayed enclosures, megaliths, and tombs are all features of this cultural development. The evidence for feasting and ritual in connection with these sites is abundant although the context of the feasting is not always clear. Some may have involved public festivals and celebrations, there would also have been private rituals, ceremonies, and feasts and some may have included ‘work party feasting’, with the consumption of meat and ale for the community workforce involved in monument construction.” ref

“The evidence presented in this chapter for the manufacture of both malts and ale during the middle Neolithic in Europe is convincing. There was trade, communication, and exchange with other cultures that had already learned the techniques of cultivating cereals and processing them into a wide range of products, including ale. Suitable pottery vessels and lids were available, wide bowls for the mash and deep buckets for the ferment of a few gallons. Suitable buildings would have been available, but unfortunately, wooden buildings leave few remains, floor surfaces are often destroyed and are hard to find. The surviving archaeological evidence for the manufacture of malt and ale in the Neolithic is much better on the Orkney Islands, Scotland, where the buildings were constructed from stone. Unstan pottery is bowl-shaped, similar to the Drouwen bowls above and some Grooved Ware is deep, large and bucket-style, also as above. The evidence for the malting, mashing, and fermentation at settlement sites of the Orcadian Neolithic is the subject of the next chapter. Excavations began at the Ness of Brodgar, vast amounts of Grooved Ware and the bones of many cattle point to feasting and the consumption of ale. It is not clear yet where the ale was made. The presence of drains might indicate that the ale was made on site. Nick Card, who is leading the excavations at the Ness of Brodgar, is reluctant to discuss the issue of brewing ale from the barley that was being grown on Orkney in the Neolithic. For some reason, this research is regarded as ‘controversial’.” ref

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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Neolithic settlements of Orkney: 4th/3rd millennia BCE

“The most complete and the best-preserved domestic buildings dating to the Neolithic in the whole of northern Europe are to be found on the Orkney Islands, at Knap of Howar, Barnhouse, and Skara Brae. Here the houses were constructed of stone rather than timber. At all three sites, barley and wheat were being cultivated and processed during the 4th millennium BCE. Knap of Howar, on the remote northern island of Papa Westray is the oldest standing house in northern Europe. Radiocarbon dating indicates that the house has a chronological range from c3800 BCE until c2800 BCE, although the actual length of habitation may have been for only around 500 years. Other settlement sites on Orkney are not as well preserved. Barnhouse is situated close by the Stones of Stenness and it has been dated to the mid 4th millennium BCE. Only the wall footings remain because of intensive ploughing of the land. Skara Brae is situated at Skaill Bay on the west coast of mainland Orkney. The village is very well preserved because it has been buried for millennia beneath sand dunes.” ref

“The stone buildings and artifacts were first revealed in the 19th century, after a particularly severe storm. The village was initially investigated by Flinders Petrie. The village was Neolithic and had been inhabited between c3000 to 2000 BCE. The site of Rinyo, on the island of Rousay at Bigland Round, is now completely hidden under the grass. Unless new excavations are undertaken, all that remains for study are the ground plans that were drawn up during Childe’s investigations and the photographs taken during the excavations. Other Orcadian Neolithic settlements that have been excavated but have not yet been fully published include the extensive site at Links of Noltland, Westray, and other fast eroding coastal sites at Pool, Tofts Ness, and Stove Bay on Sanday. Two early Neolithic settlement sites on mainland Orkney have recently been excavated. These are situated close by the tomb on Cuween Hill and at Stonehall, a few miles west of Kirkwall, by the Stromness road. The building remains at Knap of Howar and Skara Brae are unique. These and other Orcadian Neolithic settlements can provide valuable clues to the activities of Neolithic cultures throughout the British Isles and Europe.” ref

Knap of Howar, Papa Westray

“According to radiocarbon dates, the oldest settlement so far discovered on the Orkney Islands is at Knap of Howar on Papa Westray, one of the most northerly islands of the Orkney group. Here, a dwelling house and workshop, both stone-built and connected by a narrow passage with radiocarbon dates from between c3800 to 2800 BCE. House 1, the larger of the two connected buildings, is often referred to as being the dwelling house while House 2, the smaller building, has been interpreted as a workshop and storage area. The reality probably was that both buildings had several functions, according to the time of year and the necessary activities undertaken. According to the excavated evidence of a wide variety of fish bones, cattle, sheep and pig bones and carbonized grain found in the extensive midden that surrounded the buildings, the people who lived on Papa Westray 5000 years ago were adept at fishing, both onshore and offshore, and practiced animal husbandry. They cultivated and processed grain as well. The pottery assemblage consisted mostly of wide, shallow, highly decorated bowls known as Unstan Ware. Sherds from deep, flat-based storage vessels were also found. Unstan bowls would be suitable for mashing the malt and the deep vessels would be ideal for the fermentation of wort, if covered. Quantities of grain processed would probably have been small. Having visited and studied the buildings at Knap of Howar, it seems that the smaller building (referred to as House 2 in Ritchie would have functioned well for food preparation, cooking, storage, eating, and sleeping. The building has been separated into three distinct areas using upright stone slabs set into the ground. There may have been screens made from organic materials as well.” ref

Grain in prehistoric diet

“The preparation and consumption of food and drink are important aspects of prehistory that can provide a valuable insight into the daily lives of people in past societies. The introduction of the cultivation of grain in the Near East and the spread of the agricultural lifestyle across Europe and into the British Isles was a great change in the lives and habits of Mesolithic people. It is one of the most important changes to have occurred in prehistory. After millennia of subsistence activities based on hunting, gathering, and fishing people began to cultivate and therefore to have control over a variety of crops, including wheat and barley. They also began to domesticate animals. Much has been written of this so-called “Neolithic Revolution”, that is, the period of change from gathering, hunting, and fishing to that of farming and herding. It was a change of lifestyle that occurred at different times in different parts of the world, but what was it that made people choose to cultivate wheat and barley, in particular? Cereal grains are a major source of carbohydrates in the human diet, being useful for making porridge, bread, and flour. They are also unique as a potential source of malt and malt sugars that can be fermented into beer or ale. With a minimum of simple equipment, such as containers, water, and heat, it is possible to trick the barley into digesting itself into sugars.” ref

“Brewing in the 21st century has become a global, multi-million-pound technological business, with large breweries producing billions of gallons of beer annually. Many of these large breweries whose names are so familiar today such as Bass, Worthington, Younger, and Guinness have only been in existence since the middle of the 18th Century. Prior to this quite recent industrialization malt, beer and ale were manufactured either domestically or locally on a small scale. The techniques of brewing small amounts of beer from malted grain have become largely neglected and the skill of domestic brewing is no longer a part of most peoples’ daily experience. This thesis, based upon the biochemistry of malting and brewing and upon small-scale domestic brewing methods (Line 1980) proposes that Mesolithic cultures were interested in making particular products from the grain, that is,  sweet malts and ale, and that this was a major factor in the decision to selectively cultivate grain.” ref

The ‘bread or beer’ debate

“Robert Braidwood first posed the question ‘Did man once live by beer alone?’ and this debate still continues today. Solomon Katz has coined the phrase ‘biocultural evolution’ and he argues for the importance of the transference of specialized food processing techniques to subsequent generations. Certain processing activities, such as brewing, become enshrined in ritual. Brian Hayden agrees with Katz and Voigt that grain was first domesticated to produce ale for consumption at feasts and at other special occasions. However, he notes the difficulty of finding direct archaeological evidence for early farming techniques and such grain processing activity as brewing. Most recently Alexander Joffe has proposed  “the production, exchange, and consumption of alcoholic beverages form a significant element and regularity in the emergence of complex, hierarchically organized societies, along with the restructuring of labor and gender relations.” Although these arguments are in the context of early Neolithic cultures in the Near East, the Levant, and Egypt, they are equally as relevant to grain cultivation and processing across Europe and in the British Isles during the Neolithic.” ref

Brewing in history and prehistory

“Both the manufacture and the consumption of a wide range of alcoholic beverages are understood to have been important aspects of social, economic, religious, and ritual life in Iron Age Europe, in Viking cultures, and in early medieval Europe. Drinking horns and a huge bronze cauldron that contained the remnants of mead was found in a rich ‘princely’ grave at Hochdorf, Germany, dated to the 1st millennium BCE. A large quantity of carbonized malt, accidentally burnt as it was being kilned, was found at Eberdingen-Hochdorf. Malt is the primary ingredient for beer or ale. The earliest written references to ale being made in the British Isles can be found in the Vindolanda tablets, dated to the early 1st millennium CE. Roman soldiers recorded their purchases of barley ale made by the local tribes. Pliny refers to the Gallic tribes of Northern Europe making “intoxicating drinks from corn steeped in water…that are capable of being kept until they have attained a considerable age” (Pliny XIV Ch 29).” ref

“There are also many references to the manufacture and consumption of ale and mead in the myths, legends, and skaldic verse of the Viking Age in northern Europe. Ale and mead were consumed on many occasions, for example at religious feasts and festivals, at funerals, in drinking competitions, and before the men departed to sea in the spring. Women were usually. Both Unstan and Grooved Ware have been found at Neolithic settlement sites, Pool and Stove Bay, on the island of Sanday. The potential function of the two pottery styles is different. Wide, shallow bowls would be suitable for a variety of activities including the boiling or evaporation of liquids and mashing the malt. Deep, large bucket-shaped vessels would be useful for storage and, with the addition of a lid, for fermentation of wort. At Pool, Sanday, the remains of 14 houses have been found together with sherds representing almost 2000 pottery vessels. Unstan Ware predominated in the lower levels while Grooved ware predominated in later levels. Perhaps the emphasis on the different grain processing activities changed, with more malt/sugar extraction in the early Neolithic and a greater amount of fermentation in the later Neolithic as the amounts of barley cultivated by the inhabitants increased in quantity and their techniques improved.” ref

“There is clearly much more research needed into the potential functions of pottery vessels in the Neolithic. The following photographs of the buildings at Knap of Howar, Papa Westray, illustrate aspects of the interpretations discussed above. The grain processing area at the rear of House 1, Knap of Howar. There is a large quern stone and stone rubber, probably still in situ. There are footings for post holes and upright slabs that, with the addition of a central wooden gate, would be effective in keeping the animals in the front section, well away from the grain processing area. House 1 is larger than House 2. Barnhouse, mainland OrkneyExcavations at Barnhouse Farm, mainland Orkney undertaken by Colin Richards and a team from Glasgow University have revealed a large, multi-phase Grooved Ware settlement (Richards 1992).” ref

“Here, only half a mile from the Stones of Stenness, there was a village of about 15 houses. The village is contemporary with the stone circle, that is, the mid 4th millennium BCE. Many large Grooved Ware vessels, some still intact, were discovered in situ where the villagers had used them. The context of this Grooved Ware pottery may allow the function of the pottery to be assessed. Unfortunately, the buildings at Barnhouse have not been preserved as well as those at Knap of Howar and Skara Brae because the site has been ploughed with machinery. Building 8 This is the largest Neolithic building yet excavated on mainland Orkney. It is also the most unusual. It has been interpreted as a temple by the excavator, Colin Richards. Other interpretations agree that this building probably had a special function that was more to do with ritual activity than habitation and everyday domestic life. It is a roughly square building and has been described as “centrally positioned on a sub-circular clay platform enclosed by a stone wall”. The walls were substantially constructed, the outer wall being 1.5 meters thick and the inner wall being 3 meters thick.” ref

“The floor area of the ‘inner sanctum’ is roughly 60 square meters. It may be possible to interpret the area of clay flooring between inner and outer walls as being suitable for a malting floor: it fulfills the necessary criteria but, at present, such a suggestion can only be a supposition pending further scientific investigations of grain found there. There are two hearths within the outer area, both by the drain. This area might be useful for processing activities such as mashing, an activity that requires access to fire, water and drainage. Within Building 8 the footings for a stone ‘dresser’ were found, even though the surface features of the whole site have been badly damaged by ploughing over the years. Two hearths were also located during excavations, one centrally placed and the other apparently placed in the entrance to the building. Building 8 has been so reconstructed that one has to actually leap or step over the hearth in order to enter the building. Richards argues that such unusual aspects indicate that the building was, in all probability, constructed with ritual activity in mind and he believes that these rituals involved the use of fire and water. These two elements are of great significance in the transformation of grain into malt, malt sugars, and ale.” ref

“Could this have been one of the ritual activities undertaken in this building? Excavations at Barnhouse have uncovered several drains. In Building 8 the drain runs under the “dresser” and under both internal and external walls. It could have served to channel waste liquids outside the building. Drains have been found at Skara Brae, Rinyo, and at other recently discovered and excavated Neolithic sites, for example, Cuween Hill and at Stonehall. Clearly, the Orcadian Neolithic people planned, designed, and constructed their settlements, houses, and other buildings with integral drainage systems. Why did they do this and what was the function of the drainage system so carefully planned and built at so many settlements? Practical experiments have shown that malting, mashing, and fermentation require access to and the use of a lot of water. Waste liquids, such as the washings from pots, have to be disposed of. The necessity for washing out and cleaning the used sticky vessels and equipment from malt sugar manufacture is a major and essential part of the whole process of brewing. If the vessels and containers are not kept scrupulously clean then subsequent attempts to make ale in that vessel will fail and the ale will be sour and undrinkable. The cleanliness of equipment is crucial for successful brewing.” ref

“The presence of drains at so many of these Orcadian Neolithic settlement sites is a necessary feature for brewing to have taken place there. For any brewer, even today, the drains are essential and necessary. They are an important and a significant feature as a visit to any brewery, large or small, will demonstrate. Building 2 Here, evidence was found for the removal of barley husks, particularly around the eastern hearth. It is the only building that was in use throughout the life of the settlement. Other houses were rebuilt, altered, or abandoned over the years. The constant use of Building 2 might reflect its special function and importance as the grain processing center for the whole village. Upright slabs were used to separate different working or living areas. There were two large stone-kerbed hearths. Ritual activity within Building 2 is hinted at with the female burial in a cist, positioned almost in the center of the building by the outer hearth and so placed that anyone who entered could not avoid stepping on and over it. Patrick Ashmore has suggested a ‘cult use’ of the building, in terms of the high-quality stone tool, mace head, and carved stone ball production that took place there. A substantial stone-built drain runs out of the building, from the north corner. Most of the buildings at Barnhouse had stone drains that fed into Loch Harray, a freshwater loch. Drains are essential for wet grain processing.” ref

“The village was a well-organized community. There was a central outdoor workplace for making flint and stone tools, for the manufacture of ceramics, and for skin and hide preparation. These are essential activities that could be easily done out of doors, weather conditions permitting. Grain processing, however, would have to have taken place within a building, to afford the malt suitable protection from the elements and from animals and birds. With its location in the heart of the ritual center of Orkney, close by the two stone circles and within sight of the chambered tomb of Maes Howe, Barnhouse as a settlement appears to encompass both ritual and domestic aspects of Neolithic life. Suitable equipment and conditions for malting, mashing, and brewing can certainly be found there. There were large Grooved Ware vessels, evidence for grain processing activity in Building 2, and a complex and apparently planned drainage system to serve the whole settlement. All these are elements related to and necessary for the ritual of brewing. The Grooved Ware pottery has been analyzed using the scientific-analytical technique of Gas Chromatography and Mass Spectrometry. The results of this work have been published since the completion and submission of this thesis.” ref

“Using this method organics and lipids can be extracted from the fabric of ancient ceramic vessels and different classes of food can be identified by their different chromatographic signatures. Initial analysis has revealed that the Grooved Ware vessels at Barnhouse were associated with barley, ‘unidentified sugars’, cattle milk, and cattle meat. There was also evidence that the sugars may have been associated or mixed with milk in some way. The presence of sugars could be an indication of mashing, that is, the extraction of malt sugars and malt liquid from the barley grain. However, it has to be also considered that these sugars may perhaps be derived from milk products, although this is unlikely. The possibility of mixing malt sugars with milk is an interesting proposition. Mixing the malt extract with milk would have made a nutritious drink, very like malted milk drinks that are popular today, such as Horlicks. This would have been a welcome drink in the cold of an Orkney winter and probably appreciated more than ale.” ref

“It would have made an excellent and nutritious drink for everyone, including children and infants, providing them with essential B-vitamins from the malt and calcium from the milk. The ritual of grain processing at Barnhouse involved not only brewing but also the malting and mashing of grain into malt sugars, thus producing a nutritious and valuable dietary supplement for all, adults and children alike. At Barnhouse, Dr Jones’ research revealed that the medium-sized Grooved Ware vessels had contained either milk or meat. If vessels had been sealed prior to use with animal fats or butter then these results might perhaps be indicative of this treatment. The strongest evidence for barley apparently came from the smallest and the largest vessels. These are interpreted as being the serving and storage vessels respectively, particularly since the largest vessels were in static locations (Jones, pers comm). There is a possibility that the large vessels at Barnhouse were used for the fermentation of barley wort. The weight of a large Grooved Ware vessel filled with fermenting liquid would make it impossible to move, hence their static location. Liquids can be transferred from one vessel to another by siphoning, using reeds, or by using smaller vessels.” ref

“Storage of the barley grain at other stages of processing as well as the storage of other foodstuffs could also be functions of these large static Grooved Ware vessels. According to Dr Jones’ research, the best evidence for barley came from the complete medium-sized Grooved Ware pot that was discovered sunk in the ground up to its rim in Building 8. Could this have been a ‘must pot’, that is, a pot maintaining a yeast culture? Storage vessels that are set into the ground have a steady temperature and would be perfect for the maintenance of a yeast culture. All the elements necessary for malting and brewing are to be found at Barnhouse. There were floors suitable for malting, stone-built drains, suitable pottery vessels, and suitable buildings, as well as the evidence for the ‘removal of husks’ in Building 2. Skara Brae, Mainland Orkney. A violent storm in the 1850s revealed middens at Skaill Bay that were 15 to 16 feet deep and contained artifacts of stone and bone. The discoverers, Mr. Watt and Mr. Farrer, began initial investigations and discovered that the stone buildings had also been preserved beneath the sand dunes. George Petrie began excavations in the 1860s and published the first plans of the buildings, now known as Huts 1 and 3). He discovered a drain leading out to sea from a rectangular cell (A) attached to the seaward side of Hut 1. This part of Hut 1 has since been destroyed by the sea but it is included in Childe’s ground plan. Artifacts found at Skara Brae included a quartz celt, whale rib bones, which may have been used for roof supports, carved stone balls, several circular stone pot lids, and sherds from very large pottery vessels. Petrie was impressed with the “considerable constructive skill” of the builders of this ancient settlement” ref

“Excavations at Skara Brae, the ground plans and, in particular, the many sections drawn of Skara Brae merit close study, as do the detailed descriptions. Childe and Paterson’s work was much more than a simple conservation exercise. Attempts were made to assess “stratigraphical variation”, to plot finds and record accurately the settlement that they were investigating. At times it was a confusion of walls and midden material and it was all very difficult to interpret. Several levels of occupation were revealed by initial investigations and provided organic material for radiocarbon dating. Carbonized grain was found in the middens. Dates for the first period of occupation range from 3380 – 2585 cal BCE, and for the second period from 2585 – 1975 cal BCE.” ref

“Childe described his impressions of “hasty abandonment” and the evidence of later different and interspersed use of the settlement. With no apparent trace of hostile activity, it is most likely that the settlement was overwhelmed periodically by violent storms. Childe interpreted four re-occupation levels in Hut 7, with layers of sand and deer bones in the upper levels indicating the continued use of the site after the terrible storm which appears to have killed the cattle and destroyed the crops of the early inhabitants. Hut 7 was filled with sand and, as Childe dug down, he discovered a square stone hearth at a depth of 5 feet from the roof level and several feet above the floor. This had been constructed upon windblown sand. Red deer bones were found both above and below this hearth. The early inhabitants grew barley and wheat, kept domestic cattle and pigs, and were skilled seafarers, having arrived by sea to the Orkney Islands at some time in the early 4th millennium BCE, presumably bringing with them cattle, grain, and the knowledge and rituals of grain processing techniques.” ref

“Their skills in crafts are indicated by the fine, elaborate tools and pottery that were made there. Excellent engineering and planning skills are demonstrated in the construction of the buildings and the drainage system. Ten buildings have been uncovered, with evidence of rebuilding and refurbishment to all except Hut 7, which stands on the natural clay and which was in use throughout the life of the settlement. The furnishings in all huts indicate organized and structured living. Most huts have stone ‘dressers’ and ‘beds’ and some have stone-lined and clay-sealed boxes built into the floor. Not all the hut interiors are identical. The internal furnishings of the huts are variable in design and therefore the huts varied in function and usage also). Some of the pottery vessels at Skara Brae were very large indeed, with rim diameters up to 2 feet and measuring up to 2 feet deep. Circular pot lids were fashioned from stone to fit these pottery vessels, some of which could hold up to 30 gallons of liquid. Such large pots were made for a purpose by skillful potters and they must have been clamp fired outside the buildings. The pots are too large and too wide to have been moved in through the doors of the huts and it is most likely that they were placed into the huts using access through the roof and were then left in situ. The most likely function for these huge pottery vessels would be as storage vessels or for the fermentation of barley wort.” ref

“The new Visitor Centre at Skara Brae lists ‘beer’ as being amongst the beverages likely to have been consumed by the early inhabitants at Skara Brae but no suggestions are presented as to the techniques and methods used to manufacture it. Clarke and Maguire have also suggested that ‘beers’ may have been made, although they seem to be hinting that it would not have been ‘proper beer’ but an inferior product. It is true that it would not have been a bright, fizzy, carbonated beer as we know it today. Instead, it would have been fairly clear, flat, uncarbonated ale that was flavored and preserved with Meadowsweet or other local herbs and made in a similar way as that described in Chapter One. This ale was not an inferior product. It is a traditional ale, as has been made and consumed over millennia, and one that can still be made today with the right knowledge and skill, suitable ingredients, and basic equipment. Henbane was apparently another herb that was used by the inhabitants of Skara Brae. Perhaps it was used for toothache, as is suggested at the Visitor Centre. Perhaps it was a ritual additive to ale, as discussed earlier with reference to the Balfarg residues. Some of the buildings at Skara Brae were suitable for the processing of grain into malt and ale. Hut 8, Skara BraeThe excavated contents included numerous chips and cores of chert, masses of clay, piles of heat cracked stones, pots and lids, stones and pounders, and stone knives. Large Grooved Ware vessels stood in the Hut and in the porch, which was a later addition to the building. An internal wall, to the right of the door when entering, was also added at a later date to the construction of the original building. ” ref

