Egypt-5,000 Year Old Beer Factory

 

Funeral Beer

Ancient Egyptians loved beer so much they developed large factories to mass-produce it, according to a recent find.

An American-Egyptian team discovered what could be the world’s oldest known beer factory, dating back about 5,000 years, the BBC reported.

Located in the ancient burial ground of Abydos, the ancient factory had a production capacity of about 5,000 gallons of beer, archeologists believe. It comprised eight large areas, each 65 feet long and each containing about 40 earthenware pots used to heat a mixture of grain and water to make beer.

Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities said that the old brewery dates back to the era of King Narmer, who ruled more than 5,000 years ago.

Narmer was responsible for the unification of Egypt and for founding the First Dynasty.

The ministry said in a statement that the old brewery “may have been built in this place specifically to supply the royal rituals that were taking place inside the funeral facilities of the kings of Egypt.”

While beer was important for funerary and sacrificial rites, it was also the perfect treat – and pay – for the workers that assembled the large pyramids, archeologist Patrick McGovern told Smithsonian Magazine in 2011.

“The pyramids might not have been built if there hadn’t been enough beer,” he said.