“The building has no ‘bed’ compartments and no ‘dresser’ but it does have numerous shelves, ambries, and footings of a kiln. At the north end of the hut, there are the remains of a structure described as “… a built wall projects at right angles to the hut’s east wall, but is not properly bonded in therewith. After 2 feet it turns north again, but its line is continued by a wall of thin slabs set on edge. Beyond this partition lies a complex structure, which, as Mr Paterson cleverly points out, bears a close resemblance to a kiln. On the other three sides this annex is bounded by big flagstones set on edge, the corners being rounded off with courses of dry masonry. There is a gap between the slabs forming the rear (northern) wall and a similar gap flanked by another pair of slabs set on edge in the outer wall. Between the two pairs the gap is traversed by a low wall supporting a lintel slab. Mr. Paterson interprets this as a kiln flue …”. This description is complex and invaluable as an eyewitness account. Paterson’s interpretation of it as a kiln is supported by the discovery of oven or kiln bases at the Neolithic settlement of Rinyo, on Rousay. The necessary materials, equipment, and conditions for malting grain and drying malt can all be found within Hut 8 at Skara Brae. The floor is potentially suitable for malting. There were stone pounders for cracking the malt, large vessels with lids for storage, and a kiln in which to dry the malt.” ref

“In many respects, Hut 8 has similarities to the barn at the Corrigall Farm Museum where the Bere Barley was malted for the brewing experiments that were undertaken as a part of this thesis. At Corrigall, the winnowing area is located between two opposing doorways, using the wind that is channeled through to separate the grain from the chaff by throwing it into the air. The grain, being heavier, drops to the floor while the lighter chaff is blown away, out of the barn. The person performing the task of winnowing can do so in a warm, dry place and good use is made of the wind in wet weather. It is practical and expedient. Hut 8 has the interesting feature in the north-facing wall, described above and interpreted as a kiln flue by Paterson. This would work as a streamlined aperture, which would gather the north wind and vent the south). With this aperture open to a north wind and with the southerly door/porch open, the through draft would create suitable winnowing conditions, similar to that at the Corrigall Farm grain barn. The porch, added to Hut 8 at a later date, indicates a later modification, perhaps because of the strong winds on Orkney. The built in wall, again added at a later date, might have been done to create a relatively draught-free area in which to sit, making, and mending tools. A building such as Hut 8 at Skara Brae where tools are made and repaired and where the grain may be stored, winnowed, malted, and dried in a kiln should perhaps not be called a ‘workshop’ but rather a storage area and grain barn.” ref

“Hut 7, Skara BraeStanding on the natural sand, Hut 7 was apparently in use throughout the life of the settlement. The interior is well furnished. There is a stone ‘dresser’, three floor boxes of stone slabs sealed with clay, ‘box beds’ or ‘pens’ as Childe referred to them, and a central hearth with a stone seat beside it. There is a stone-built plinth to the left of the door when entering that has an area of floor space enclosed by slabs in front of it. The long slab to the side of the hearth was not part of the furnishings. It was a roof-supporting pillar that crushed “a very large pot with a decorated rim” that had been standing by the hearth when the roof fell in. Artifacts found within the hut include small whalebone cups containing haematite pigment, stone mortars, various ‘cooking pots’, and several large Grooved Ware vessels. Pen D contained the skull of an ox. The foundation burials of two old women were found underneath Pen Y and inscribed marks were noted on the front of the slab of this Pen. So far these inscribed marks are not understood nor have they been interpreted. Hut 7 is the most low-lying of all the huts and Childe vividly described the lowest floor levels in this hut as being “… a slimy mass, having very much the consistency of blancmange.” ref

“It consisted of saturated sand merging into the red clay of the floor, and containing, in suspension, broken bones, lost artifacts, and all sorts of refuse. In this glutinous mass a multitude of large stones, mostly broken, were lying about in disorder, forming unstable and slippery islands on which one was glad to stand as refuges from the surrounding morass”. Childe interpreted this as evidence that the inhabitants had lived in filthy and squalid conditions, but it was only this one hut that was described as “chaotic and disgusting” and “a morass of filth”. Flooding could be the cause of such conditions, given the low level of the hut compared with the rest of the settlement. Another explanation might be that the hut was used over a long period of time for an aspect of the manufacture of ale or its consumption. A large highly decorated pot had stood by the central hearth but was smashed by a falling pillar when the roof collapsed. Fermenting wort needs to be kept warm. Had this pot been full of fermenting wort when it was smashed, which is likely given its position by the warm hearth, then the floor would have been flooded with sweet sticky wort or fermenting ale. If reeds had been on the floor during the lifetime of the hut, then the spilt ale and reeds mixture would decay as a potentially disgusting mess, with lost items in suspension, exactly as described by Childe.” ref

“If a liquid, specifically sweet, sticky wort or else the fermented ale, was processed or consumed within this hut, then it would need to be transferred from one vessel to another. One way of doing this is would be to use gravity and perhaps reed tubes. The pot would need to stand on the ‘dresser’ or perhaps on the stone plinth and the liquid could then be siphoned into a suitable vessel standing on the ground. Reeds were available on Neolithic Orkney and would probably work as siphon tubes. Alternative methods could include holes in the base of pots or pouring from one vessel into another, a tough, heavy, and difficult task, or using smaller vessels to transfer the liquid. The transference of liquids from one vessel to another is always a messy business. Accidents often occur and some sticky wort or fermented ale is nearly always spilt on the floor. This might explain the disgusting state of the floor in Hut 7 and the lack of a comparable mess on the floors of other huts. Unique to this hut and situated to the left of the door is a large stone-built plinth, with an area before it enclosed by stone slabs. This would be suitable for the transfer of liquids by syphon, the spillage being contained within the area built before it. A small ‘ambry’ or keeping place, about the size of a single stone, is built into its front face, the purpose of which is not clear. Without more evidence, it is difficult to attribute either a mundane or ritual activity. At various times in the description of excavations, Childe refers to a “green slime” or “green sewage clay” that he noted to be in most of the drains. At the base of Wall Q this green slime reached a depth of up to about 20 inches. He interpreted it as being the probable remains of human sewage, the main function in his opinion for the drainage system.” ref

“Unfortunately, there has been no scientific analysis of this substance, nor, apparently, have recent excavations come across it in any of the drainage systems of the more recently discovered Neolithic sites and domestic structures on Orkney (Richards pers comm). There are no drains attached to Hut 7 and yet this ‘curious green substance’ was found within the Hut in Pit P, a circular stone-lined sump at the foot of the ‘dresser’. It was also found in the base of Pen D. Both of these green deposits went through the clay floor and into the underlying sand. It is possible that Childe’s interpretation of the green material as decayed sewage in the drains is correct. If so, then what was happening at the ‘dresser’ in Hut 7, to allow a thick deposit of this substance to leach through the clay floor into the sand? A more plausible explanation is that the green slime represents decayed sugar residues from spilt wort or ale within Hut 7. Hut 4 and Hut 5, Skara BraeThick deposits of the “green slime” or “green sewage clay”, as described by Childe, were found by wall ‘Q’ close to Huts 4, 5, 9, and 10 apparently representing some kind of discharge from those cells. Drains run under both these huts, apparently connecting cell 2 of Hut 5 and cell 1 of Hut 4 and continuing towards the cell of an earlier Hut 4. There is a huge ‘sump’ beneath Hut 5, the precise function of which is not at all clear. Another drain (Drain E) runs from Hut 5, under the main passage, and out to sea. Any grain processing that took place within these huts would involve the washing of used pottery. Brewing or grain processing residues, waste liquid, and sugars would wash into the drains and decompose, perhaps creating the green slime found in so many places at both Skara Brae and Rinyo by Gordon Childe.” ref

“Future excavations at Neolithic Orcadian sites should lookout for any of this green substance so that it can be properly analyzed. The drains at Skara Brae present a confusing picture but one that merits much further investigation than this brief analysis. Hut 5 may possibly have been used for the wet processing of barley mash,  namely, obtaining a sweet wort or malt liquid by sparging the barley mash with hot water. The hut is furnished with floor boxes, box ‘beds’, and a central hearth. The floor boxes would function well as kettles or water heaters. Any water stored inside them could be easily heated up with hot stones and subsequently used for mashing or other purposes. Many huts at Skara Brae have these floor boxes, usually referred to as ‘limpet boxes’, that is, for the live storage of limpets to use as food or fishing bait. This does not seem a likely function. Limpets would soon become very smelly. They require sea water and regular daily tidal changes in order to survive. A more suitable function for the boxes would be as ‘kettles’ for a supply of hot or warm water. In Hut 7, ox ribs were found in two of the floor boxes, so they could also be used for cooking meat. Hut 4 has internal structural similarities to an animal barn, with vertical slabs set into the ground to delineate spaces.” ref

“These are about the right size for animal stalls. The internal furnishings of Hut 4 are unlike the other huts and merit much further investigation. How big were the cattle at Skara Brae and would they have fitted through the entrance passage into Hut 4? These issues are not directly related to the manufacture of malt and ale and will be the subject of future research, together with a detailed analysis of the probable functions of Huts 1 and 2, which are more domestic in character than any of the huts discussed so far. In summary, the architects, builders, and inhabitants of Skara Brae had a clear design in mind when they arrived in their boats at the Orkney Islands and began building the huts for their community. Skara Brae has several levels of construction and development within it. In many respects, it could be described as a settlement tell, albeit on a small scale, that is similar to those in the Near East. Skara Brae has complex levels and there are confusing inter-relationships between the buildings. The inhabitants here created and continually modified a practical and functional living space. They needed somewhere safe and suitable to raise their children, to store, to cook, and to prepare their food, to process their grain into malt and ale, to stall their animals, and to provide shelter and warmth for all in both summer and winter.” ref

“The Neolithic settlement at Skara Brae could be understood as being very like a traditional crofting community, with different activities being pursued depending on the time of year, the prevailing weather conditions, and many other practical considerations. Making sweet malts and ale was only a part of a complex lifestyle. Rinyo, Bigland Round, Rousay. The walls of the buildings did not survive as well as at Skara Brae and Knap of Howar and the village is now overgrown. Nothing remains visible above ground today. Childe took many photographs and accurate plans and drawings were also made. These are now the main means of investigation and interpretation of this site, unless it is re-excavated in the future. According to Childe,  there were at least 7 houses and 2  major phases of rebuilding. Childe excavated 4 of the ‘chambers’ and thought that the village may have been significantly larger than Skara Brae. Grooved Ware pottery was used at this settlement, with large flat-based vessels that were comparable in size to those at Skara Brae and similar to those at Knap of Howar. Stone pot lids measuring up to 22 inches in diameter were also found. Childe noted that hunting equipment and fishing tackle were “notably absent” from the site, although it is possible that the acid soil may have destroyed such bone tools and implements. Stone drains, some lined with hazel bark, were found at Rinyo.” ref

“Also of interest to grain processing activities such as malting and mashing are the many ovens and hearths that Childe and his team uncovered during excavations. A particularly large oven and hearth was found in Chamber C and a clay oven base was found under the floor of Chamber A. All the necessities for making ale from the grain are evident at Rinyo. There are stone ‘dressers’, hearths, suitable pottery vessels, and a drainage system with evidence of the green sludgy deposits. Many stone boxes are set into the ground that, as discussed earlier, could have provided hot water for a multitude of purposes. The immersion of fire-heated stones would suffice for this. It would seem that life at Rinyo was very like that at Skara Brae. It is worth noting that Rousay, of all the Orkney Islands, has the largest number of stalled and chambered tombs, in total, 15. Was the settlement at Rinyo the only one on the island, or are there more yet to be discovered? Did the settlement have a special significance, perhaps to do with burial and mortuary practices? The site merits further investigation.” ref

Other Orcadian settlements 

“A number of other settlements are known on the Orkney Islands but, unfortunately, for most of these sites the excavation reports are yet to be published in full. Neolithic settlements have been excavated on the island of Sanday, specifically at Pool, Tofts Ness, and Stove Bay. All had both Grooved Ware and Unstan Ware pottery and buildings that appear very similar to those at Skara Brae, Rinyo, and Barnhouse. The site at Stove Bay is being rapidly destroyed by the action of the sea. The settlement at Pool had at least 14 houses and a complex series of midden deposits. The pottery sequence discovered at Pool is particularly interesting, since it appears to provide a “chronological and material sequence, which transcends the Unstan-Grooved Ware divide” and a very large number of vessels, almost 2000, appear to be represented by the pottery sherds found there. Tofts Ness seems to have been a small settlement containing one or two houses and an assemblage of Grooved Ware. Stove Bay is rapidly eroding out of the cliffs and is being slowly destroyed by the sea. Walls, house floors, and stone kerbed hearths are visible in the cliff face. A much larger Neolithic settlement on the north coast of Westray known as Links of Noltland is also being eroded and destroyed by the Atlantic Ocean. It appears to have been about four times larger than Skara Brae.” ref

“A full analysis of these sites must await the publication of excavation reports. Women in Neolithic Orkney Given the historical reality that women have frequently and generally been responsible for growing and tending the crops and for making the ale and beer in Viking and in Medieval times, then it is possible that women in Neolithic groups and communities, such as those on Orkney, would have been the principal grain cultivators, processors, maltsters and brewers. They would have possessed the necessary skills and knowledge of the special secrets and techniques of processing the grain into sweet malt products and ale. The role of women in Neolithic communities would have been an important and varied one, involving activities like childcare, crop cultivation, food gathering and processing, the manufacture of malt, and the brewing of ale. Their knowledge of the use of plants and herbs must have extended to healing skills and much more. To give an example, pregnancy and childbirth are areas of experience that are exclusive to women and that frequently require special skill, knowledge, and experience in the use of herbs to aid and assist at these times.” ref

“Hilda Ellis Davidson has pointed out the diverse roles of women in prehistoric and early historic times, with their use of herbs in healing rituals being an important aspect of their specialized knowledge. It seems that two elderly women were buried, perhaps ritually as foundation burials, under Hut 7 at Skara Brae. This might indicate the importance of these particular women. Perhaps they were the healers, wise women, maltsters, brewers, or spiritual leaders within the community. At Barnhouse also there is a burial cist that contained a female skeleton beneath Building 2. This building, like Hut 7, was related to aspects of grain processing activity and it appears to have been in use throughout the lifetime of the settlement. Perhaps a similar practice of honoring an important wise woman of the community is indicated here, at the settlement situated close by the Stones of Stenness, in another foundation burial. The communities at Skara Brae and other Neolithic Orcadian sites had a suitable material culture in terms of pottery vessels, specially built drains, and suitable buildings, for making sweet malt products and ale from the barley and wheat that they grew. The transformation of grain into ale involves a specific set of domestically based ritualistic activities and processes.” ref

“The barley or wheat grain must be planted, tended, and cultivated before it can be harvested, threshed, winnowed, malted, mashed, sparged, and finally fermented into an intoxicating drink, perhaps with special or medicinal herbal additives added during the boiling stage. The techniques for each process are quite specific. The order in which the tasks are done cannot be altered and there is much that can go wrong at different stages of the whole process. Fermentation was believed to be a magical event until recent historical times when, as was discussed in Chapter One, Louis Pasteur and John Tyndall discovered the scientific and biochemical explanations. The magical properties of the barley grain may have made it a special, even sacred crop during the Neolithic. Women were very likely to have been responsible for the sowing, cultivation, harvesting, and complex processing of the grain into sweetness or into an intoxicating or a healing drink. Euan MacKie has proposed that Skara Brae was “a settlement of an elite of wise men or professional priest astronomers, comparable to those … at the great henge sites of the south, like Durrington Walls”.” ref

“His interpretation of male ‘priest astronomers’ at Skara Brae is not supported by the archaeological evidence of the female foundation burials that are discussed above and the analysis of the function of some of the Huts of the village. It might be argued that the spiritual leaders of the Neolithic community were women. However, a more realistic and valid explanation would include both male and female spiritual leaders of the community. MacKie notes, in particular, the drains that run under the village of Skara Brae and the separate building, Hut 8, which he interprets as a combined workshop and cookhouse. He concludes that these factors made Skara Brae much more than a “simple peasant settlement”. That Skara Brae was a special village is an interpretation open to debate. Some potential reasons for the drains and the probable functions of some of the buildings have been discussed earlier in this chapter. Drains are a necessary and specifically designed feature. They were deliberately constructed to facilitate the processing of grain into sweet malts and ale, an activity that I believe may have been the responsibility of some women within the community, rather than the men.” ref

“MacKie points out that “any picture of the Grooved Ware period in Orkney must notice the evidence for unusually elaborate ceremonial activity”. He notes that Renfrew believes Orkney to have been a very significant place in Neolithic Britain. It was a place with “a remarkably powerful body of religious beliefs, with accompanying ritual observances”. Barnhouse, situated by the Stones of Stenness and within a mile of the Ring of Brogar, was a ceremonial and ritually significant center, housing a group of ‘a religious elite’ that are believed by MacKie to have been male. This preliminary research into malting, mashing, and brewing technologies indicates that some members of this ‘religious elite’ were female.” ref

“The special activities involved in the transformation of grain into ale may have had a powerful ritual significance to Neolithic people. The women who ritually made this ale must have held positions of some power, influence, and status within the community. They had more responsibilities than simply being the maltsters and brewers. They were also healers and spiritual leaders within the community, having an influential social role as well as a ritual one. Another strong indicator of ritual activity at Skara Brae is the presence of burnished or polished haematite, which is found in numerous places including Pit P in Hut 7, Huts 1 as well as  3 and in the Huts and the middens. As the Orcadian artist Arlene Isbister demonstrated at the Neolithic fair that was held on Orkney in conjunction with the academic conference in September 1998, haematite is a source of red or orange/yellow pigment. It can be used to paint and decorate pottery, stone, leather, and also the human body. It has many qualities that make it a potentially magical substance. It is a black stone that produces red, the color of blood, and it even has a blood-like taste, because of the high iron content of the ore. It is only located in one or two places on Hoy, where it is found in “thin veins and fractures…with black compacted nodular lumps and fist-sized, kidney-shaped masses.” ref

“Arlene Isbister’s experiments show that it is possible to get color from the ore very easily – simply rubbing nodules with water on a hard smooth stone produces pigment in shades varying from blood red to red-brown and yellow. Working on a hot stone slab and a cold stone slab produces variations of color and different faces of the same nodule of Haematite can produce very different colors, ranging from yellow or orange to red or brown. Haematite has been found during excavations at other Neolithic sites, for example, at most of the other Neolithic Orcadian sites and also at Catal Huyuk, where Mellaart argued that it symbolized blood and life, having the power to protect against evil forces. Anna Ritchie has argued that its discovery in Hut 7 might point to confinement-related interpretations or to other rituals and rites of passage, such as initiation rites, childbirth, and menstruation. Barbara Walker believes that Haematite represented blood, both medically and mystically. It is interesting to note that it has chemical properties that arrest bleeding and so it might have been used both practically and ritually. The Grooved Ware culture appears to have had a powerful female element that is not easy to define or compartmentalize.” ref

“Rituals undertaken in Hut 7 at Skara Brae were probably complex. They may have involved a number of different activities, including childbirth, the use of Haematite, the consumption of special alcoholic and herbal brews, and much more besides. Given the mess within this Hut, as described by Childe and discussed earlier in this chapter, it is likely that the consumption of ale rather than its manufacture was a part of the ritual. The Grooved Ware culture was not confined to Neolithic Orkney. Grooved Ware pottery has been found, apparently smashed and deliberately deposited in pits, at ceremonial and ritual sites throughout the British Isles. Organic residues that include burned cereal mash, as well as pollen from herbs including Henbane and Deadly Nightshade, were identified on Grooved ware from Balfarg/Balbirnie in the Tay valley on the east coast of Scotland, a ceremonial site in use between the 4th and 2nd millennia BCE. Cereal-based residues have also been identified on pottery sherds from Machrie Moor Stone Circle, Arran, and on Neolithic sherds found at Kinloch Bay, Rhum. By the early 3rd millennium BCE huge quantities of Grooved Ware pottery buckets and vessels were being used at Durrington Walls, an enormous henge with timber circles and rectangular buildings that has only been partially excavated and that is located nearby Stonehenge and very close to the river. These sites are discussed in the next chapter, which investigates the Grooved Ware culture and the potential archaeological evidence for the processing of grain into sweet malts and ale during the Neolithic in mainland Britain.” ref

The Grooved Ware Culture in Neolithic Britain 

“The transition to agriculture Elements of both the European and the Orcadian Neolithic cultures are evident in the archaeological record of mainland Britain. Monuments were constructed in the form of stone and timber circles, tombs, long mounds, causewayed enclosures, and passage graves. Ceramics technology was introduced to Britain at the same time as the practice of grain cultivation and processing. Domestic animals were also introduced in the 4th millennium BCE. Ritual activity and feasting appear to have been very important aspects of early Neolithic life and there are numerous ritual sites and ceremonial centers. Examples of stone circles include Stonehenge and Avebury in the south of mainland Britain, Callanais in the Outer Hebrides, Machrie Moor on the Isle of Arran and Arbor Low, and Stanton Moor in Derbyshire to name but a few. There are literally hundreds of more henges and extant stone circles as well as the evidence for many timber circles throughout the British Isles. These were important places that were constructed by the local Neolithic groups and communities, places of ritual activity where people may have met regularly for feasting, for fairs, perhaps, and for many other activities and reasons.” ref

“To date, longhouses of the Linearbandkeramik style have not yet been found in Britain although timber buildings of a variety of sizes and shapes are evident in the British Neolithic. At Balbridie, Kincardine, Scotland, excavations revealed the postholes of a huge timber hall that, according to radiocarbon dates, was constructed during the 4th millennium BCE and destroyed by fire. Large amounts of carbonized grain were found there, suggesting its use as the community storage or processing center. Wheat has been found in far greater amounts than barley. ‘Spent grain’, the term used for what is left after the malt sugars have been sparged or washed out of the barley mash, may have been fed to the animals. Unsparged barley mash is far too sweet to be eaten by domesticated animals. However, once the sugars have been washed out (or sparged) it makes excellent cattle feed and it is still used today for this purpose. This may explain the far fewer finds of barley grain on the site compared with wheat.” ref

“Although pedestalled bowls of the style of the middle Neolithic TRB cultures have not been found in British passage graves or at ritual sites, Grooved Ware bucket-shaped pottery and Unstan Ware, which is wide, shallow bowls, are frequently found on Orkney and throughout mainland Britain at both ritual and settlement sites dated to the 4th and 3rd millennia BCE. Both styles are very similar to the Drouwen TRB West pottery Hunting, gathering, and fishing groups inhabited the Western Isles, the Hebrides, and mainland Britain during the 7th, 6th, and 5th millennia BCE. Mesolithic sites are fewer in number than Neolithic sites but this should not be understood to reflect population numbers but rather the great difficulty in discovering and identifying Mesolithic habitation sites. The acceptance and the adoption of grain cultivation and processing at the beginning of the 4th millennium BCE was swifter in Britain than had occurred on the Northern coasts of Europe. In both areas, fishing, hunting, and gathering remained important subsistence strategies alongside the new food technologies of grain cultivation and processing. There are indications of the continued use of shell middens from the Mesolithic right through to the Late Bronze Age.” ref

“So why, then, did Mesolithic cultures of the British Isles wish to begin to sow, cultivate, harvest, and process grain? The answer lies in some of the potential products of grain, namely malt, sweet malts, and ale. As has been discussed in earlier chapters, the pottery styles of the TRB, Linearbandkeramik, and Orcadian Neolithic indicate that grain processing included the manufacture of a liquid product such as ale. This was probably consumed at private feasts, public festivals, celebrations, and work-party feasts (Hayden 1996). Similar grain processing activity appears to have been practiced by Neolithic cultures on mainland Britain and there is some convincing archaeological evidence. They had suitable pottery vessels for mashing in the form of wide, shallow pottery bowls. For fermentation, there were large, deep flat-based pottery buckets. Suitable buildings existed, constructed of stone on the Orkney Islands and of timber on the mainland and elsewhere, for the storage and dry processing of grain into malt, the wet extraction of malt sugars, and the fermentation of those malt liquids into ale.” ref

“Assesses some of the archaeological evidence for malting, mashing, and fermentation in mainland Britain by the Grooved Ware culture in the early Neolithic. Firstly, the evidence of suitable pottery vessels, such as ceramic bowls and Grooved Ware vessels will be discussed. Secondly, the organic residue evidence on pottery sherds will be evaluated and, finally, the evidence of timber buildings for the storage and processing of grain will be examined. Suitable pottery vessels for aleIt is essential to look at the size, shape, and potential function of pottery as well as at its classification into a particular decorative style. Ceramic bowls, frequently associated with timber structures, have been identified as having “a particular social importance in the earliest Neolithic of the British Isles”. Early Neolithic bowls were round-based and were probably used for cooking food.” ref

“They are, of course, quite suitable for mashing the malt in the warm ashes of a fire, as illustrated in Chapter One. In the earliest Neolithic of Britain the manufacture of ceramics was a brand new technology, introduced to the island in association with completely new food resources, namely cereal grains, and cattle. The grain had to be prepared in a number of special new ways and it seems to be assumed in most of the current archaeological literature that the potential products of grain were only flour, bread, porridge, or gruel. Barley, and perhaps also wheat, were first malted, and then mashed to produce a sweet liquid that was fermented into an alcoholic drink. These new food preparation techniques required special knowledge. Prior to the discovery of making malt from barley, the only sources of sugars available for fermentation would have been honey or fruits. It is likely that women possessed the skill of cultivating the new food resource and that they passed on their special knowledge and the secrets of the new techniques.” ref

“Grooved Ware pottery was first described as being ‘bucket-shaped’ by Stuart Piggott. He originally named this pottery style ‘Rinyo-Clacton Ware’ because of its presence throughout the whole of the British Isles during the early Neolithic. The Grooved Ware pottery tradition apparently originated on the Orkney Islands in the mid 4th millennium BCE and the use of it spread within several generations to eastern and southern Britain. By c2800 BCE it was being used at and around Stonehenge. A very large amount of Grooved Ware sherds have been found at Durrington Walls. Grooved Ware has strong connections with ritual activity and it is frequently found smashed and deliberately buried at ceremonial and ritual sites. For example, some was found in the central hearth of the Stones of Stenness, Orkney. As noted in earlier chapters, Grooved Ware is an ideal size and shape both for drinking from and for the storage and fermentation of several gallons of ale. Grooved Ware sherds representing approximately 35 vessels were found at the site of a “ritual rather than domestic” rectangular timber building at Stoneyfield, Raigmore, Inverness, Scotland. The vessels varied in size from “a small cup of 140 mm to very large vessels up to 460 mm in diameter. Wall thickness was between 8 and 15 mm”.” ref

“This is an assemblage for a liquid product, with the largest vessels suitable for fermentation or storage purposes; the smaller ones would function as drinking vessels. A large number of the Grooved Ware sherds had been deposited in pits. One interpretation of Raigmore, on the basis of the evidence and research presented so far, is as a grain barn or a central processing center for grain. Organic residues There have been a number of discoveries and analyses of organic residues on pottery sherds found in Neolithic contexts over the last ten years that support the concept of grain processing for malt and ale. The analysis of residues on pottery provides evidence for the probable use of the vessel. Residues have been found on Grooved Ware pottery sherds from the 4th millennium BCE ceremonial site at Balfarg, Fife, Scotland, and also from pits by the stone circles at Machrie Moor on the Isle of Arran. Analyses of these residues show a consistent association between barley processing activity and flat-based pottery and large Grooved Ware vessels. The findings of barley residues in association with Grooved Ware pottery from Barnhouse, Orkney. The residue analyses from finds at Balfarg and Machrie Moor are discussed here.” ref

“Bafarg/Balbirnie, Scotland. The fertile valley of the river Tay has been identified as one of the few patches of cultivable land in Strathearn. It appears to have been cleared of trees, if not by the builders of the henge then by earlier communities.  Pollen analysis of a radiocarbon-dated core taken from North Mains, Strathallan, dates the first grain cultivation in this area to c3600 BCE, some of the earliest in Scotland and England. Recent excavations carried by Graham Ritchie, Roger Mercer, Gordon Barclay, and others revealed: “the remains of a great prehistoric religious center, in use from before 4000 BCE until after 2000 BCE”. This is the ceremonial site at Balfarg/Balbirnie situated within the bounds of the Rivers Leven and Eden in the Tay Valley, Scotland. Here, there is evidence of rectangular timber buildings or enclosures that are interpreted as excarnation centers, in use during the Neolithic.” ref

“A stone circle, henge, ring cairns, cremations, and Bronze Age cist burials have also been found in the area. The pottery assemblage included carinated bowls that were interpreted as having been deliberately broken and then deliberately deposited in pits. A single barley grain was noted within the fabric of one of these bowls. Christopher Tilley has recently suggested that the inclusion of grains into the fabric of early Neolithic pottery vessels may have been a deliberate and a symbolic act rather than just an accidental occurrence, thus creating “a direct symbolic link…. between pottery, cooking, grain, fertility, and ancestral powers”. His view supports the idea presented earlier in this thesis that the barley grain itself had important ritual and symbolic value to Neolithic people. At Balfarg, large Grooved Ware vessels had been smashed and the sherds deposited in pits, close by one of the two rectangular timber structures. These timber structures were interpreted as being mortuary enclosures, not roofed buildings; hence the context of the pottery sherds is ritual rather than domestic and more to do with consumption rituals rather than the ritual of the manufacturing process. Burned organic material was noticed on sherds from two of the largest vessels in this assemblage, pots numbered P63 and P64. This organic material was analyzed by Brian Moffat.” ref

“His results have proved to be controversial. The descriptions of the residues provide some interesting evidence for ritual activities in the Neolithic and for the ritual consumption of ale in a funerary context. Three categories of burned organic material were defined: amorphous and burned material, amorphous granular and burned and burned cereal mash. Both barley and oats were identified within the last category, having been “thoroughly ground down” thus making precise taxonomic identification difficult. These macro plant remains were described as a “cereal-based preparation” that was “coarse and crude”. This is interpreted as having been “coarse porridge” but, with reference to this thesis, it is much more likely that these are the residues from brewing, being the sediment that always settles out to the bottom of vessels used either to store or to ferment ale. There are striking similarities between the descriptions of the residues found at Balfarg and the appearance of barley residues that are obtained when making an ale or beer. Brian Moffatt notes the “incomplete process of homogenisation” and also that the “pollen and seed fragments were fairly well intermixed”.” ref

“Pollen grains and macro plant material, as well as minute amounts of beeswax, were identified on 15 of the 31 samples from the Balfarg Grooved Ware sherds, the beeswax probably being used to seal the vessel to prevent the leaching out of contents through the otherwise porous fabric of the pot. The pollen and macro plant remains from Meadowsweet (Filipendula ulmaria) indicates the addition of whole flower heads to the brew, probably during the boil to act as a flavoring and as a preservative. There were also pollen grains from fat hen, cabbage, and mustards. A single pollen grain of Deadly Nightshade (Atropa belladonna) was found as well as a number of seeds of Henbane (Hyoscyamus niger) and Hemlock (Conium Maculatum). Henbane, Hemlock, and Deadly Nightshade are highly dangerous plants. Hemlock is poisonous. It acts as both a sedative and as an anesthetic. A decoction of the herb was routinely used by the Ancient Greeks as a means of execution. This was the herb consumed by Socrates for his suicide. Henbane and Deadly Nightshade contain phytochemical alkaloids that, in small quantities, depress motor function, and act as painkillers, inducing sleep and hallucinations (see Chapter Two).” ref

“Large amounts of henbane are poisonous inducing dementia, paralysis, and ultimately death. There is no known antidote. The deposit encrusted on the outer surface of sherd P63 was examined in more detail and it was noted that some of the seeds of black Henbane, which are described as “extremely robust and resilient” appeared to have been “rendered mechanically”. This perhaps implies their deliberate preparation for a medicinal or, more likely, a special ritual purpose. Brian Moffatt lists the symptoms of henbane poisoning as including “blurred vision, dilated pupils, rapid heartbeat, dizziness, nausea, headache, euphoria, and hallucinations”. There is a strong possibility that the plant was used deliberately to induce intoxication, hallucinations, or perhaps even death. The excavators refer to the deposited Grooved Ware sherds as having contained “ritually charged material”. The ritual consumption of Henbane Ale in the context of a Viking chieftain’s funeral, as described by Ibn Fadlan in the 1st century CE. It is possible that similar ritual practices took place at the Neolithic ceremonial site at Balfarg.” ref

“Suitable buildings A comprehensive catalog of Neolithic wooden buildings in England, Walesm, and the Isle of Man has been compiled by Timothy Darvill. He notes traditional beliefs that Neolithic groups either led a nomadic lifestyle or that they built such flimsy dwellings that minimal archaeological evidence remains. Recent discoveries, however, indicate that there was a great diversity of wooden Neolithic buildings, with a wide range of sizes and a variety of purpose, function, and design. To date, 109 certain and probable Neolithic buildings from 64 different sites in England and Wales have been excavated, some rectangular and some circular. Some have been interpreted as shrines or as buildings where ritual activity took place. Others are interpreted as dwellings. Darvill argues that “a simple binary distinction between structures classifiable as being either ritual or domestic” is no longer viable). Buildings were probably multi-functional. Activities such as malting, mashing, and fermentation embody elements of both the mundane and the ritual, as has been extensively argued in earlier chapters. People would have needed  both living accommodation and also space for the storage, malting, drying, and processing of the grain that they grew.” ref

“Such a space is today called a Grain Barn or Granary. It could have been controlled, owned, or shared by the whole community together. Alternatively, an elite group within the community, as appears to have been the case in the Neolithic Near East, may have had control of the grain store. Both Graham Clarke and Stuart Piggott have referred to the complex dwelling houses, grain barns, and granaries of North European cultures. They believed that similar buildings probably also existed in Britain and that, one day, they would be found and excavated. Although longhouses like those of the Linearbandkeramik have not yet been discovered, in recent years a number of large rectangular timber buildings, some of which may have functioned as grain barns, have been excavated on mainland Britain. These buildings are represented by only hearth and post hole evidence, nevertheless, some of them may provide evidence for central grain storage and grain processing activities during the early Neolithic in Britain. Balbridie Timber Hall, Scotland. At Balbridie, Kincardine, Scotland, a very large timber hall was revealed by crop marks and recorded on aerial photographs. It was believed to be of medieval date. Excavation and radiocarbon dating unexpectedly revealed that it had, in fact, been constructed in the early 4th millennium, c3800 BCE. Balbridie Hall is approximately 25 meters long by 12 meters wide. It is the largest Neolithic building yet discovered in the British Isles and it has been widely interpreted as a special purpose structure. The excavators point out that, as yet, there has been no excavated parallel.” ref

“This site has yielded the largest assemblage of carbonized grain of Neolithic date yet found in a building in the British Isles. About 20,000 cereal grains of Emmer ‘bread’ wheat and much fewer numbers of naked barley grains were found. The two different grain types appear to have been processed in different areas of the site. The building was being used to store grain and also to process it in different ways. These probably included making bread from the emmer wheat and making malt and ale from the barley grain. Pottery bowl sherds were also found, representing pottery that is described in the excavation report as being similar in size and style to Unstan Ware pottery.” ref

“No organic residues survived on any of the pottery sherds for analysis. Post holes and slot trenches indicate divisions or compartments within the structure. It has been suggested that these are so positioned to prohibit the view inside the building or to ‘direct’ people in a certain direction. A more practical explanation would be that these screens block sunlight and the direct wind, essential for a malt house. They would also divide the internal space into specific work areas. Lismore Fields, Buxton, DerbyshirePerhaps a more suitable candidate for a grain barn of the early Neolithic could be a rectangular timber building, evidence for which has been found at Lismore Fields, near Buxton, Derbyshire. The building appears to have been divided into four compartments and hearths were set between the lines of postholes that created the divisions. It was a complex structure with dimensions of approximately 15 meters by 5 meters. Radiocarbon dates of c3700 BCE were obtained. A wide range of plant fragments was found on the site, including barley chaff, which possibly indicates the malting and mashing of the grain. Conveniently, a nearby spring would have supplied the necessary water supply. Looked at practically, this building would provide shelter from the elements and protection from bird or beast attack.” ref

“The hearths provided the warmth for drying the grain as well as for mashing. The large quantities of carbonized grain found at Balbridie and at Lismore Fields indicate that these buildings were destroyed by fire. This must have been a catastrophic event but it has proved to be providential to archaeologists in the long term, in that the carbonized grain has survived in the archaeological record to give a clue as to one of the probable functions of the building. Timber buildings, Ireland. In Ireland,  over 50 rectangular timber buildings dated to the early Neolithic have been excavated to date and the archaeological evidence involved is complex. Some were rectangular and were apparently internally divided into 3 areas, with evidence of more than one hearth. Others were small one-roomed rectangular buildings and yet other buildings were circular, as were most of the structures at Lough Gur, County Limerick. At Lough Gur there were also large, rectangular timber buildings, apparently not internally divided. Building A had a paved internal area, a central fireplace, and an area within the structure perhaps representing the site of a kiln or oven and described as a ‘burnt area’. The building may have functioned as a central grain storage and processing area that was used by the whole community. Again, it is a difficult site to interpret from hearth and posthole evidence alone.

“Two rectangular houses were found at Balleygalley, County Antrim. House 1 was the better preserved of the two and it is an interesting and unusual building. Radiocarbon dates of c4226-c3829 to 3776-c3386 BCE have been obtained from wood charcoal in the bedding trenches and the excavator believes the second date to be the more accurate. Ballygalley has been interpreted as a high-status site, possibly a redistribution center or a storehouse. House 1 contained a number of prestigious items and exotic raw materials, such as rock crystal and over 200  pieces of pitchstone from the Isle of Arran. There was also “a considerable quantity of carbonized grain with what appears to be an unusually high percentage of Einkorn (Triticum Monococcum)”. No grain processing waste was found from within the house, but spikelets and chaff were recovered from pits nearby, indicating that grain processing was one of the activities of the inhabitants or users of the building. 5. Durrington Walls Enormous quantities of elaborately decorated Grooved Ware sherds representing some large vessels capable of containing several gallons of liquid were found at the mid 3rd millennium BCE site known as Durrington Walls. This is a henge enclosure that is almost a third of a mile in diameter.” ref

“It is within the Stonehenge ceremonial landscape and it was a site of feasting, as evidenced by the large numbers of pig bones and hearths that were found there. This may be the one of the best examples in the British archaeological record for ‘work party’ feasting, being situated in the one of the most well-known ritual and monumental landscapes of Neolithic Britain. Durrington Walls henge has only been partially excavated so far and there are more circular and rectangular features within the henge area that are yet to be excavated. The remains of two timber circles have been excavated and many thousands of sherds from large decorated Grooved Ware vessels were discovered. David Souden describes the henge as being “most intimately connected to the River Avon. It lies on a southeast facing slope in a dry valley leading down to the river, and the southeast entrance is only some 60 meters/190 feet from the water’s edge”. Access to water is one of the crucial aspects and necessities of brewing and it is very likely that ale was being made and consumed at Durrington Walls.” ref

“Outside the henge area itself, the remains of two rectangular timber structures, perhaps barns have been discovered and excavated according to Timothy Darvill’s database. Grooved Ware and worked flint were found in association with one post-built, rectangular structure, its dimensions being 13 meters by 9 meters, and it is referred to as Durrington 68. Another rectangular timber building, measuring 18 meters by 10 meters and associated with Grooved Ware pottery, referred to as Totterdown (Structure A). Such buildings may have been used for grain storage and grain processing.” ref

“Interpreting Neolithic timber buildings The accurate interpretation of Neolithic settlement sites and timber buildings on the basis of ground plans and postholes alone is a difficult proposition. A conference organized by the Neolithic Studies Group on Neolithic Houses of North West Europe has produced vast amounts of data and information, too detailed and sites too numerous to reproduce and discuss in full here. Much excavation, work, and research in the area of Neolithic settlement and the interpretation of buildings on posthole, ceramic, palynological, faunal, and other evidence is currently in progress and this is a relatively new area of Neolithic study.” ref

“Because of the volume of data, not much has yet been analyzed with respect to research into Neolithic grain processing techniques and it is hoped to pursue this aspect in the future. Neolithic buildings would probably have fulfilled a variety of needs for the local population, with grain processing only one of several activities. T homas has described timber structures as being “places for meeting and gathering, within which particular activities may have been undertaken in seclusion”. He believes them to be a form of ‘monumental architecture’ and, even though only the postholes of these structures now remain, they were impressive structures in their day. He concludes that “at a number of sites it may be that the ‘house’ structures form one element in complex sequences of activity which were not purely domestic in character”. Some of these buildings fulfill all the necessary criteria to function as grain storage and grain processing centers for the local community. For early Neolithic groups, perhaps, these buildings were much more than a domestic or a functional building.” ref

“Important ritual activity took place there too. The complex sequences of action and activity involved in transforming grain into malt and ale cross the boundaries between the traditional concepts of ‘domestic’ and ‘ritual’ activities. The set of specific activities necessary to manufacture malt and ale from the grain is a domestic ritual, requiring skill and knowledge. This has been argued extensively in earlier chapters of this thesis. It was an important part of Neolithic life and may have been a ritualized, even secretive, process. The consumption of the ale at specific occasions, for example at funerals or at rites of passage during life or during celebrations, was both ritually and socially important. Timber houses and buildings of the Neolithic are the embodiment of complexity. Their interpretation involves a detailed analysis of architectural construction methods as well as the careful consideration of the material culture associated with them including, for example, the artifacts and any organic remains or residues found on site. Neolithic buildings were diverse in form and character and they were far more numerous and widespread than has been commonly believed to date. As stated earlier, 109 certain Neolithic buildings have so far been discovered from 64 sites in England and Wales dating to the 5th and 4th Millennia BCE.” ref

“Not all of these excavated sites have been fully published and the whole area of interpretation of Neolithic timber buildings is a new and difficult one. Add to this the poor survival of floor and ground surfaces as well as the lack of organic material and any structural remains above ground and the extent of the problem becomes apparent. For these reasons a detailed study and an in-depth analysis of these buildings is impossible within this thesis. There are few sites with favorable conditions, some with “quite appalling” conditions of survival and some with “tantalising” elements. Post holes and beam slots with little or no surviving organic material or artifacts are very difficult to interpret. However, within the database compiled by Darvill, there are a some timber buildings that it might be possible to interpret as barns or as grain stores on the basis of having ground plans that are similar to the grain barn at Corrigall Farm, Orkney, and having artifacts that are connected with grain processing. At Llandagai, near Bangor, Gwynedd, excavations revealed remains of a post-built structure measuring 13 meters by 6 meters and associated with a nearby henge. Pits and postholes surrounded the building and pottery bowls of the Grimston-Lyles Hill style were associated with the building.” ref

“A single radiocarbon date of between c4240 to 3824 BCE determined the date of the structure. Excavations at Chigborough Farm, Maldon, Essex revealed the remains of one or perhaps two rectangular timber buildings (Adkins and Adkins 1991). If it were a single structure, considered by Darvill to be more likely, then the dimensions would have been 12 meters by 7 meters. The ground plan is apparently confusing and unclear. Grooved Ware and Ronaldsway style pottery sherds were found in association with a rectangular post-built structure at Ronaldsway, near Castletown on the Isle of Man. The building was about 7 meters long and 4 meters wide. Artifacts included decorated stone plaques, abundant flint work, animal bone, and stone axes. Radiocarbon dates, apparently obtained from residues on pottery, indicate a date of the mid 3rd Millennium BCE. There was some slight evidence for the building to have been divided internally. In these few examples cited above there might be some evidence to perhaps interpret that these buildings functioned as Barns, for storing and processing grain or for keeping animals in or for both activities. Suitable internal divisions would have been necessary to keep the beasts away from the grain.” ref

“The evidence for pottery bowls together with large and small Grooved Ware buckets is probably the best and clearest indication that grain processing was an activity associated with a particular rectangular timber building.7. The Grooved Ware culture Grooved Ware pottery is associated with the henges and the timber circles of Mount Pleasant, Woodhenge, Stonehenge, and Avebury. It has been found in large quantities within a 5 km radius of the Rudston Monolith and associated cursus monuments in Yorkshire). Andrew Sherratt has suggested that Grooved Ware had “a special quality that set it aside from everyday containers … this quality lies in the context in which it was used, and this is likely to have been some form of ceremonial meal with sacred connotations, taken at central cult places throughout the length of Britain”. If the consumption of the contents of Grooved Ware pottery vessels had connections with sacred, ritual, or ceremonial activity, then surely the manufacture of these special contents might also be regarded as a ritually significant activity. Barley appears to have been an extremely important, perhaps even a sacred crop for people in Britain during the early Neolithic. The cultivation of grain and the manufacture of ale was very probably the task of certain women within the community, as has been argued in previous chapters. Some of these women would have held positions of high status and importance during their lives.” ref

“They may have been responsible for other sacred and special duties, such as healing people and the provision of medicines, the use of herbs, and the control of ritual activities and celebrations. The people that made and used Grooved Ware pottery were the first grain cultivators and processors in the British Isles. They maintained an active and culturally important hunting lifestyle continuing to exploit the natural resources of the land while they gradually, over the generations, began to adopt what we now recognize as an agricultural or farming lifestyle. These people were the henge builders and the constructors of spectacular monuments of stone and timber. It has been noted that there is “an absence of grain impressions in Grooved Ware pottery” even though it is held as an established fact that grain cultivation was an important cultural component of the Grooved Ware economy and lifestyle. Martin Jones has suggested that “we should be looking for a behavioral rather than an economic explanation” for this apparent anomaly). The research presented here is based upon malting, mashing, and brewing biochemistry as well as referring to valid reconstructions of ancient malting, mashing, and fermentation techniques. It would suggest that the behavior referred to by Martin Jones was the ritual processing of barley grain into malt, malt sugars, and ale.” ref

“Summary and Discussion: an investigation into the probable methods and techniques of Bronze Age maltsters and brewers in the British Isles and Northern Europe. The original intention was to re-create a Bronze Age ale, based on organic residue evidence that has been discovered in Beaker drinking vessels and using similar equipment to that available during the Bronze Age. The debate within academic archaeology about wine, ale, beer, and other alcoholic drinks usually tends to concentrate on the social aspects of consumption rather than on the practicalities of manufacture. With this research, there was the aim to redress the balance and explain the fundamental biochemical reactions and processes that are involved in the malting, mashing, and fermentation of grain into ale. These processes remain unchanged across the millennia and allow us to understand something more of past rituals and daily lives. It has been argued that beer drinking was a Bronze Age phenomenon and that it was part of a ‘cult package’ that spread across Europe from one group to another.” ref

“More recent analysis of the origins of alcoholic drinks has suggested “the most plausible scenario for the beginnings of alcohol production lies in the domestication of the sugar-rich tree crops of the Mediterranean”, such as date, olive, fig, grape, and pomegranate. Certainly, this is an area where the fermentation of naturally occurring fruit sugars could have been the impetus for the first fermented wines. But beer and ale are products of the grain; a crop that was first gathered and processed by epi Palaeolithic and early Neolithic groups in the Levant and the Near East from the 9th millennium BC onwards. Grain cultivation and grain processing eventually spread from the Near East and the Levant across Europe reaching the British Isles c4000 BCE.” ref

“This research has covered a broad geographical and archaeological range. It has investigated the evidence of the earliest grain processing communities in the Neolithic Levant, Near East, Northern Europe, Orkney, Ireland, and Britain. These early agricultural communities have been investigated with one question in mind – was the material culture suitable for the manufacture of malt and ale from the grain? The emphasis throughout this research has been on the practicalities and the specific rituals that are involved in the transformation of grains into malt, malt sugars, and ale. Ian Hodder has argued that there is a need for archaeologists to question long-held assumptions and ‘taken-for-granted’ interpretations in archaeology. He has stressed the need to re-interpret the available archaeological evidence holistically, not just looking at isolated aspects of a site but looking instead at the whole cultural and material assemblage. It has been assumed in most of the archaeological literature that barley, wheat, and other cereal grains were a source of carbohydrate in the prehistoric diet and that grain was grown to be processed into only bread, flour, porridge, or gruel. It has also been assumed that the main function of quern stones was to grind grain into flour for bread. Querns are just as useful to crush the malted grain prior to mashing.” ref

“A search through the index and contents lists of books and articles related to the Neolithic cultures of Europe and Britain shows a significant lack of references to malt, beer, ale, grain processing techniques, brewing, or malt sugars. Cereal grains, when discovered in the archaeological record, are often noted as having been ‘parched’ or ‘roasted’, the assumption being that the grain has simply been harvested and then dried for optimum storage. If this ‘parching’ of grain occurred after the grain had begun to germinate then the necessary enzymes to convert the starch into sugars have been released. With a minimum of equipment and resources, the malted and dried barley could then very easily be transformed into a sweet malt liquid that can then be fermented into an alcoholic drink, such as beer or ale. In order to assess the suitability of Neolithic material culture for such grain processing techniques, it is essential to understand the processes, methods, and techniques that are involved in malting, mashing, and fermentation. Because the biochemical laws governing these processes are unchanged across the millennia it is possible to accurately re-create ancient grain processing techniques experimentally, as shown in Chapter One.” ref

“The biochemistry is complicated but the techniques and methodologies are relatively simple. Brewing is a craft requiring knowledge, skill, practice, and experience to successfully transform grain into ale. Pasteur and Tyndall’s experiments into Fermentation in the mid 19th century demonstrated the scientific explanation for a biochemical process that had, for millennia, been believed to be a magical and a spontaneous event. Wild barley and wheat grew naturally in the area known as the Fertile Crescent, that is, the Levant, the Tigris/Euphrates valley, and the mountains in northern Syria. Cereal grains were first gathered by Natufian groups in the 9th/8th millennia BCE alongside other species of plants, such as lentils and peas. These people were hunters and gatherers. They exploited the natural resources of their environment to the full and this, of course, would have included the gathering of wild grain. If these wild cereal grains were allowed to grow a little before being ground or crushed with stones, then people would have noticed that there was an obvious visible and practical benefit – the husk of the grain would be broken down and malt flour would be produced naturally. The task of crushing or grinding slightly germinated grain is much easier than crushing ungerminated grain.” ref

“Invisibly, germination has released enzymes that convert the starch of the grain into malt sugars and produce malt flour. Any gentle heating of the now malted and crushed barley with water would produce a sweet barley mash and malt liquid, so long as the enzymes were not killed in water temperatures that were too hot, that is, above 67 degrees centigrade. This saccharification of the barley malt can be seen, smelt, and tasted. Knowledge of the existence of enzymes and an understanding of the complex enzymatic reactions are not necessary for this simple process of mashing to be successful. Malting and the subsequent mashing of grains were perhaps among the first grain processing activities in the Fertile Crescent. It is easy to appreciate the wonder and the amazement of these early Neolithic cultures when first introduced to this phenomenon. Here was a food resource that could be processed into sweetness. It was quite unlike other food processing activities that would have been involved with the other locally gathered natural resources, such as the preparation and cooking of peas or lentils. Prior to the discovery of sweet barley mash, the only other source of sugars would have been fruits or honey.” ref

“The Biblical lands, that is, the area of the Levant, are known as and referred to as ‘a Land flowing with Milk and Honey’. Could this description originally have referred to a land where milk was obtained from domesticated animals and sweet malts were processed from the grain, a land where people had learned to tame the wild animals and to process grain into sweetness? Malt liquid and barley mash are easy to make, versatile food products and they are very good to eat. They can be mixed with milk to make a delicious and highly nutritious food resource. Malt contains digestible B-Vitamins that would have improved the health of those who began to eat it, although the evidence of the early Natufians’ dental caries might suggest an adverse effect on their dental health. The step from the malting and mashing of barley to that of alcoholic fermentation is not a difficult one to imagine. Wild yeasts would have flourished in a sweet mash or in malt liquids that had been left to stand. Within covered vessels, conditions are perfect for an alcoholic rather than a lactic fermentation. With careful observation, practice and experimentation, the earliest grain processors would have learnt to manage the several stages from grain to ale. These techniques would then have been passed on from one generation to the next.” ref

“Because of its unique properties, grain was probably regarded as a special or as a sacred crop in Neolithic times. There were many complex rituals surrounding the cultivation, harvesting, and processing of the grain in both prehistoric and historic times. Many of these rituals are still celebrated today, such as the annual Harvest Festival, although now within the context of the Christian religion rather than pagan female deities. Hilda Ellis Davidson has produced a detailed and fascinating study of the various goddesses who were worshipped in Northern Europe in prehistoric and historic times. She discusses the important part played by women in ancient and prehistoric cultures. It is the culmination of many years that she has spent studying North European mythology, legends, and traditions. She notes that there are very many complex rituals surrounding grain cultivation, such as the preparation of the ground for the sowing of the grain in spring. Some are described in historical texts and some are evidenced by archaeological finds of ards buried in ritual contexts, for example, a perfectly preserved buried in the ditch of a henge near Dumfries and dated to the early 3 rd millennium BCE She describes the ritual uses of the plough, for marking territorial or village boundaries and for the cutting of ritual furrows to celebrate the beginning of Spring and the new season for cultivation.” ref

“There were strong associations between the sowing of the seed and the goddess of the grain, with springtime rituals involving human and animal sacrifice taking place in Northern Europe until the 19th Century CE. Davidson’s work has been referred to occasionally throughout this thesis, but since the emphasis of my study has been on the practicalities of the manufacture of malts and ale, many of her ideas were not raised or discussed. It is therefore apt to refer to her work here in the context of a discussion of ritual activity, belief systems, magic, barley, and the Neolithic. She writes of a rapidly growing interest in the importance of “women as innovators in many fields at a time when small nomadic communities were extending their activities from hunting and gathering to herding and agriculture”. Women in prehistoric times were largely responsible for the sowing of seed, for the raising of crops, for the processing of grain, and for the preparation of a variety of foodstuffs in early agricultural communities. Women also grew and gathered the herbs required for healing and the treatment of injuries, as well as being skilled in midwifery and in the nurturing of children.” ref

“She concludes that women were the mainstay of the domestic environment, caring for house, home and all within it. These are very similar ideas to those of Ian Hodder who has proposed the ‘domus’ and ‘agrios’ theories of social development in Neolithic Europe. Davidson’s emphasis is on female influence and female power in prehistory. Her book concentrates upon the many and varied “special skills and mysteries of women” one of which was the cultivation and specialized processing of the grain into ale. Her work is an invaluable study and it should be read by any archaeologist who wishes to better understand the role of the female in prehistory, as well as the ancient belief systems and rituals of the past. It provides an insight into many aspects of domestic, spiritual, and ritual life in prehistory. Early Neolithic communities in the Levant and the Near East would have learned the necessary methods and techniques of grain processing through repeated trial and error. This knowledge then spread through the complex and far-reaching trade and exchange networks that made use of land, sea, and river routes into Europe. The practice of and the ideas behind grain cultivation and processing spread rapidly into northern Europe.” ref

“The similarities in lifestyles and material culture of the inhabitants of the Bulgarian settlement tells of the 6th/5th millennia BC and those of 6th millennium BCE in Anatolia have been noted in Chapter Four of this thesis. Many more archaeological examples could have been selected for a similar comparison. For example, Alistair Whittle describes the Vinca culture of the 6th and 5th millennia BCE and the elaborate and complex late Neolithic buildings of the Hungarian plain. These were cultures that also possessed the basic requirements for making malt and brewing ale. The coastal groups and communities of northern Europe maintained a hunting,  gathering, and fishing lifestyle for almost a millennium longer than the agricultural communities in Central Europe, who lived in settlements along the river valleys. However, there is some evidence of organic residues on Ertebolle pottery vessels that have been interpreted as being the remnants of fermented grain and blood. This suggests the probable trade and exchange of grain between agricultural and non-agricultural communities of the 5th and 4th Millennia BCE. It also suggests interesting and as yet unknown ritual behavior in both the manufacture and in the consumption of this alcoholic drink.” ref

“Eventually, the Northern European Mesolithic groups began to cultivate their own grain, some time in the early 3rd millennium BCE. Many different theories have been put forward concerning the reason for the acceptance of grain cultivation within these groups and some of these have been discussed in Chapter Four. It seems likely that Mesolithic groups were interested in the products of the grain, that is the sweet malts and the ale, rather than a change of lifestyle to that of farming. ‘Farming’ is a cultural concept and use of the word creates an image of an organized and regulated farmstead as we are accustomed to seeing today or in historical times. Farming is a way of life that has evolved and developed over the years as a result of people’s desire to grow and to process grain and other crops and to keep domesticated animals. To refer to these early cultivators and processors of grain as ‘farmers’ does not really seem to be appropriate. One of the most striking aspects of the European and British Neolithic was the construction of huge communal monuments, standing stones, and finely constructed tombs.” ref

“Ritual behavior and activity is one of the most discussed and well-known aspects of the Neolithic. The people who made and used Grooved Ware during the 4th and 3rd millennia BCE were the earliest grain cultivators and processors in Britain. They continued to exploit the natural resources of the seas, the rivers, and the woodland whilst they began to cultivate grain and to manufacture malts and ale, as argued in Chapters Five and Six of this thesis. They also constructed impressive and lasting monuments, such as the two stone circles on Orkney, numerous timber and stone circles throughout the mainland, elaborate tombs and burial chambers as well as standing stones, cursus monuments, and henges. Research indicates that there was a powerful female element to this culture that was closely related to ritual activities and to the cultivation and processing of barley. Organic residues containing potentially dangerous psychoactive substances, such as the crushed Henbane seeds that were discovered on Grooved Ware sherds at Balfarg, indicate that mind-altering alcoholic brews were sometimes made for ritual occasions.” ref

“It is impossible to know whether the purpose of this brew was for shamanic and magical practices or as a poisonous drink for use in a ritual funerary context. Its potential use as an ‘external medicine’ as noted by Culpepper, perhaps for toothache, cannot be ignored. This research, which began as being a relatively straightforward examination of the likely brewing methods of British Bronze Age people has revealed many fascinating and previously unconsidered aspects of Neolithic life. There is much further work to be done in this area. The role of women in the Neolithic needs to be re-evaluated, for example, what was their role in healing, medicine, and in ritual activity, and what was their knowledge and use of herbs? Archaeobotanical study and analysis can be very useful in answering these questions. A serious plea has to be made to all archaeologists to retain and to analyze the organic residues on pottery sherds rather than destroy such important evidence by routinely scrubbing the pottery.” ref

“One aspect of the Neolithic that has been unexpectedly illuminated by this research is the importance of malt in prehistory. Although the manufacture and the consumption of ale and of other alcoholic drinks is seen as being important ritually, socially, and economically, the manufacture of the malt may be just as, if not more, important. Mixed with milk or eaten as a product in its own right, malt would have been a nutritious addition to the Neolithic diet and appealed to young and old alike. In the public demonstrations and tastings of the barley mash that I have undertaken as part of this research, the overwhelming response has been positive. People have expressed a liking for the sweet mash and return for a second tasting.ConclusionsThis research has established an assemblage and a material culture pattern for brewing activity in prehistory. Suitable buildings are required for grain storage and for malting and otherwise processing the grain. A malting floor can be made of beaten earth or clay and needs to be kept smooth and in good repair. Hearths, ovens, or kilns are useful for drying the malt and as a heat source for mashing and fermentation. Suitable vessels for mashing, fermentation, storage, and consumption must be made and access to running water and/or drains is essential. Such conditions and material culture are good indicators of malting, mashing, and brewing activity.” ref

“Women were the very first grain cultivators and processors in the Near East, the Levant, Europe, and the British Isles. Grain was a special crop because of its unique ability to produce sugars. Women, with their understanding of grain cultivation and processing rituals and their knowledge of the use of wild plants and herbs for both culinary and medicinal uses, held positions of status and significance in Neolithic society. Brewing uses few ingredients, only requiring malted grain, herbal preservatives, water, and yeast. These ingredients may survive in the archaeological record in a number of ways.” ref

“Accidents in drying the malted grain, as happened at Eberdingen-Hochdorf can occur. Residues or sediments of the brewing process may occasionally survive in unusual contexts, such as in the sealed Bronze Age cist graves at North Mains and Ashgrove. Residues of barley without any other plant remains indicate the residues that result from washing the sugars from the mashed barley or ‘sparging the wort’. Those barley residues that contain pollen or macro plant remains indicate the addition of herbs during the boil prior to fermentation. The ease with which the barley malt and mash can be made convinces me that the manufacture of these products was a main interest and concern in the collection and cultivation of grains by Epi-Palaeolithic and Natufian cultures. The production and manufacture of this liquid product would have created a need for vessels and containers that were suitable for the storage and processing of the product, hence the bitumen-lined baskets and experiments with White Ware and ceramics. The spread of grain cultivation and processing from the Levant across Europe and into the British Isles was accompanied by a developing ceramics technology and the domestication of animals. The animals would have eaten the ‘spent grain’ with as much relish as people, adults and children ate the sweet malt products and drank the ale.” ref

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Late Neolithic Crises, Collapse, New Ideologies, and Economies, 3500/3000–2200/2000 BCE

“By the beginning of the Late Neolithic most of Europe was occupied by farmers. Only the coniferous and tundra areas of northern Europe remained inhabited by hunters and gatherers. In some areas, politically complex societies already existed. However, there is a discontinuity in some aspects of archaeological record after 3500–3000 years of farming societies in Europe; perhaps this reflects crises or major changes at the end of the “Old Neolithic” or “Old Europe.” Over the years archaeologists have concentrated on origin problems: farming, political complexity or this or that culture. The endings of things have received less attention. In south-eastern Europe, for example, anthropomorphic clay figurines disappeared, large settlements were abandoned, many destroyed by fire and burial mounds appeared. This affected northern Bulgaria and southern Romania first, around 3800 BC. The shift in the Tripolye culture, i.e., no more big sites, big houses, female figurines, and painted pottery, seems to begin about 3500 BC and is almost complete by 3000-2800 BCE. Around 3100 or 3000 BCE, most large settlements disappeared in central Europe. How are we to interpret these undoubted changes seen in the archaeological record?” ref

Neolithic decline

“The Neolithic decline was a rapid collapse in populations between five and six thousand years ago (approximately 3000 BCE) during the Neolithic period in western Eurasia. The specific causes of that broad population decline are still debated. While heavily-populated settlements were regularly created, abandoned, and resettled during the Neolithic, after around 5400 years ago, a great number of those settlements were permanently abandoned. The population decline is associated with worsening agricultural conditions and a decrease in cereal production. Other suggested causes include the emergence of communicable diseases spread from animals living in close quarters with humans.” ref

Plague

“Rascovan et al (2019) suggest that plague could have also caused the population decline. That is supported by the discovery of a tomb in modern-day Sweden containing 79 corpses buried within a short time, in which the authors discovered fragments of a unique strain of the plague pathogen Yersinia pestis. The authors note that the strain contained the “plasminogen activator gene that is sufficient to cause pneumonic plague“, an extremely deadly form of the plague which is airborne and directly communicable between humans.” ref

“A similar site was found in China in 2011. The site Hamin Mangha in northeast China dates back to approximately 5000 years ago and features a small structure filled with almost 100 bodies. This could mean the location faced an outbreak that surpassed what the village could handle. Two other sites like these have been found in Northeast China: Miaozigou and Laijia. Conditions for the population increase that preceded that decline are generally ascribed to rapid population growth between 6,020- 5,620 years ago. That growth was catalyzed by the introduction of agriculture, along with the spread of technologies such as pottery, the wheel, and animal husbandry. Following the Neolithic decline were massive human migrations from the Eurasian Steppe into eastern and central Europe, in approximately 4,670 years ago.” ref

The TRB culture settlement in the middleTążyna Valley: a case study

“The Tążyna Valley is one of the characteristic elements of the northern part of Kujavia. The main feature of its environmental context is its topographically close proximity to two natural niches used in agriculture in the early and middle Neolithic. The first of them is formed by very fertile black earths, the other – agriculturally poor podzols. Surprisingly, regarding the latter, intensive traces of settlement by the peoples of TRB culture (other: the Funnel – necked Beaker culture) are recorded. The present paper is devoted to this conundrum.” ref

The TRB culture settlement – preliminary remarks

“The appearance of the TRB culture settlers in the middle Tążyna Valley was preceded by several settlement episodes. The oldest traces of occupation are connected with societies of the Maglemose culture hunters. Taking into account the results of excavations at the site of Dąbrowa Biskupia 71, Dąbrowa Biskupiacommune it may be assumed that the middle Tążyna Valley had an exceptional status for these communities. It probably was not an area of permanent economic activity but rather an activity connected with hunting magic. About 5500 BCE localized patches of black earths were inhabited by settlers from the Linear Band Pottery culture (LBK) who came from the south. In this context, the site of Grabie 4, Aleksandrów Kujawski commune may be mentioned, which is connected with phaseI of the discussed unit.” ref

“The LBK societies realized the conformist, in relation to the initial areas, fora model of occupation (cf. Fiedel, Anthony2003), based on the cultivation of fields in the immediate vicinity of the settlements. A position of ‘sandy’ complexes of the LBKsettlement stands out exceptionally against this background. From the investigated area the following sites are known: Podgaj 32, Poczałkowo 30, Przy-branówek 4, Aleksandrów Kujawski commune, and Chle, let us only emphasize the most important elements. About 5300 BCE sandy areas adjoin-ing enclaves of fertile soils became sites for penetration by part of the LBK societies. This did not result in the permanent colonization of the area by ‘linear’ societies. The activities colonization of subsequent generations of ‘Danubian’populations (until c. 3700 BCE) concentrated on soil exploitation of the highest agricultural usability. The next occupation phase was connect-ed with the TRB culture. Attention should be paid to the state of recognition of the TRB culture in the researched area. The decided majority, of the 159 sites, are known only from surveying the surface. Only a small number of them were excavated. Some are especially noteworthy: Przybranówek 43, Przy-branówek 29, Poczałkowo 36, Poczałkowo 38, Podgaj 6A, Podgaj 7A and particularly Wilkostowo 23/24. They represent both campsites (Poczałkowo 36), settlements (e.g. Przybranówek 29, Przy-branówek 43, Poczałkowo 38, Podgaj 6, Pod-gaj 7A, Wilkostowo 23/24), and ‘megalithic cemeteries (Podgaj 7A, Wilkostowo 23/24). Deliberately avoiding discussing the genetic issues connected with the formation of the TRB culture it is necessary to emphasize the long duration of this culture occupation. On the grounds of about forty radiocarbon indications (Wilkostowo 23/24 – Przybranówek 29), it may be thought that the local culminating point of the TRB occupation fell on a periodc. 4000–3000 BCE and was connected with the widely understood ‘Wiórek group’ ). Whereas stylistic data seem to indicate that the presence of the TRB culture settlers should be taken into account as early as c. 4200 BCE.” ref

“There is much to be said for accepting a hypothesis, according to which as early as c. 4200 BCE the TRB culture occupation got its characteristic form, connecting it with the exploitation of isolated enclaves of ‘sandy soils’. What is interesting is the symptoms of control by the microregional groups of these enclaves may be recognized, what is visible through contemporary, although isolated in respect of space, different ‘stylistic versions’ of the TRB functioning. The desire to control the resources of individual enclaves expresses itself also in the location of monumental tombs. They were situated on places of earlier settlements (Podgaj 7A)or on their immediate subsidiaries. From the perspective of the cultural successes of the TRB culture what is most important is the initiation of the agricultural use of sandy areas. The use of such modernizations as the slash-and-burn and scratch plow economy on the lowlands enabled a fundamental transformation of economic strategy and adaptation of extensive grain agriculture to local ecologic conditions. The use of saline springs played an unknown although a hypothetically very important role for the stability of the TRB culture occupation in local terms – of the middle Tążyna Valley. In relation to the discussed area these springs were located within several-hours walk.” ref

An Outline of Interpretation

“An element especially characteristic of the middle Tążyna Valley is the topographic closeness of areas unique because of various ecological conditions. It is particularly apparent because of the vicinity of the best and the poorest, in terms of agriculture, types of soils. An impression of contrast is strengthened by a comparison of two main strategies of terrain occupation. As the activity of traditional Danubian groups concentrated on black earths, the TRB culture settlers mainly used areas covered with podzols. However, while this opinion is well-founded by ear-lier presented analyses, there occurs a fundamental question – what does it actually denote? Technological changes, scopes of adaptation to environmental conditions or micro-political situation?” ref

“In the cited papers attention was given to the simultaneity of the Danubian (black earths) and TRB (podzols) occupation, which was several hundred years old (at least 4200–3700 BCE) testifying not only to ecological specialization but also general regard for boundaries of territories exploited by both societies. This factor can-not however explain observations present-ed earlier. Going beyond the chronological one-dimensionality of the above presented analyses, it is difficult to identify the effects presented analyses of the more important changes to the TRBstrategy of habitat selection after the decline of the potentially antagonistic societies of the Brześć Kujawski culture. In the late Neolithicthe TRB groups still intensively exploited the areas of podzols. Their presence in the territories of black soils remained relatively limited. For the same reasons focusing only on the agricultural technology of both discussed societies would be insufficient. An example ofŁojewo convinces us that as early as c. 4000 BCE Kujavian societies of the TRB culture had necessary technological equipment that enabled the cultivation of black earths. This opportunity, as it was earlier suggested, was not used on any notable scale in the discussed area of the Tążyna river valley. Obviously, a diagnosis of ‘a lack of taken opportunities’ is questionable due to the modern estimation of soil capacities of the eco-logical niches (black earths versus podzols)confronted here and the actualization of the then norms of economic decisions. For societies, which cultivated under a ‘moral’ rather than rational’ economy it is an obvious simplification.” ref

“Another source of deformation is a present-day way. Another source of landscape conceptualization. George Children and GeorgeNash broached the following question: ‘One might ask: what is a landscape? We know its there; the hills, mountains, rivers, streams, trees, and so on. These features, although external, are socially constructed within ourminds, that is, given meaning’. This gets us closer to a phenomenological conception of a landscape), in which it becomes a multisensorial and holistic experience shaping the image of the world, in which the observer is in the center. This experience directly influenced the estimations of available environments and determined their mutual ranking. It oscillated between two extreme conditions: affection (topophilia) or aversion (topophobia). These diagnoses in the form of legends or so-called ‘topographical gossips’ were handed down to the next generations by means of enculturation. From this perspective, a comparison of both the uses of space, discussed earlier, (Danubian versus this of the TRB culture) yields many interesting conclusions. Inhabiting podzols in the Tążyna Valley required not only technological transformations – they make an obvious sine qua non for the occupation. An emphasis should also be put on the question of ideological differences. Settlement norms reconstructed for the TRB culture required an essential change of away of the world conceptualization – deep re-structurization of cosmology and everyday life practice. The appearance of norms of special valorization (topophilia) of podzols inhabitation is an element of the latter. Whereas, the immanent connection with folklore and cosmology became foundations of their permanence in the late Neolithic.” ref

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“The shaman is, above all, a connecting figure, bridging several worlds for his people, traveling between this world, the underworld, and the heavens. He transforms himself into an animal and talks with ghosts, the dead, the deities, and the ancestors. He dies and revives. He brings back knowledge from the shadow realm, thus linking his people to the spirits and places which were once mythically accessible to all.–anthropologist Barbara Meyerhoff” ref

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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Funnel Beaker Culture: First Farmers of Scandinavia

The Funnel Beaker Culture is the name of the first farming society in northern Europe and Scandinavia. There are several names for this culture and related cultures: Funnel Beaker Culture is abbreviated FBC, but it is also known by its German name Tricherrandbecher or Trichterbecher (abbreviated TRB) and in some academic texts it is simply recorded as Early Neolithic 1. Dates for the TRB/FBC vary depending on the exact region, but the period generally lasted between 4100-2800 calendar years BCE), and the culture was based in western, central, and northern Germany, the eastern Netherlands, southern Scandinavia, and most parts of Poland. The FBC history is one of a slow transition from a Mesolithic subsistence system based strictly on hunting and gathering to one of full-fledged farming of domesticated wheat, barley, legumes, and herding of domesticated cattle, sheep, and goats.” ref

Funnel-beaker Culture (c. 4200-2650 BCE)

“Represents a merger between the Neolithic agricultural society derived form the LBK culture and Mesolithic (hunter-gatherer) lifestyle, in southern Scandinavia, the Netherlands, northern Germany, and Poland. The culture owes its name to the distinctive collared flask ceramic, perhaps a precursor of the Bell-beaker ceramic that would spread across the western half of Europe from 2800 BCE. The neolithic agricultural economy dominated by animal husbandry of sheep, cattle, pigs, and goats that grazed in a demarcated piece of land around the farmers’ houses. Cow milk was consumed and oxen were used for heavy work. TRB people also complemented their diet through hunting and fishing. Primitive wheat and barley was grown on small patches that were quickly depleted. Flintstone was mined, notably in southern Sweden, to make flint axes. Copper daggers and axes were imported from Central Europe.” ref

“People lived in wooden longhouses with clay walls and thatched roofs. They were centered around a monumental grave, which acted as a symbol of social cohesion. Villages were located close to those of the preceding Mesolithic Ertebølle culture, near the coastline. Marks the appearance of Megalithic tombs and passage graves (from 3,400 BCE in Denmark) along the coasts of the North Sea and the Baltic Sea, apparently as an eastward expansion of the Atlantic Megalithic cultures, with which it was later unified within the Bell-Beaker trading network. Hundreds of megaliths have been uncovered, with particularly high concentrations in the Dutch provinces of Gelderland and Overijssel, in the Lüneburg Heath in Lower Saxony, around Haldensleben in Saxony-Anhalt, and on the island of Rügen in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Burials included ceramic vessels that contained food, amber jewelry, and flint axes. Funnel-beaker people reached a height of 165 cm for men and 153 cm for women in average. They rarely lived over 35 or 40 years old. Variants of the Funnelbeaker culture in or near the Elbe catchment area include the Tiefstich pottery group in northern Germany as well as the Baalberge group (TRB-MES II and III; MES = Mittelelbe-Saale), the Salzmünde group and Walternienburg-Bernburg group (all TRB-MES IV) in Saxony-Anhalt.” ref

New Evidence for a Chronostratigraphic Division of the Ertebølle Culture and the Earliest Funnel Beaker Culture on the Southern Mecklenburg Bay

“The research into the Terminal Mesolithic cultures of the southwestern Baltic in northern Germany goes back to the 19th century, and a close resemblance of the local find material with that of the Danish Køkkenmöddiger and Ertebølle culture was noticed at that time (Baier 1897; Weber/Mestorff 1904). However, a chronological classification of the so-called “Ellerbek group” in Schles-wig-Holstein and the “Lietzow group” in Vorpommern has not been attempted to date. Reasons for this are the lack of finds, and a lack of fully published excavation results. The systematic excavations, which took place on the island of Rügen – Ralswiek-Augustenhof and Lietzow-Buddelin – and in Schleswig-Holstein – Satrupholmer Moor – did not produce enough find material, or were never completely published. The distinction of an aceramic Terminal Mesolithic period in Schleswig Hol-stein could only be discussed on the basis of collections of stray finds. The excavation conducted by H. Schwabedissen of the site Rosenhof (Grube LA 58, Kr. Ostholstein) in the 1970s was of interest in this context. On this site, an occupation layer of the oldest Funnel Beaker culture was found above a Terminal Mesolithic layer, dating from 5100 BC to 4400 BCE.” ref

“The earliest Funnel Beaker culture (4400–4100 BCE), called Rosenhof group, was thought to mark the beginning of the Early Nordic Neolithic period. According to Schwabedissen, a chronological classifi-cation of the Mesolithic finds in separate sub-phases proved impossible, as no change could be detected within the Terminal Mesolithic occupation layer, which spanned 600 14C years. Even though this new northern German chronology contradicted Danish research results, according to which the earliest Funnel Beaker culture was dated to 3900 BCE, it was quickly adapted in supraregional chronologies and dominated the German literature. First serious doubts were raised when publishing the stone artifacts of the Rosenhof site, and by the exemplary mapping of pot sherds, but an alternative classification of the find assemblages on the basis of the excavation results, turned out to be impossible. Even previous attempts to regionally classify the Erte-bølle culture derived from past research work and are mostly established on unproven or already disproved statements).” ref

“Moreover, these attempts are obviously influenced by present national or regional frontiers without taking into account the cultural differences of individual regional groups, as it has been done in the work of S. H. Andersen, P. V. Petersen and A. D. Johannsen, which deals with the classification of the Ertebølle culture in Denmark. The Old- or Protoneolithic PeriodThe terms “Old- or Protoneolithic” for the Ertebølle/Ellerbek culture in Schleswig-Holstein were proposed by H. Schwabedissen as a result of his land excavations. In this context, he referred to evidence of grain pollen, and domesticated animals on sites in the Satrupholmer Moor. In later studies, he compared the Danish Køkkenmøddinger sites with the Ellerbek culture in Schleswig-Holstein, which he claimed was an inland culture with early agricultural elements that predated the Danish counterpart by more than 300 14C years. New radiocarbon dates prove that this terminological difference does not apply. The theory that shell middens appear on all southern Scandinavian sites had already been proved wrong. The so-called, Køkkenmøddinger are a regional phenomenon in northern Jutland and on the Danish isles. Recent research has shown that hunting, fishing, and gathering was the main form of subsistence on all northern German and southern Scandinavian Ertebølle sites. Palaeozoological and palaeobotanical analyses indicate a highly specialized exploitation of marine and limnic resources. Agri-culture was not an important part of the subsistence economy of the coastal population.” ref

“As opposed to its Late Mesolithic predecessors, the Ertebølle culture existed at the same time as the Central European Early Neolithic sedentary Linear pottery and Post-Linear pottery cultures. Certain elements in the artefactual record, such as pottery or T-shaped antler axes, which have always been interpreted as Neolithic influences, could originally have come from other Mesolithic groups in northwestern Europe or the Baltic. Nevertheless, a number of different imported goods, such as the exotic Danubian shaft hole axes, show contacts with farming communities. These contacts probably also explain the appearance of the first domesticated animals on Erte-bølle settlement sites apart from the dog. In contrast to the Late Meso-lithic groups, the Ertebølle culture was exposed to a very intensive acculturation process. This did, however, not extend to the subsistence economy.” ref

“The traditional subsistence economy based on hunting, fishing, and gathering was finally replaced by a producing way of life, when the characteristic pointed-base cooking vessels were replaced by Funnel Beaker pottery. The Sten-gaade-Siggeneben regional group, part of the northern group of the Early Funnel Beaker culture, evolved from the Ertebølle culture in the area along the southwestern Baltic coast). The authors regard the “producing way of life” as the most important criterion for a differentiation of Mesolithic and Neolithic. The appearance of singular culture specific elements, such as ceramics or polished axes is seen as less important. Even in its final phase, the subsistence economy of the Ertebølle culture was based on hunting, fishing, and gathering, whereas stock farming was the main form of subsistence on the oldest coastal settlement sites of the Funnel-beaker people. Therefore it seems justifiable to define this period as the boundary between Mesolithic and Early Nordic Neolithic. However, Ertebølle culture has to be differentiated as Nordic Terminal Mesolithic period from the Late Mesolithic, as it was exposed to an acculturation process through the neighboring Central European Neolithic cultures like Linear pottery and Post-Linear pottery cultures. A similar approach was used in Ober-schwaben in southwestern Germany to differentiate between a Late Mesolithic and a Terminal Mesolithic period, as the last hunter-gatherer societies existed parallel to the Early Linear pottery culture. Subsistence economy and settlement types of the Nordic Terminal Mesolithic are based on the Late Meso-lithic traditions.” ref

“Only the artifact assemblages allow an archaeo-typological differentiation from the Late Mesolithic. As hardly any complete Late Mesolithic inventories have been found in northern Germany, Danish research results have to be used for a comparison. According to Danish findings, Late Mesolithic inventories are characterized by a developed micro-blade pressure technique with specialized handle cores, a macro-blade punch technique, and trapeze microliths and/or rhombic arrowheads as projectiles, as well as elongated triangle microliths with basal retouching. In the Terminal Mesolithic, the micro-blade technique disappears, and macro-blades produced in punch technique, transverse arrowheads and trapezoidal, flat trimmed flake adzes become the most common artifacts. Excavation of coastal settlements in the Mecklenburg BaySince 1996 wetland settlements of the 5th and early 6th millennium BC have been excavated in eastern Hol-stein. In Mecklenburg-Vorpommern submarine sites have been uncovered in the Wismar Bay since 1998. These sites date back to the 6th and 5th millennium BCE. Both areas are part of the Mecklenburg Bay. Together with Lübeck Bay, Wismar Bay and Fehmarn Belt the Mecklenburg Bay forms the western part of the Baltic Sea (Fig. 2).In the northwest it borders to Kiel Bay which consists of Hohwacht and Eckernförde Bay as well as Kiel and Flensburg fjord. Including the Danish belts the west-ern Baltic is referred to as “Beltsea” (Wattenberg 1949; Kolp 1965). After the water levels of the Baltic ice reservoir decreased at the beginning of the Holocene Period, the whole area was mostly dry land.” ref

“Only one big freshwater lake existed in the central area of Mecklenburg Bay, which drained across the Falster-Rügen plate into the Arkona basin. The rivers Trave, Warnow, and Recknitz flowed into this lake. When its water levels were at their height around 8400 BC, the Ancylus Lake only just reached the Mecklenburg Bay for a short period and drained via the Great Belt into the ocean. Earlier theories, according to which the Ancylus Lake drained westwards across the Falster Rügen plate and the Darsser Schwelle, during the following regression could not be verified. Kiel and Mecklenburg Bay finally became part of the Baltic Sea during the Litorina transgression around 6000 BCE, when the ocean penetrated through the Belt Sea into the Baltic basin. Recently a number of Stone Age settlements were investigated in this study area. Due to detailed stratigraphic excavation methods and systematic AMS dating of archaeological finds, various settlement phases, each not longer than a few hundred years, could be defined. These results drastically changed the current state of research. The correspondence of artifact assemblages from contemporary sites in both parts of the study area is noteworthy. In the following, the results gained so far will be presented. In addition, a first chronostratigraphic division of the Terminal Mesolithic Ertebølle culture and of the oldest Early Neolithic Funnel Beaker culture in the southern part of Mecklenburg Bay, based on radiocarbon dates, will be discussed. The descriptions of the artifact assemblages will, especially for the older phases, be limited to the stone tools. At the moment only preliminary results are available for the organic artifacts.” ref

Late Mesolithic period

“The oldest Mesolithic sites in the Mecklenburg Bay were discovered in the Wismar Bay. They were found north of the island Poel on the Jäckelberg in water-depth between 7 m and 11 m. Dated tree trunks of the area and archaeological remains proved that the sites date to the Late Mesolithic period of the late 7th millennium BCE and the first half of the 6th millennium BCE. The inventories are characterized by core axes with pointed-oval cross section, blade, and flake burins, trapezoid microliths, as well as soft hammered regular blades. Additionally, specialized handle cores indicate the production of fine micro blades using pressure technique. Further investigations will allow studies of the cultural change of the so far unexplored pre-Ertebølle period along the German Baltic coast. Moreover, they may answer the question of the existence of a Kongemose culture in this region.” ref

Terminal Mesolithic period Jäckelberg-phase 5450–5100 BCE

“According to research results in Denmark and Schleswig-Holstein the transition from the Late to the Terminal Mesolithic period took place around 5450 BC. Finds from the not yet stratified settlement site Wintershagen (Neustadt LA 160) which lies in a depth of 5 m to 6 m under water, and from the site Jäckelberg-Nord (Neuburg/Poel 16, Ostsee II) in Wismar Bay, were dated to this period (5600–5100 BCE) by eight radiocarbon dates). The settlement Jäckelberg-Nord today is situated in a depth of 6.5 m under water and represents the initial phase of the Ertebølle culture. As just a small part of the outcast layer was preserved in the formerly shallow waters, only a few stratified finds could be recovered. This does not yet allow for a differentiation of the artifacts from the final phase of the Late Mesolithic period. According to the knowledge gained so far, this early phase of the Ertebølle culture in Mecklenburg Bay is still dominated by flint stone tools such as core axes with pointed-oval cross-section, while flake adzes are not present in that period. The most common blade tools are blade knives with diagonal or straight truncations as well as burins. Borer and burins were made out of flakes. Transverse arrowheads were used instead of Late Mesolithic trapezoids. Compared to the Late Mesolithic stages, changes are most recognizable in the appearance of arrowheads and the declining number of blade and flake burins.” ref

Rosenfelde-phase (5100–4750 BCE)

“The following phase, which has so far been identified on the sites Rosenfelde (Grube LA 83, Kr Ostholstein) and Nordmole II (Neuburg/Poel 47, Ostsee II) can be described in much more detail. At present six 14C dates of Nordmole II cover the period between 5100 and 4800 BCE, two samples of Rosenfelde date to 5000 and 4800 BCE. Due to the absence of ceramics on both sites, this period is still part of the aceramic older Ertebølle culture. Core axes with rough rectangular or rhombic cross-sections and thick core-borers with triangular or pointed-oval outline are characteristic amongst the flint tools. While flake adzes are completely missing at Rosenfelde, some pieces, of remarkably small size, could be recovered from Nordmole II. Arrowheads are mostly made of blades. They can not be assigned to any of the standard schemes according to shape and size. Besides symmetrically shaped samples with straight or vaguely concave sides, asymmetrical arrowheads were found. Among the blade tools there are straight and beveled truncated knifes and burins, both made in soft hammer technique. Between indifferent, partly retouched, or rough denticulated flakes, flake-borers and blade-like flake-scrapers were recovered. The organic find inventory consists of leister prongs with short and long, curved rungs, as well as relatively long and curved pressure flakers made of antler tines.” ref

“Jarbock-phase (4750–4450 BCE)The appearance of pottery from ca 4750 BCE is the most important change in the material culture of the coastal Ertebølle settlements. With a technological change in the flint tool industry, this phase could be described as the transition to the Late Ertebølle culture. In the Mecklenburg Bay, the Jarbock-phase is only represented by the site Rosenhof (Grube LA 58, Kr. Ostholstein). The results of excavations allow the Ertebølle occupation layers to be dated from 4750 to 4450 BCE. To date, no complete inventories of this phase could be located in Wismar Bay. Only disarticulated finds from the surroundings of the sites Nordmole I and Nordmole II delivered comparable dates. Coarsely-tempered pointed-base cooking vessels with U-joins and a weak s-shaped profile are typical for the Jarbock-phase. The pointed bases vary from heavy cone-like to flattened, rounded forms. Oval lamps are another typical type of ceramics. Of these thin-walled types with finger nail impressions and stabbing on the rim are commonly found. Flint inventories are again dominated by soft ham-mered blades, from which blade scrapers with a partly asymmetric front, concave and straight truncated blades as well as burins and denticulated pieces were produced. Arrowheads are also made of blades, but as in the Rosenfelde-phase they do not give a uniform impression, neither according to their size nor their shape. Oblong-oval “flake adze-like” core axes with rough pointed-oval cross-section and trapezoidal, flat trimmed flake adzes appear in equal shares.” ref

“Larger implements include thick core-borer with partly heavy handle, ground stone tools such as round-pecked axes and Danubian shaft-hole axes are also found. The inventory of organic implements consists of leister prongs with differently shaped rungs, long fish spears, paddles with heart-shaped and oval blades, T-shaped axes, harpoons made of deer, and red deer antler, elbow daggers (ulna points), chisels and bone awls made from bird bones.Timmendorf-phase (4450–4100 BCE)The Timmendorf-phase can be differentiated from the Jarbock-phase as the latest development stage of the Ertebølle culture. This phase is represented by the sites Neustadt LA 156, Kr. Ostholstein, in Lübeck Bay and Timmendorf-Nordmole I (Neuburg/Poel 12, Ostsee II) in Wismar Bay. The Neustadt LA 156 site has so far been dated to 4500 to 4100 BCE by six AMS-14C-dates. More than 30 radiocarbon dates were obtained for the site Nordmole 1, where the main settlement occurred between 4400–4100 BCE. The oldest Ertebølle finds from the mainly Early Neolithic site Wangels LA 505, dating to 4300–-4100 BCE also count into the Timmendorf phase. The ceramics of this period consists of the traditional, coarsely-tempered, thick-walled pointed-base cooking vessels and oval lamps, which are similar to those ones from the Jarbock-phase. Additionally, pot sherds of a thin-walled, undecorated ware, made using the slab-forming rather than the coil-building technique, are commonly found.” ref

“The flint inventory is dominated by trapezoidal, flat trimmed flake adzes as opposed to oblong-rectangular flake adzes. Core adzes appear only rarely as atypical samples. Within the flint inventory, only thick-handled borers show a connection with the previous phase. The symmetric arrowheads have straight or slightly concave retouched edges and are partly made from blades and partly from flakes. Amongst the blade implements are soft hammered scrapers of regular, and often notice-able narrow basic forms. Moreover, there are concave retouched truncated blades with or without worked handles, short and long borers as well as edge retouched and denticulated pieces. Burins continue to be an exception at Ertebølle sites in Mecklenburg-Vorpom-mern. An independent group of thick flake scrapers appear for the first time. Among the ground stone tools round-pecked axes, Danubian shaft-hole axes thick-handled, and mace heads are still common. The organic implements, such as utensils with bone points and awls, slim bone chisels, elbow daggers, T-shaped axes, single indented harpoons made of deer or red deer antler, pressure flakers, chisels as well as arrows with piston-like wooden head, slim fish spears, variable leister prongs, and heart-shaped paddle, also show a continuation of the previous phase.6. Earlier NeolithicBetween 4100 and 4000 BCE, the cultural development along the German Baltic coast changed distinctively. The economic system, which so far was based on hunter-gatherer activities and the exploitation of maritime resources, was replaced by a producing way of life.” ref

“This change was linked to a change in the ceramic spectrum. The traditional pointed-base pots were superseded by Funnel Beaker vessels. But as other areas of the mate-rial culture showed continuity in their development, it can be assumed, that the Funnel Beaker culture evolved autochthonously from the Ertebølle culture. Similarities between Early Funnel Beaker ceramics and clay vessels of the Michelsberg culture have been pointed out previously. This allows the assumption, that the adaptation of a subsistence economy, based on agriculture and domestic animals and the origination of the Funnel Beaker culture in the western Baltic, was caused by impulses, which were triggered by an expansion. Similarities spreading of the older Michelsberg culture. In the second half of the 5th millennium BCE the Michelsberg culture replaced the post-linear pottery settlements in large parts of western Central Europe. The settlements of the Michelsberg culture spread up to the low mountain range of southern Niedersachsen.  Along the southern coast of the western Baltic, settlements of the oldest Funnel Beaker stage have only been excavated in Ostholstein. Today’s picture of the transition from Mesolithic to Neolithic was predominantly shaped by H. Schwabedissen’s investigation of the site Rosenhof (Grube LA 58) in the 1970s and the fine stratigraphic excavations of the site Wan-gels LA 505.” ref

“Due to AMS 14C dating of charred food crusts of Ertebølle and Funnel Beaker ceramics, the beginning of the Fun-nel Beaker culture, which was so far dated to 4400 BCE, could be amended to 4100 BCE. Though this change reduces the existing time lag in Danish research, the results were recently criticized by A. Fischer. According to Fischer, the publication of the 14C dates of the sites Wangels LA 505 and Timmendorf-Nordmole I did not take the reservoir effect, caused by a maritime diet, into account. This effect could cause errors in the dating of samples of up to 400 years. Contrary to this discourse, there is as already has been pointed out no evidence for misdating as a result of a reservoir effect in this case. All radiocarbon dates and the δ13C-values of charred food crusts of Terminal Mesolithic and Early Neolithic ceramics from the German part of the Baltic coast. The figure shows that Ertebølle pottery never dates later than 4100 BCE, while the first appearance of Funnel Beaker pottery can be observed from 4100 BCE. This verifies the date of 4100 BCE proposed by the authors for the transition from the Terminal Mesolithic Ertebølle culture to the Early Neolithic Funnel Beaker culture. Wangels-phase (4100–3800 BCE) For the Terminal Mesolithic Ertebølle culture different stages of development can be defined, the same applies to the Funnel Beaker culture of the Earlier Neolithic Period. Numerous new AMS-14C-dates allowed the specification of previous chronologies.” ref

“The oldest phase of the Funnel Beaker culture in the Mecklenburg Bay area could only be proved in Ostholstein. This phase is represented by the site Wangels LA505 (Kr. Osthol-stein) and the Early Neolithic potsherds from the Rosen-hof site. Initially, this period was named Rosenhof-phase. But as this term was in the past linked to meanwhile revised chronological concepts and as the Rosenhof site has not yet been stratified, the term “Wangels-phase” is suggested to avoid misunderstandings.In this oldest Early Neolithic phase, a differentiated spectrum of ceramics, consisting of broad Funnel Beakers with imprints at and beyond the rim or down-turned arcade rims, funnel bowls, lugged beakers, and lugged amphorae with dented handles as well as thin-walled, dishes, spherical bowls, flasks, and clay disks, is to be found. The antler, bone, and wooden implements of this phase show a significant similarity to the implements found in the Timmendorf-phase. The functional tradition of these utensils obviously continues. The same applies to the stone implement inventory with regular, soft hammered blades and the stone tools, which were produced from them. Amongst the big tools, trapezoidal flat trimmed flake adzes are still existent. Additionally, core-axes with specially trimmed edges and small, polished ground stone axes are worth noting as new elements. Polished flint axes are still unknown in this period.” ref

“Siggeneben-phase (3800–3500 BCE)In the study area, the subsequent Siggeneben-phase is only represented by the eponymous site Siggeneben-Süd (Grube LA12 Kr. Ostholstein) and the heavily disturbed site Timmendorf-Ton-nenhaken (Neuburg/Poel 15, Ostsee II). The Funnel Beaker of Tarnevitz was found during dredging work in the Wohlenberger Wiek west of Wismar Bay. The original site has not yet been located. Potsherds found on inland sites as for example Meimersdorf and Klein Meinsdorf also date to this phase, but were not found in a stratified context. Siggeneben-phase settlements are distinguished by their ceramic inventory, 90% of which consists of undecorated Funnel Beakers. The rare ornaments are limited to notches in the rim-edge, made with a stick or finger-nail, and/or to a simple ornamentation below the rim consisting of one or two rows of closely-set impressions from a stick or a small irregular stamp or of a row of short vertical lines or horizontal lines either engraved by a stick, or executed in stab-and-drag technique, two-ply cord or whipped cord. Apart from Funnel Beakers bottles, lugged flasks and clay disks, all characteristics for the Wangels-phase, can also be found. Whether oval lamps are part of the ceramic spectrum cannot be answered. Those found in Wangels date to Ertebølle settlements and do not seem to have been used later.” ref

“The pottery assemblage of Siggeneben-Süd allows for a differentiation of two settlement phases: an older one with predominantly undecorated or simply rim ornamented Funnel Beakers, bowls and flasks; and a younger phase with Funnel Beakers with a more complex ornamentation executed in whipped cord or stab-and-drag-technique and/or bellies with vertical lines engraved by a stick. This subdivision will however not be pursued because a stratigraphic division proved impossible on the site.The stone implement inventory is dominated by flake adzes, which occur in different variations; flat-trimmed, as well as edge-trimmed pieces, were discovered. Com-pared to the Wangels-phase, the adzes are smaller and less carefully prepared. Apart from some atypical core axes and core tools a new tool form, the all-round polished thin-butted flint ax has to be noted. Except for a few scrapers, traditional blade tools are rare. Additionally, there are truncated and edge-retouched pieces, borer, and transverse arrowheads. Flint knapping techniques during the Wangels-phase and the Siggeneben-phase differ considerably. The number of soft ham-mered regular blades with parallel edges and their corresponding production remains decreases rapidly in Siggeneben-Süd.The organic material consists of bone points as well as polished ribs, elbow daggers, and pressure flakers, which are already known from the Wangels-phase.” ref

“In recent years, excavations of wetland settlements in the Mecklenburg Bay area have lead to a differentiated picture of the chronological development of the Terminal Mesolithic and the Early Neolithic period. Based on precise stratigraphic analysis and absolute dating of settlement inventories, a new chronology of the Terminal Mesolithic (Ertebølle culture) and the Earlier Neolithic (earliest Funnel Beaker culture) can be proved.For the Terminal Mesolithic, a division into four phases is suggested. Two phases are assigned to the aceramic period of the Ertebølle culture and two to the ceramic period.” ref

“At present not all phases could be confirmed on settlement sites in the eastern and the western part of the Mecklenburg Bay. But the site inventories show remarkable similarities in the tool assemblages, man-ufacturing techniques culture, and the earliest dates for the production of ceramics. Local particularities, such as the preference for certain types of flint implements (e.g. burins or flake scraper), are presumably due to funmanufacturingctional differences of the settlements as opposed to chronological differences. The Ertebølle culture can be dated to 5450 BC to 4100 BCE. It is succeeded by the Funnel Beaker culture. An autochthonous development of the Funnel Beaker cul-ture from the Terminal Mesolithic substratum seems likely. As minor corrections of these dates, which were obtained through AMS dating of charred food crusts have to be expected due to the reservoir effect, a contemporaneity with the Danish Funnel Beaker culture becomes more and more probable.The Wangels-phase marks the beginning of the Earliest Neolithic in the study area. This phase replaces the Rosenhof group, which was very controversial because of insufficient absolute data and a lack of stratigraphic consistency. The division of the Early Funnel Beaker culture on the southern Baltic Coast ends with the Siggeneben-phase. At present no excavated or absolute dated coastal settlement of the younger Early Neolithic exist in the research area. The chronostratigraphic division, which is currently based on land sites such as Satrup and Fuchsberg, will hopefully be refined by research conducted on new coastal settlements in the future.” ref

Maritime Hunter-Gatherers Adopt Cultivation at the Farming Extreme of Northern Europe 5000 Years Ago

“The dynamics of the origins and spread of farming are globally debated in anthropology and archaeology. Lately, numerous aDNA studies have turned the tide in favor of migrations, leaving only a few cases in Neolithic Europe where hunter-gatherers might have adopted agriculture. It is thus widely accepted that agriculture was expanding to its northern extreme in Sweden c. 4000 BCE by migrating Funnel Beaker Culture (FBC) farmers. This was followed by intense contacts with local hunter-gatherers, leading to the development of the Pitted Ware Culture (PWC), who nonetheless relied on maritime prey. Here, we present archaeobotanical remains from Sweden and the Åland archipelago (Finland) showing that PWC used free-threshing barley and hulled and free-threshing wheat from c. 3300 BCE. We suggest that these hunter-gatherers adopted cultivation from FBC farmers and brought it to islands beyond the 60th parallel north. Based on directly dated grains, land areas suitable for cultivation, and the absence of signs of exchange with FBC in Sweden, we argue that PWC cultivated crops in Åland. While we have isotopic and lipid-biomarker proof that their main subsistence was still hunting/fishing/gathering, we argue small-scale cereal use was intended for ritual feasts, when cereal products could have been consumed with pork.” ref

“The first FBC farmers reached the northernmost extreme of farming in east-central Sweden c. 4000 BCE, when terrestrial pollen records show high summer temperatures for northeast Europe and Finland. Here, these farmers founded a regional cluster of settlements during the local Early Neolithic (EN) period, c. 4000–3300 BCE, and established a mixed-farming economy by cultivating crops using manure, keeping domestic animals, and consuming milk products. Further to the north, Mesolithic hunter-gathering practices persisted, while to the east both western Finland and the Åland Islands were occupied by Comb Ceramic hunter-gatherers. However, indications of farming and population decline have been found in east-central Sweden at the end of the EN, possibly caused by cooling summer temperatures. FBC moved southwards from east-central Sweden shifting the northernmost border of farming and was replaced here by the PWC c. 3300 BCE. The diet, animal consumption, and vessel use of the PWC are well understood. However, the PWC’s plant use is poorly known8. To study which plants PWC people collected, or whether they even cultivated plants in this pelagic environment, situated at the northern margins of farming, we have studied archaeobotanical plant remains and AMS radiocarbon dated remains from the Åland Islands and east-central Sweden and compared them with earlier and later finds from the region.” ref

Spread of cultivation in the Northern Baltic

“Here, we present new as well as previously published AMS radiocarbon determinations of cereal grains from east-central and northern Sweden, the Åland Islands, and Finland. The radiocarbon dates are discussed in relation to land area at c. 3950 cal BCE and 2450 cal BCE.” ref

“In east-central Sweden, 23 cereal grains from 13 sites have been AMS radiocarbon dated to the local EN, c. 4000–3300 cal BCE. The earliest dated 3950–3700 cal BC and came from the sites Attersta and Lisseläng 2. All but one EN cereal grain originated from sites situated south or west of Mälaren. Cereals have been found at sites situated in inland locations, albeit mostly with access to the sea, and on the large (c. 40 × 40 km) island of Södertörn. No EN cereal grains have been found on the smaller islands in Lake Mälaren. As opposed to the large land areas in east-central Sweden, the Åland archipelago consisted of small rocky islands visited or inhabited by seal-hunting Comb Ceramic groups from the east since 5300 BCE. No cultivated plants were discovered at the Comb Ceramic sites of Överby and Kloddberget on Åland dating to c. 5200–3300 cal BCE. Wild, possibly gathered, plants found at these sites consist of hazel, copse-bindweed, knotgrass, juniper, and horsetail.” ref

“In the northern Baltic, 30 cereal grains from 11 sites date to the local MN, c. 3300–2300 cal BCE, 20 of which are first presented in this study. Cereal grains have been found south of Lake Mälaren, on Åland, and at the 63rd parallel north along the Norrland coast. Cereal grains now occur in maritime locations with direct access to the sea and are no longer found at the earlier inland sites west and south of Mälaren. Cereals now also occur on small islands, such as Tråsättra, c. 3 × 4 km wide, Jettböle, c. 3 × 3 km, and Glamilders-Svinvallen, c. 10 × 6 km (Fig. 3b,c). The distribution of cereal grains was clearly more maritime during the MN. We have, however, so far discovered no cultivated plant impressions from CWC, c. 2800–2300 BCE, on vessels found in mainland Finland. Instead, the studied sherds had impressions of wild plants: mountain melick, juniper, and wild strawberry. In east-central Sweden and the western Bothnian coast, four cereal grains from four different sites date to the local LN, c. 2300–1900 cal BCE. The grains were discovered at coastal sites east and north of Mälaren and along the Norrland coast. Here, we present a new AMS date from Bäljars 2, which is among the oldest radiocarbon-dated cereals in mainland Finland. The earliest radiocarbon-dated cereal grains belong to the LN or Early Bronze Age, c. 1900–1250 cal BCE. Additionally, though it is not the focus of this study, we introduce the first cereal grains dated to the Bronze Age from Åland.” ref

Cultivated crops and gathered wild plants during the EN and MN periods in the northern Baltic

“Thus far, only a limited number of archaeobotanical assemblages dated to the EN and MN have been studied in the region. Nevertheless, some preliminary conclusions can already be drawn based on the species of AMS radiocarbon-dated cereal grains and assemblages of plant remains.” ref

“During the EN, c. 4000–3300 cal BCE, AMS-dated cereals derived from naked barley, hulled barley, emmer/spelt, naked wheat, and possibly einkorn wheat (Fig. 4). Two assemblages have provided consistent EN dates: the sites of Skogsmossen and Hjulberga (Supplementary Table 3). Barley predominated at Skogsmossen, where naked wheat and emmer have also been found. At Hjulberga, both barley and naked wheat have been found in nearly equal amounts, while only a single emmer grain has been found. Two grains of hulled barley have been dated to the EN, with no larger finds of this crop, making it unclear whether it was intentionally cultivated during the EN. Thus, during the EN three cultivated species have been definitively identified: naked barley, naked wheat, and emmer. We suggest that naked barley was the most common crop, followed by naked wheat and emmer. The assemblage from the Stensborg site originating during the EN and MN transition contains more than seven thousand cereal grains. The main crop was emmer, followed by naked wheat and lastly by naked barley. Thus, while the cultivation of naked barley, naked wheat, and emmer continued, emmer was now the most common crop, at least at this site.” ref

“The cereal grains from the Alvastra site, containing more than nine thousand charred remains altogether, also date to the end of the EN or the MN. Naked barley was the most common cereal, whereas emmer appears in smaller quantities. At Alvastra, wild gathered plants, such as hazel and crab apple, have also been found. During the MN, c. 3300–2300 cal BCE, AMS-dated cereals consisted of naked barley, naked wheat, and emmer/spelt. Three site assemblages presented in this study date consistently to this period: Glamilders, Åby, and Tråsättra. Naked barley is the most commonly identified crop at these sites. Hulled barley was found at Åby and naked wheat both at Åby and Tråsättra. Wild gathered plants occur at all sites too. Hazel is present in each assemblage and was especially common at Glamilders, where we have also found tuber oat grass, crab apple, and rose. At Glamilders and Tråsättra, we have discovered lesser celandine, which was commonly gathered by early agriculturalists in northern Europe. Only a few weed seeds have been found at these sites: false cleavers, cleaver, and knotgrass. The scarcity of weeds might be related to the peculiar harvesting methods, the type of cultivation, or that so few assemblages have been studied.” ref

“In addition, naked barley impressions in PWC ceramics from Glamilders date to 2900–2500 cal BCE, while wheat impressions from Åby date to the MN, clearly indicating that the predominantly hunter-gatherer PWC people had access to cereals when they were making their ceramics. These discoveries show that naked barley was the main cultivated species during the MN period. Emmer was present at Alvastra, emmer/spelt was at least present at the sites of Sittesta and Jordbromalm, and naked wheat and hulled barley have been found at Åby and Tråsättra, speaking for a diversity in cultivation practices and species. During the local LN, c. 2300–1700 cal BCE, all AMS-dated cereal grains derived from naked barley. However, they represent only small assemblages. During the Bronze Age, c. 1700–500 cal BCE, AMS-dated cereal grains on mainland Finland derived from naked barley and now oat, of which oat most probably was not cultivated, but instead was considered a weed during this time. It is difficult to evaluate the importance and presence of different cultivated species during the LN and Bronze Age on mainland Finland due to the overall small quantities of analyzed samples; however, it strongly appears that barley was indeed the major crop.” ref

“Based on the abovementioned radiocarbon-dated cereal grains from the northern Baltic, there was most likely a regional continuity of cereal cultivation in east-central Sweden during the EN and MN periods, c. 4000–2300 cal BCE. Concurrently, we also see a pattern of expansion and suggest three periods for the spread of cultivated plants. The first spread took place during the EN, when crops appeared around Lake Mälaren. A second spread occurred during the MN, when crops spread further into maritime locations on Åland, the outer islands of Lake Mälaren, and along the Norrland coast. The third expansion occurred during c. 1900–1250 cal BCE, when cultivated plants reached eastern parts of mainland Finland. FBC south and west of Mälaren practiced a mixed farming economy during the EN5. Though outside the study region, analyses of ancient DNA have recently shown that a FBC female dated to 3945–3647 cal BCE from southern Sweden had genetic affinities with Neolithic farmers in Central Europe, which demonstrates that the spread of FBC in Sweden was, at least partly, due to migration, although local adoption of agriculture by Mesolithic groups has been suggested. Unfortunately, no ancient DNA data are available for the EN in east-central Sweden, but here, as well as in southern Sweden, the change in the material culture can be interpreted as indicating FBC farmer migration combined with interaction with local hunter-gatherer people.” ref

“In the north-eastern archipelago of Mälaren, we do not find cultivated plants or domestic animals during the EN. While the material culture shows that FBC traits were present, the overall material culture was most strongly affected by hunter-gatherer people of the northern Mesolithic and eastern Comb Ceramic traditions, and it is even possible that local people adopted ceramic manufacture from the FBC farmers. Though cultivation is suggested by finds of cereal-type pollen, no macrofossil remains of cultivated plants from the EN have been found on Åland, in Finland, or the Baltic countries. FBC, Comb Ceramic, and local Mesolithic peoples interacted during the EN in east-central Sweden. Interpretation of archaeological remains suggests that these groups formed a community wherein they transmitted practices requiring intense contacts, as exemplified by ceramic manufacture, stone technology, house plans, ritual practices, and even genes. It has been argued that this exchange led to the material expression of the PWC in east-central Sweden from around 3500 cal BCE. Maritime subsistence and the hunter-gatherer lifestyle continued after the Mesolithic; however, it appears that small-scale agriculture, suitable for this lifestyle, was inherited from FBC farmers, while PWC users predominantly derived genetically from hunter-gatherers.” ref

“Former agricultural inland settlements west of Mälaren were abandoned during the Middle Neolithic A (MNA, 3300–2800 BCE), and after this period cereal grains have been found only at coastal sites associated with the PWC. Cereal grain from Åland dated to the period and associated with the PWC shows that this group carried cultivated plants into places without any signs of earlier cultivation. Did the PWC people cultivate domesticated crops themselves, as suggested for western Sweden, or acquire them from the FBC during the MNA? If we maintain that cereals and other agricultural products were exchanged with other groups, then they must have been brought from the FBC settlements. Such a scenario is unlikely because the FBC retreated from large parts of east-central Sweden and indications of exchange, such as flint imported from southern Swedish FBC to east-central Swedish PWC, greatly diminished8. That east-central Sweden was left out of the FBC network is also evident by the lack of megaliths, constructed in southern Sweden mainly during 3300–3000 cal BCE.” ref

“Rachis remains from free-threshing cereals, such as barley, are considered good indications of local cultivation because such cereals were commonly transported as threshed grains. Barley rachis have been discovered at the MN Alvastra site), which speaks for local cultivation. Three barley rachis fragments have also been discovered at the PWC Sittesta site, with two of them having been found in MN stratigraphical contexts, again indicating local cultivation. Thus far, no threshing remains have been discovered from Åland, but this could reflect the small-scale excavations and the limited number of studied samples. If we, however, hold that cereal grains found at the MNA sites (c. 3300–2800 cal BCE) were acquired from the FBC, we must consider that the closest FBC sites of the time were situated in Alvastra and south and west of it. The distance to Alvastra, associated both with the PWC and FBC, is 100 km from Åby, 200 km from Sittesta, and 370 km from Åland. These distances would make cereal transports, likely in canoes, challenging. The crops of the earliest north European FBC consisted mainly of naked wheat, barley, and emmer. Around 3750 BCE, the focus shifted to emmer and barley. This shift is discernible at the Stensborg and Alvastra sites, where emmer was the most common wheat species. Naked wheat was, however, still common at PWC sites and it, therefore, appears that PWC adopted crops from the FBC at the beginning of the EN.” ref

“During 2800–2300 cal BCE, corresponding with the Middle Neolithic B (MNB), cereal grains have been found at coastal locations. Some argue that during the MNB, the PWC in east-central Sweden and Åland acquired cereals and other agricultural products from newcomers of the contemporary CWC. CWC users inhabiting mainly inland locations in east-central Sweden interacted with the PWC, as demonstrated by the distribution of ceramic finds and similarities in ritual practices. Cultivated plants at CWC sites in Finland were not discovered in the current investigation. In Finland, the keeping of domestic animals is indicated by the evidence of dairy lipids and mineralized goat hairs. Charred remains and impressions of cultivated plants have been discovered at CWC sites in Estonia and east-central Sweden. In the eastern Baltic region, the earliest bones of domestic animals and a shift in subsistence occurred with the CWC. Whether CWC produced the cereals and other agricultural products found at PWC sites is difficult to estimate because only small amounts of plant remains have ever been discovered at CWC sites. The CWC seemingly reached east-central Sweden from regions further to the east, where there is evidence of animal husbandry, but only very few signs of plant cultivation.” ref

“Pollen indications of cultivation and animal keeping dated to the MN period have been found in east-central Sweden. Several PWC settlements had sedentary characteristics, as shown by osteological materials from east-central Sweden and Åland. These analyses demonstrate that at least parts of the population would have stayed at PWC sites during the crop growing season. Grindstones found from Åland and eastern Sweden could have been used for processing agricultural products. Large accumulations of archaeological finds, pottery in particular, and robust hearth constructions also point towards a substantial sedentary lifestyle, irrespective of the existence of outside camp sites. Small amounts of cattle and sheep bones from PWC sites in east-central Sweden and on the Åland islands (Supplementary Materials) further point towards contacts with agricultural groups, or to the small-scale keeping of livestock. Clearly, the Åland islands were too small to maintain a population of wild boars. It is therefore likely that pigs were brought intentionally to the islands by PWC people, though this must be confirmed by direct AMS-dating of the bones.” ref

“Overall, arguments for a continuity in cereal grain dates, crop spectra similar to EN FBC, finds of barley rachis, diminished flint exchange between FBC and PWC users, the long distances between FBC and PWC sites, pollen from cultivated cereals in sediment cores, and fully sedentary settlements make it probable that PWC people cultivated their own crops in east-central Sweden and Åland during the MN period. On Åland, the availability and extent of cultivable soils could have been too small for plant cultivation and animal keeping prior to the PWC occupation. Land uplift around 3000 BCE, during the occupation of the PWC sites Jettböle and Glamilders-Svinvallen, has revealed light tills and sandy soils, the extent of which permitted small-scale barley and wheat cultivation. Not surprisingly, our PWC sites are located close to them. For the Late Neolithic (LN), cereal grains have been found north of Mälaren and along the Norrland coast). In mainland Finland, the first cereal grains occur during the LN or Bronze Age, c. 1900–1250 cal BCE. The earliest bones of sheep/goat from mainland Finland are earlier, dating back to 2200–1950 cal BCE.” ref

“Finds of Scandinavian bronze artifacts indicate an influx from east-central Sweden, which might well be a source area for these agricultural innovations. A similar development is found in the eastern Baltic region, where the earliest directly radiocarbon-dated cereals originate from the Bronze Age, 1392–1123 cal BCE. Thus, agriculture was evident during the Bronze Age in the eastern Baltic, but at least animal keeping and probably crop cultivation were present earlier during the CWC phase. So far, we have demonstrated that cereals were found at PWC sites in east-central Sweden and on Åland, this being the northern boundary of farming at that time. The cereals were, in all likelihood, cultivated locally by PWC, who might have preferred barley, which is suited to a harsh environment and could have given better yields, and therefore, been naturally selected over wheat species. There is evidence, however, that maritime resources were the main staples of their diet, as shown by finds of animal bones19, lipid biomarker analyses behavior, and studies of stable isotopes from human bones. If not that important for subsistence, is it possible that cereals were significant for social behaviour, such as feasting.” ref

“It is common knowledge that communal consumption of food creates social integration and bonding, but also competition, essential for ritual feasts. At feasts, special foods can be consumed; they differ from ordinary meals by having more participants and more food and drink. Feasts could have been an arena for such social integration, bonding, and competition among PWC groups, but also across PWC and FBC. Feasts, in their different forms, have been discussed in numerous historical and ethnographical sources, which can also be used for identifying potential archaeological traces of feasting. Such traces include, for example, unusually large amounts of food remains or food preparation structures accompanied by ritual activity indicators, special features, and human remains55. In particular, the large PWC cemeteries discovered on the island of Gotland show numerous features that can be related to ritual feasts. Here, the ritual significance of pigs is most clearly shown by finds of their remains within PWC burials. Up to 32 pig jaws were deposited in a single grave, nr. 7 at the cemetery of Ajvide, and they can be taken to represent the communal consumption of pigs during a feast.” ref

“Another example of ritual sites associated with the late FBC and early PWC is the remarkable Alvastra pile dwelling . Here, 100 hearths and numerous fire-making tools, tinder fungus, and numerous prestigious objects have been discovered. At the site, bones from large domestic and wild animals, such as cattle, sheep, pig, and red deer, are common. Alvastra has thus been interpreted as a place for cooking, feasting, cult practices, and assembly. Fewer graves have been discovered in east-central Sweden and on Åland, probably due to land uplift and acidic soils. At Korsnäs, on Södertörn island, large amounts of pig bones were discovered dating to the MNA and culturally linked to the PWC. Stable isotopic analyses have indicated that these people had a maritime diet and that pigs were only consumed on special occasions – again, they can best be interpreted as the remains of ritual feasts. Pig bones also occur at several other sites in east-central Sweden and Åland showing that pigs were available in this area.” ref

“As for cereals, thousands of their macrofossil remains have been found at Alvastra, and it is possible that they were intentionally burned together with wild plants, such as crab apples. Our cereal finds might thus fall within the context of rare foods to be consumed on special occasions only. Ethnographical studies again provide the best explanation for how domesticated animals and plants that are not used daily were regarded as special food to only be consumed at communally enjoyed feasts. In our case of PWC hunter-gatherers on Åland, who subsisted daily on fat-rich seals, fish, other maritime prey, and gathered plants, the cereals, and the pigs were likely such rare specialties. Although not proven in our records, and thus far not tested scientifically, cereals might, however, be converted into alcoholic beverages to accompany rare solid food, thus creating another particular aspect of communal ritual feasting, one well known in ethnography.” ref

Implications

“Results demonstrate for the first time that domesticated barley and wheat have been found at various PWC sites in east-central Sweden and particularly on the recently enlarging Åland Islands in the Baltic Sea, beyond the 60th parallel north and therefore close to an environmental boundary that even today, with modern technologies, limits cereal farming. Our data confirm these cereals as belonging to contexts spanning this archaeological culture’s entire existence of more than a millennium. However, they also illustrate that PWC hunter-gatherers adopted agricultural practices from their farming FBC neighbors without becoming full-time farmers. Yet, the agricultural practices discussed here are poorly known in detail, and only future investigations will enhance our understanding. Their main subsistence remained throughout their existence as a visible archaeological culture; hunting and gathering the plentifully available resources of the Baltic Sea and its shores. Therefore, do not consider the PWC to represent a transitional society whose subsistence economy was on a track towards full-fledged agriculture. Instead, these groups of maritime hunter-gatherers adopted small-scale crop growing as a supplementary skill to produce an additional food resource, likely purposed for special occasions only. Such special occasions were seemingly important enough for a people with hunter-gatherer origins to continue their agricultural practices even in a changing environment, where the donator society of FBC was withdrawing further to the south and away from the PWC hunter-gatherers that are the focus of this study.” ref

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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Animism: Respecting the Living World by Graham Harvey 

“How have human cultures engaged with and thought about animals, plants, rocks, clouds, and other elements in their natural surroundings? Do animals and other natural objects have a spirit or soul? What is their relationship to humans? In this new study, Graham Harvey explores current and past animistic beliefs and practices of Native Americans, Maori, Aboriginal Australians, and eco-pagans. He considers the varieties of animism found in these cultures as well as their shared desire to live respectfully within larger natural communities. Drawing on his extensive casework, Harvey also considers the linguistic, performative, ecological, and activist implications of these different animisms.” ref

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

My thoughts on Religion Evolution with external links for more info:

“Religion is an Evolved Product” and Yes, Religion is Like Fear Given Wings…

Atheists talk about gods and religions for the same reason doctors talk about cancer, they are looking for a cure, or a firefighter talks about fires because they burn people and they care to stop them. We atheists too often feel a need to help the victims of mental slavery, held in the bondage that is the false beliefs of gods and the conspiracy theories of reality found in religions.

“Understanding Religion Evolution: Animism, Totemism, Shamanism, Paganism & Progressed organized religion”

Understanding Religion Evolution:

“An Archaeological/Anthropological Understanding of Religion Evolution”

It seems ancient peoples had to survived amazing threats in a “dangerous universe (by superstition perceived as good and evil),” and human “immorality or imperfection of the soul” which was thought to affect the still living, leading to ancestor worship. This ancestor worship presumably led to the belief in supernatural beings, and then some of these were turned into the belief in gods. This feeble myth called gods were just a human conceived “made from nothing into something over and over, changing, again and again, taking on more as they evolve, all the while they are thought to be special,” but it is just supernatural animistic spirit-belief perceived as sacred.

 

Quick Evolution of Religion?

Pre-Animism (at least 300,000 years ago) pre-religion is a beginning that evolves into later Animism. So, Religion as we think of it, to me, all starts in a general way with Animism (Africa: 100,000 years ago) (theoretical belief in supernatural powers/spirits), then this is physically expressed in or with Totemism (Europe: 50,000 years ago) (theoretical belief in mythical relationship with powers/spirits through a totem item), which then enlists a full-time specific person to do this worship and believed interacting Shamanism (Siberia/Russia: 30,000 years ago) (theoretical belief in access and influence with spirits through ritual), and then there is the further employment of myths and gods added to all the above giving you Paganism (Turkey: 12,000 years ago) (often a lot more nature-based than most current top world religions, thus hinting to their close link to more ancient religious thinking it stems from). My hypothesis is expressed with an explanation of the building of a theatrical house (modern religions development). Progressed organized religion (Egypt: 5,000 years ago)  with CURRENT “World” RELIGIONS (after 4,000 years ago).

Historically, in large city-state societies (such as Egypt or Iraq) starting around 5,000 years ago culminated to make religion something kind of new, a sociocultural-governmental-religious monarchy, where all or at least many of the people of such large city-state societies seem familiar with and committed to the existence of “religion” as the integrated life identity package of control dynamics with a fixed closed magical doctrine, but this juggernaut integrated religion identity package of Dogmatic-Propaganda certainly did not exist or if developed to an extent it was highly limited in most smaller prehistoric societies as they seem to lack most of the strong control dynamics with a fixed closed magical doctrine (magical beliefs could be at times be added or removed). Many people just want to see developed religious dynamics everywhere even if it is not. Instead, all that is found is largely fragments until the domestication of religion.

Religions, as we think of them today, are a new fad, even if they go back to around 6,000 years in the timeline of human existence, this amounts to almost nothing when seen in the long slow evolution of religion at least around 70,000 years ago with one of the oldest ritual worship. Stone Snake of South Africa: “first human worship” 70,000 years ago. This message of how religion and gods among them are clearly a man-made thing that was developed slowly as it was invented and then implemented peace by peace discrediting them all. Which seems to be a simple point some are just not grasping how devastating to any claims of truth when we can see the lie clearly in the archeological sites.

I wish people fought as hard for the actual values as they fight for the group/clan names political or otherwise they think support values. Every amount spent on war is theft to children in need of food or the homeless kept from shelter.

Here are several of my blog posts on history:

I am not an academic. I am a revolutionary that teaches in public, in places like social media, and in the streets. I am not a leader by some title given but from my commanding leadership style of simply to start teaching everywhere to everyone, all manner of positive education. 

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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Low Gods “Earth” or Tutelary deity and High Gods “Sky” or Supreme deity

“An Earth goddess is a deification of the Earth. Earth goddesses are often associated with the “chthonic” deities of the underworld. Ki and Ninhursag are Mesopotamian earth goddesses. In Greek mythology, the Earth is personified as Gaia, corresponding to Roman Terra, Indic Prithvi/Bhūmi, etc. traced to an “Earth Mother” complementary to the “Sky Father” in Proto-Indo-European religion. Egyptian mythology exceptionally has a sky goddess and an Earth god.” ref

“A mother goddess is a goddess who represents or is a personification of nature, motherhood, fertility, creation, destruction or who embodies the bounty of the Earth. When equated with the Earth or the natural world, such goddesses are sometimes referred to as Mother Earth or as the Earth Mother. In some religious traditions or movements, Heavenly Mother (also referred to as Mother in Heaven or Sky Mother) is the wife or feminine counterpart of the Sky father or God the Father.” ref

“Any masculine sky god is often also king of the gods, taking the position of patriarch within a pantheon. Such king gods are collectively categorized as “sky father” deities, with a polarity between sky and earth often being expressed by pairing a “sky father” god with an “earth mother” goddess (pairings of a sky mother with an earth father are less frequent). A main sky goddess is often the queen of the gods and may be an air/sky goddess in her own right, though she usually has other functions as well with “sky” not being her main. In antiquity, several sky goddesses in ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, and the Near East were called Queen of Heaven. Neopagans often apply it with impunity to sky goddesses from other regions who were never associated with the term historically. The sky often has important religious significance. Many religions, both polytheistic and monotheistic, have deities associated with the sky.” ref

“In comparative mythology, sky father is a term for a recurring concept in polytheistic religions of a sky god who is addressed as a “father”, often the father of a pantheon and is often either a reigning or former King of the Gods. The concept of “sky father” may also be taken to include Sun gods with similar characteristics, such as Ra. The concept is complementary to an “earth mother“. “Sky Father” is a direct translation of the Vedic Dyaus Pita, etymologically descended from the same Proto-Indo-European deity name as the Greek Zeûs Pater and Roman Jupiter and Germanic Týr, Tir or Tiwaz, all of which are reflexes of the same Proto-Indo-European deity’s name, *Dyēus Ph₂tḗr. While there are numerous parallels adduced from outside of Indo-European mythology, there are exceptions (e.g. In Egyptian mythology, Nut is the sky mother and Geb is the earth father).” ref

Tutelary deity

“A tutelary (also tutelar) is a deity or spirit who is a guardian, patron, or protector of a particular place, geographic feature, person, lineage, nation, culture, or occupation. The etymology of “tutelary” expresses the concept of safety and thus of guardianship. In late Greek and Roman religion, one type of tutelary deity, the genius, functions as the personal deity or daimon of an individual from birth to death. Another form of personal tutelary spirit is the familiar spirit of European folklore.” ref

“A tutelary (also tutelar) in Korean shamanism, jangseung and sotdae were placed at the edge of villages to frighten off demons. They were also worshiped as deities. Seonangshin is the patron deity of the village in Korean tradition and was believed to embody the Seonangdang. In Philippine animism, Diwata or Lambana are deities or spirits that inhabit sacred places like mountains and mounds and serve as guardians. Such as: Maria Makiling is the deity who guards Mt. Makiling and Maria Cacao and Maria Sinukuan. In Shinto, the spirits, or kami, which give life to human bodies come from nature and return to it after death. Ancestors are therefore themselves tutelaries to be worshiped. And similarly, Native American beliefs such as Tonás, tutelary animal spirit among the Zapotec and Totems, familial or clan spirits among the Ojibwe, can be animals.” ref

“A tutelary (also tutelar) in Austronesian beliefs such as: Atua (gods and spirits of the Polynesian peoples such as the Māori or the Hawaiians), Hanitu (Bunun of Taiwan‘s term for spirit), Hyang (Kawi, Sundanese, Javanese, and Balinese Supreme Being, in ancient Java and Bali mythology and this spiritual entity, can be either divine or ancestral), Kaitiaki (New Zealand Māori term used for the concept of guardianship, for the sky, the sea, and the land), Kawas (mythology) (divided into 6 groups: gods, ancestors, souls of the living, spirits of living things, spirits of lifeless objects, and ghosts), Tiki (Māori mythology, Tiki is the first man created by either Tūmatauenga or Tāne and represents deified ancestors found in most Polynesian cultures). ” ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref

Mesopotamian Tutelary Deities can be seen as ones related to City-States 

“Historical city-states included Sumerian cities such as Uruk and Ur; Ancient Egyptian city-states, such as Thebes and Memphis; the Phoenician cities (such as Tyre and Sidon); the five Philistine city-states; the Berber city-states of the Garamantes; the city-states of ancient Greece (the poleis such as Athens, Sparta, Thebes, and Corinth); the Roman Republic (which grew from a city-state into a vast empire); the Italian city-states from the Middle Ages to the early modern period, such as Florence, Siena, Ferrara, Milan (which as they grew in power began to dominate neighboring cities) and Genoa and Venice, which became powerful thalassocracies; the Mayan and other cultures of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica (including cities such as Chichen Itza, Tikal, Copán and Monte Albán); the central Asian cities along the Silk Road; the city-states of the Swahili coast; Ragusa; states of the medieval Russian lands such as Novgorod and Pskov; and many others.” ref

“The Uruk period (ca. 4000 to 3100 BCE; also known as Protoliterate period) of Mesopotamia, named after the Sumerian city of Uruk, this period saw the emergence of urban life in Mesopotamia and the Sumerian civilization. City-States like Uruk and others had a patron tutelary City Deity along with a Priest-King.” ref

“Chinese folk religion, both past, and present, includes myriad tutelary deities. Exceptional individuals, highly cultivated sages, and prominent ancestors can be deified and honored after death. Lord Guan is the patron of military personnel and police, while Mazu is the patron of fishermen and sailors. Such as Tu Di Gong (Earth Deity) is the tutelary deity of a locality, and each individual locality has its own Earth Deity and Cheng Huang Gong (City God) is the guardian deity of an individual city, worshipped by local officials and locals since imperial times.” ref

“A tutelary (also tutelar) in Hinduism, personal tutelary deities are known as ishta-devata, while family tutelary deities are known as Kuladevata. Gramadevata are guardian deities of villages. Devas can also be seen as tutelary. Shiva is the patron of yogis and renunciants. City goddesses include: Mumbadevi (Mumbai), Sachchika (Osian); Kuladevis include: Ambika (Porwad), and Mahalakshmi. In NorthEast India Meitei mythology and religion (Sanamahism) of Manipur, there are various types of tutelary deities, among which Lam Lais are the most predominant ones. Tibetan Buddhism has Yidam as a tutelary deity. Dakini is the patron of those who seek knowledge.” ref

“A tutelary (also tutelar) The Greeks also thought deities guarded specific places: for instance, Athena was the patron goddess of the city of Athens. Socrates spoke of hearing the voice of his personal spirit or daimonion:

You have often heard me speak of an oracle or sign which comes to me … . This sign I have had ever since I was a child. The sign is a voice which comes to me and always forbids me to do something which I am going to do, but never commands me to do anything, and this is what stands in the way of my being a politician.” ref

“Tutelary deities who guard and preserve a place or a person are fundamental to ancient Roman religion. The tutelary deity of a man was his Genius, that of a woman her Juno. In the Imperial era, the Genius of the Emperor was a focus of Imperial cult. An emperor might also adopt a major deity as his personal patron or tutelary, as Augustus did Apollo. Precedents for claiming the personal protection of a deity were established in the Republican era, when for instance the Roman dictator Sulla advertised the goddess Victory as his tutelary by holding public games (ludi) in her honor.” ref

“Each town or city had one or more tutelary deities, whose protection was considered particularly vital in time of war and siege. Rome itself was protected by a goddess whose name was to be kept ritually secret on pain of death (for a supposed case, see Quintus Valerius Soranus). The Capitoline Triad of Juno, Jupiter, and Minerva were also tutelaries of Rome. The Italic towns had their own tutelary deities. Juno often had this function, as at the Latin town of Lanuvium and the Etruscan city of Veii, and was often housed in an especially grand temple on the arx (citadel) or other prominent or central location. The tutelary deity of Praeneste was Fortuna, whose oracle was renowned.” ref

“The Roman ritual of evocatio was premised on the belief that a town could be made vulnerable to military defeat if the power of its tutelary deity were diverted outside the city, perhaps by the offer of superior cult at Rome. The depiction of some goddesses such as the Magna Mater (Great Mother, or Cybele) as “tower-crowned” represents their capacity to preserve the city. A town in the provinces might adopt a deity from within the Roman religious sphere to serve as its guardian, or syncretize its own tutelary with such; for instance, a community within the civitas of the Remi in Gaul adopted Apollo as its tutelary, and at the capital of the Remi (present-day Rheims), the tutelary was Mars Camulus.” ref 

Household deity (a kind of or related to a Tutelary deity)

“A household deity is a deity or spirit that protects the home, looking after the entire household or certain key members. It has been a common belief in paganism as well as in folklore across many parts of the world. Household deities fit into two types; firstly, a specific deity – typically a goddess – often referred to as a hearth goddess or domestic goddess who is associated with the home and hearth, such as the ancient Greek Hestia.” ref

“The second type of household deities are those that are not one singular deity, but a type, or species of animistic deity, who usually have lesser powers than major deities. This type was common in the religions of antiquity, such as the Lares of ancient Roman religion, the Gashin of Korean shamanism, and Cofgodas of Anglo-Saxon paganism. These survived Christianisation as fairy-like creatures existing in folklore, such as the Anglo-Scottish Brownie and Slavic Domovoy.” ref

“Household deities were usually worshipped not in temples but in the home, where they would be represented by small idols (such as the teraphim of the Bible, often translated as “household gods” in Genesis 31:19 for example), amulets, paintings, or reliefs. They could also be found on domestic objects, such as cosmetic articles in the case of Tawaret. The more prosperous houses might have a small shrine to the household god(s); the lararium served this purpose in the case of the Romans. The gods would be treated as members of the family and invited to join in meals, or be given offerings of food and drink.” ref

“In many religions, both ancient and modern, a god would preside over the home. Certain species, or types, of household deities, existed. An example of this was the Roman Lares. Many European cultures retained house spirits into the modern period. Some examples of these include:

“Although the cosmic status of household deities was not as lofty as that of the Twelve Olympians or the Aesir, they were also jealous of their dignity and also had to be appeased with shrines and offerings, however humble. Because of their immediacy they had arguably more influence on the day-to-day affairs of men than the remote gods did. Vestiges of their worship persisted long after Christianity and other major religions extirpated nearly every trace of the major pagan pantheons. Elements of the practice can be seen even today, with Christian accretions, where statues to various saints (such as St. Francis) protect gardens and grottos. Even the gargoyles found on older churches, could be viewed as guardians partitioning a sacred space.” ref

“For centuries, Christianity fought a mop-up war against these lingering minor pagan deities, but they proved tenacious. For example, Martin Luther‘s Tischreden have numerous – quite serious – references to dealing with kobolds. Eventually, rationalism and the Industrial Revolution threatened to erase most of these minor deities, until the advent of romantic nationalism rehabilitated them and embellished them into objects of literary curiosity in the 19th century. Since the 20th century this literature has been mined for characters for role-playing games, video games, and other fantasy personae, not infrequently invested with invented traits and hierarchies somewhat different from their mythological and folkloric roots.” ref

“In contradistinction to both Herbert Spencer and Edward Burnett Tylor, who defended theories of animistic origins of ancestor worship, Émile Durkheim saw its origin in totemism. In reality, this distinction is somewhat academic, since totemism may be regarded as a particularized manifestation of animism, and something of a synthesis of the two positions was attempted by Sigmund Freud. In Freud’s Totem and Taboo, both totem and taboo are outward expressions or manifestations of the same psychological tendency, a concept which is complementary to, or which rather reconciles, the apparent conflict. Freud preferred to emphasize the psychoanalytic implications of the reification of metaphysical forces, but with particular emphasis on its familial nature. This emphasis underscores, rather than weakens, the ancestral component.” ref

“William Edward Hearn, a noted classicist, and jurist, traced the origin of domestic deities from the earliest stages as an expression of animism, a belief system thought to have existed also in the neolithic, and the forerunner of Indo-European religion. In his analysis of the Indo-European household, in Chapter II “The House Spirit”, Section 1, he states:

The belief which guided the conduct of our forefathers was … the spirit rule of dead ancestors.” ref

“In Section 2 he proceeds to elaborate:

It is thus certain that the worship of deceased ancestors is a vera causa, and not a mere hypothesis. …

In the other European nations, the Slavs, the Teutons, and the Kelts, the House Spirit appears with no less distinctness. … [T]he existence of that worship does not admit of doubt. … The House Spirits had a multitude of other names which it is needless here to enumerate, but all of which are more or less expressive of their friendly relations with man. … In [England] … [h]e is the Brownie. … In Scotland this same Brownie is well known. He is usually described as attached to particular families, with whom he has been known to reside for centuries, threshing the corn, cleaning the house, and performing similar household tasks. His favorite gratification was milk and honey.” ref

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

ref, ref

Hinduism around 3,700 to 3,500 years old. ref

 Judaism around 3,450 or 3,250 years old. (The first writing in the bible was “Paleo-Hebrew” dated to around 3,000 years ago Khirbet Qeiyafa is the site of an ancient fortress city overlooking the Elah Valley. And many believe the religious Jewish texts were completed around 2,500) ref, ref

Judaism is around 3,450 or 3,250 years old. (“Paleo-Hebrew” 3,000 years ago and Torah 2,500 years ago)

“Judaism is an Abrahamic, its roots as an organized religion in the Middle East during the Bronze Age. Some scholars argue that modern Judaism evolved from Yahwism, the religion of ancient Israel and Judah, by the late 6th century BCE, and is thus considered to be one of the oldest monotheistic religions.” ref

“Yahwism is the name given by modern scholars to the religion of ancient Israel, essentially polytheistic, with a plethora of gods and goddesses. Heading the pantheon was Yahweh, the national god of the Israelite kingdoms of Israel and Judah, with his consort, the goddess Asherah; below them were second-tier gods and goddesses such as Baal, Shamash, Yarikh, Mot, and Astarte, all of whom had their own priests and prophets and numbered royalty among their devotees, and a third and fourth tier of minor divine beings, including the mal’ak, the messengers of the higher gods, who in later times became the angels of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Yahweh, however, was not the ‘original’ god of Israel “Isra-El”; it is El, the head of the Canaanite pantheon, whose name forms the basis of the name “Israel”, and none of the Old Testament patriarchs, the tribes of Israel, the Judges, or the earliest monarchs, have a Yahwistic theophoric name (i.e., one incorporating the name of Yahweh).” ref

“El is a Northwest Semitic word meaning “god” or “deity“, or referring (as a proper name) to any one of multiple major ancient Near Eastern deities. A rarer form, ‘ila, represents the predicate form in Old Akkadian and in Amorite. The word is derived from the Proto-Semitic *ʔil-, meaning “god”. Specific deities known as ‘El or ‘Il include the supreme god of the ancient Canaanite religion and the supreme god of East Semitic speakers in Mesopotamia’s Early Dynastic Period. ʼĒl is listed at the head of many pantheons. In some Canaanite and Ugaritic sources, ʼĒl played a role as father of the gods, of creation, or both. For example, in the Ugaritic texts, ʾil mlk is understood to mean “ʼĒl the King” but ʾil hd as “the god Hadad“. The Semitic root ʾlh (Arabic ʾilāh, Aramaic ʾAlāh, ʾElāh, Hebrew ʾelōah) may be ʾl with a parasitic h, and ʾl may be an abbreviated form of ʾlh. In Ugaritic the plural form meaning “gods” is ʾilhm, equivalent to Hebrew ʾelōhîm “powers”. In the Hebrew texts this word is interpreted as being semantically singular for “god” by biblical commentators. However the documentary hypothesis for the Old Testament (corresponds to the Jewish Torah) developed originally in the 1870s, identifies these that different authors – the Jahwist, Elohist, Deuteronomist, and the Priestly source – were responsible for editing stories from a polytheistic religion into those of a monotheistic religion. Inconsistencies that arise between monotheism and polytheism in the texts are reflective of this hypothesis.” ref

 

Jainism around 2,599 – 2,527 years old. ref

Confucianism around 2,600 – 2,551 years old. ref

Buddhism around 2,563/2,480 – 2,483/2,400 years old. ref

Christianity around 2,o00 years old. ref

Shinto around 1,305 years old. ref

Islam around 1407–1385 years old. ref

Sikhism around 548–478 years old. ref

Bahá’í around 200–125 years old. ref

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref

Knowledge to Ponder: 

Stars/Astrology:

  • Possibly, around 30,000 years ago (in simpler form) to 6,000 years ago, Stars/Astrology are connected to Ancestors, Spirit Animals, and Deities.
  • The star also seems to be a possible proto-star for Star of Ishtar, Star of Inanna, or Star of Venus.
  • Around 7,000 to 6,000 years ago, Star Constellations/Astrology have connections to the “Kurgan phenomenon” of below-ground “mound” stone/wood burial structures and “Dolmen phenomenon” of above-ground stone burial structures.
  • Around 6,500–5,800 years ago, The Northern Levant migrations into Jordon and Israel in the Southern Levant brought new cultural and religious transfer from Turkey and Iran.
  • “The Ghassulian Star,” a mysterious 6,000-year-old mural from Jordan may have connections to the European paganstic kurgan/dolmens phenomenon.

“Astrology is a range of divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that claim to discern information about human affairs and terrestrial events by studying the apparent positions of celestial objects. Different cultures have employed forms of astrology since at least the 2nd millennium BCE, these practices having originated in calendrical systems used to predict seasonal shifts and to interpret celestial cycles as signs of divine communications. Most, if not all, cultures have attached importance to what they observed in the sky, and some—such as the Hindus, Chinese, and the Maya—developed elaborate systems for predicting terrestrial events from celestial observations. Western astrology, one of the oldest astrological systems still in use, can trace its roots to 19th–17th century BCE Mesopotamia, from where it spread to Ancient Greece, Rome, the Islamicate world and eventually Central and Western Europe. Contemporary Western astrology is often associated with systems of horoscopes that purport to explain aspects of a person’s personality and predict significant events in their lives based on the positions of celestial objects; the majority of professional astrologers rely on such systems.” ref 

Around 5,500 years ago, Science evolves, The first evidence of science was 5,500 years ago and was demonstrated by a body of empirical, theoretical, and practical knowledge about the natural world. ref

Around 5,000 years ago, Origin of Logics is a Naturalistic Observation (principles of valid reasoning, inference, & demonstration) ref

Around 4,150 to 4,000 years ago: The earliest surviving versions of the Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh, which was originally titled “He who Saw the Deep” (Sha naqba īmuru) or “Surpassing All Other Kings” (Shūtur eli sharrī) were written. ref

Hinduism:

  • 3,700 years ago or so, the oldest of the Hindu Vedas (scriptures), the Rig Veda was composed.
  • 3,500 years ago or so, the Vedic Age began in India after the collapse of the Indus Valley Civilization.

Judaism:

  • around 3,000 years ago, the first writing in the bible was “Paleo-Hebrew”
  • around 2,500 years ago, many believe the religious Jewish texts were completed

Myths: The bible inspired religion is not just one religion or one myth but a grouping of several religions and myths

  • Around 3,450 or 3,250 years ago, according to legend, is the traditionally accepted period in which the Israelite lawgiver, Moses, provided the Ten Commandments.
  • Around 2,500 to 2,400 years ago, a collection of ancient religious writings by the Israelites based primarily upon the Hebrew Bible, Tanakh, or Old Testament is the first part of Christianity’s bible.
  • Around 2,400 years ago, the most accepted hypothesis is that the canon was formed in stages, first the Pentateuch (Torah).
  • Around 2,140 to 2,116 years ago, the Prophets was written during the Hasmonean dynasty, and finally the remaining books.
  • Christians traditionally divide the Old Testament into four sections:
  • The first five books or Pentateuch (Torah).
  • The proposed history books telling the history of the Israelites from their conquest of Canaan to their defeat and exile in Babylon.
  • The poetic and proposed “Wisdom books” dealing, in various forms, with questions of good and evil in the world.
  • The books of the biblical prophets, warning of the consequences of turning away from God:
  • Henotheism:
  • Exodus 20:23 “You shall not make other gods besides Me (not saying there are no other gods just not to worship them); gods of silver or gods of gold, you shall not make for yourselves.”
  • Polytheism:
  • Judges 10:6 “Then the sons of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD, served the Baals and the Ashtaroth, the gods of Aram, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the sons of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines; thus they forsook the LORD and did not serve Him.”
  • 1 Corinthians 8:5 “For even if there are so-called gods whether in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many gods and many lords.”
  • Monotheism:
  • Isaiah 43:10 “You are my witnesses,” declares the LORD, “and my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor will there be one after me.

Around 2,570 to 2,270 Years Ago, there is a confirmation of atheistic doubting as well as atheistic thinking, mainly by Greek philosophers. However, doubting gods is likely as old as the invention of gods and should destroy the thinking that belief in god(s) is the “default belief”. The Greek word is apistos (a “not” and pistos “faithful,”), thus not faithful or faithless because one is unpersuaded and unconvinced by a god(s) claim. Short Definition: unbelieving, unbeliever, or unbelief.

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Expressions of Atheistic Thinking:

  • Around 2,600 years ago, Ajita Kesakambali, ancient Indian philosopher, who is the first known proponent of Indian materialism. ref
  • Around 2,535 to 2,475 years ago, Heraclitus, Greek pre-Socratic philosopher, a native of the Greek city Ephesus, Ionia, on the coast of Anatolia, also known as Asia Minor or modern Turkey. ref
  • Around 2,500 to 2,400 years ago, according to The Story of Civilization book series certain African pygmy tribes have no identifiable gods, spirits, or religious beliefs or rituals, and even what burials accrue are without ceremony. ref
  • Around 2,490 to 2,430 years ago, Empedocles, Greek pre-Socratic philosopher and a citizen of Agrigentum, a Greek city in Sicily. ref
  • Around 2,460 to 2,370 years ago, Democritus, Greek pre-Socratic philosopher considered to be the “father of modern science” possibly had some disbelief amounting to atheism. ref
  • Around 2,399 years ago or so, Socrates, a famous Greek philosopher was tried for sinfulness by teaching doubt of state gods. ref
  • Around 2,341 to 2,270 years ago, Epicurus, a Greek philosopher known for composing atheistic critics and famously stated, “Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him god?” ref

This last expression by Epicurus, seems to be an expression of Axiological Atheism. To understand and utilize value or actually possess “Value Conscious/Consciousness” to both give a strong moral “axiological” argument (the problem of evil) as well as use it to fortify humanism and positive ethical persuasion of human helping and care responsibilities. Because value-blindness gives rise to sociopathic/psychopathic evil.

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

ref, ref, ref

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

While hallucinogens are associated with shamanism, it is alcohol that is associated with paganism.

The Atheist-Humanist-Leftist Revolutionaries Shows in the prehistory series:

Show one: Prehistory: related to “Anarchism and Socialism” the division of labor, power, rights, and recourses.

Show two: Pre-animism 300,000 years old and animism 100,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism”

Show tree: Totemism 50,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism”

Show four: Shamanism 30,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism”

Show five: Paganism 12,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism”

Show six: Emergence of hierarchy, sexism, slavery, and the new male god dominance: Paganism 7,000-5,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism” (Capitalism) (World War 0) Elite and their slaves!

Show seven: Paganism 5,000 years old: progressed organized religion and the state: related to “Anarchism and Socialism” (Kings and the Rise of the State)

Show eight: Paganism 4,000 years old: Moralistic gods after the rise of Statism and often support Statism/Kings: related to “Anarchism and Socialism” (First Moralistic gods, then the Origin time of Monotheism)

Prehistory: related to “Anarchism and Socialism” the division of labor, power, rights, and recourses: VIDEO

Pre-animism 300,000 years old and animism 100,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism”: VIDEO

Totemism 50,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism”: VIDEO

Shamanism 30,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism”: VIDEO

Paganism 12,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism” (Pre-Capitalism): VIDEO

Paganism 7,000-5,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism” (Capitalism) (World War 0) Elite and their slaves: VIEDO

Paganism 5,000 years old: progressed organized religion and the state: related to “Anarchism and Socialism” (Kings and the Rise of the State): VIEDO

Paganism 4,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism” (First Moralistic gods, then the Origin time of Monotheism): VIEDO

I do not hate simply because I challenge and expose myths or lies any more than others being thought of as loving simply because of the protection and hiding from challenge their favored myths or lies.

The truth is best championed in the sunlight of challenge.

An archaeologist once said to me “Damien religion and culture are very different”

My response, So are you saying that was always that way, such as would you say Native Americans’ cultures are separate from their religions? And do you think it always was the way you believe?

I had said that religion was a cultural product. That is still how I see it and there are other archaeologists that think close to me as well. Gods too are the myths of cultures that did not understand science or the world around them, seeing magic/supernatural everywhere.

I personally think there is a goddess and not enough evidence to support a male god at Çatalhöyük but if there was both a male and female god and goddess then I know the kind of gods they were like Proto-Indo-European mythology.

This series idea was addressed in, Anarchist Teaching as Free Public Education or Free Education in the Public: VIDEO

Our 12 video series: Organized Oppression: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of power (9,000-4,000 years ago), is adapted from: The Complete and Concise History of the Sumerians and Early Bronze Age Mesopotamia (7000-2000 BC): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szFjxmY7jQA by “History with Cy“

Show #1: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of Power (Samarra, Halaf, Ubaid)

Show #2: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of Power (Eridu “Tell Abu Shahrain”)

Show #3: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of Power (Uruk and the First Cities)

Show #4: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of Power (First Kings)

Show #5: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of Power (Early Dynastic Period)

Show #6: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of Power (King/Ruler Lugalzagesi)

Show #7: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of Power (Sargon and Akkadian Rule)

Show #8: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of Power (Naram-Sin, Post-Akkadian Rule, and the Gutians)

Show #9: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of Power (Gudea of Lagash and Utu-hegal)

Show #10: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of Power (Third Dynasty of Ur / Neo-Sumerian Empire)

Show #11: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of Power (Amorites, Elamites, and the End of an Era)

Show #12: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of Power (Aftermath and Legacy of Sumer)

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

The “Atheist-Humanist-Leftist Revolutionaries”

Cory Johnston ☭ Ⓐ Atheist Leftist @Skepticallefty & I (Damien Marie AtHope) @AthopeMarie (my YouTube & related blog) are working jointly in atheist, antitheist, antireligionist, antifascist, anarchist, socialist, and humanist endeavors in our videos together, generally, every other Saturday.

Why Does Power Bring Responsibility?

Think, how often is it the powerless that start wars, oppress others, or commit genocide? So, I guess the question is to us all, to ask, how can power not carry responsibility in a humanity concept? I know I see the deep ethical responsibility that if there is power their must be a humanistic responsibility of ethical and empathic stewardship of that power. Will I be brave enough to be kind? Will I possess enough courage to be compassionate? Will my valor reach its height of empathy? I as everyone, earns our justified respect by our actions, that are good, ethical, just, protecting, and kind. Do I have enough self-respect to put my love for humanity’s flushing, over being brought down by some of its bad actors? May we all be the ones doing good actions in the world, to help human flourishing.

I create the world I want to live in, striving for flourishing. Which is not a place but a positive potential involvement and promotion; a life of humanist goal precision. To master oneself, also means mastering positive prosocial behaviors needed for human flourishing. I may have lost a god myth as an atheist, but I am happy to tell you, my friend, it is exactly because of that, leaving the mental terrorizer, god belief, that I truly regained my connected ethical as well as kind humanity.

Cory and I will talk about prehistory and theism, addressing the relevance to atheism, anarchism, and socialism.

At the same time as the rise of the male god, 7,000 years ago, there was also the very time there was the rise of violence, war, and clans to kingdoms, then empires, then states. It is all connected back to 7,000 years ago, and it moved across the world.

Cory Johnston: https://damienmarieathope.com/2021/04/cory-johnston-mind-of-a-skeptical-leftist/?v=32aec8db952d  

The Mind of a Skeptical Leftist (YouTube)

Cory Johnston: Mind of a Skeptical Leftist @Skepticallefty

The Mind of a Skeptical Leftist By Cory Johnston: “Promoting critical thinking, social justice, and left-wing politics by covering current events and talking to a variety of people. Cory Johnston has been thoughtfully talking to people and attempting to promote critical thinking, social justice, and left-wing politics.” http://anchor.fm/skepticalleft

Cory needs our support. We rise by helping each other.

Cory Johnston ☭ Ⓐ @Skepticallefty Evidence-based atheist leftist (he/him) Producer, host, and co-host of 4 podcasts @skeptarchy @skpoliticspod and @AthopeMarie

Damien Marie AtHope (“At Hope”) Axiological Atheist, Anti-theist, Anti-religionist, Secular Humanist. Rationalist, Writer, Artist, Poet, Philosopher, Advocate, Activist, Psychology, and Armchair Archaeology/Anthropology/Historian.

Damien is interested in: Freedom, Liberty, Justice, Equality, Ethics, Humanism, Science, Atheism, Antiteism, Antireligionism, Ignosticism, Left-Libertarianism, Anarchism, Socialism, Mutualism, Axiology, Metaphysics, LGBTQI, Philosophy, Advocacy, Activism, Mental Health, Psychology, Archaeology, Social Work, Sexual Rights, Marriage Rights, Woman’s Rights, Gender Rights, Child Rights, Secular Rights, Race Equality, Ageism/Disability Equality, Etc. And a far-leftist, “Anarcho-Humanist.”

I am not a good fit in the atheist movement that is mostly pro-capitalist, I am anti-capitalist. Mostly pro-skeptic, I am a rationalist not valuing skepticism. Mostly pro-agnostic, I am anti-agnostic. Mostly limited to anti-Abrahamic religions, I am an anti-religionist. 

To me, the “male god” seems to have either emerged or become prominent around 7,000 years ago, whereas the now favored monotheism “male god” is more like 4,000 years ago or so. To me, the “female goddess” seems to have either emerged or become prominent around 11,000-10,000 years ago or so, losing the majority of its once prominence around 2,000 years ago due largely to the now favored monotheism “male god” that grow in prominence after 4,000 years ago or so. 

My Thought on the Evolution of Gods?

Animal protector deities from old totems/spirit animal beliefs come first to me, 13,000/12,000 years ago, then women as deities 11,000/10,000 years ago, then male gods around 7,000/8,000 years ago. Moralistic gods around 5,000/4,000 years ago, and monotheistic gods around 4,000/3,000 years ago.

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Damien Marie AtHope (Said as “At” “Hope”)/(Autodidact Polymath but not good at math):

Axiological Atheist, Anti-theist, Anti-religionist, Secular Humanist, Rationalist, Writer, Artist, Jeweler, Poet, “autodidact” Philosopher, schooled in Psychology, and “autodidact” Armchair Archaeology/Anthropology/Pre-Historian (Knowledgeable in the range of: 1 million to 5,000/4,000 years ago). I am an anarchist socialist politically. Reasons for or Types of Atheism

My Website, My Blog, & Short-writing or Quotes, My YouTube, Twitter: @AthopeMarie, and My Email: damien.marie.athope@gmail.com

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