5 THINGS YOU (PROBABLY) DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT THE HISTORY OF ALCOHOL

Professor Phil Withington looks at humanity's long love of booze from the caves of prehistory to the gin houses of Georgian London

- Phil Withington

1 BREWING MAY HAVE BEEN A FEATURE OF NEOLITHIC SOCIETIES

One of the earliest pieces of evidence regarding the drinking of alcohol dates back approximately 13,000 years, to the Raqefet Caves in Israel's Carmel mountains, where archaeologists uncovered residues of a beer-like substance in 2018. The ancient brew, resembling gruel in texture, was possibly utilised by the semi-nomadic Natufian people for ceremonial feasting. Further north, similar evidence suggests that a type of beer production may have also occurred at Göbekli Tepe in Turkey during the pre-pottery Neolithic period, spanning roughly 8500 BC-5500 BC.

But for drinkers curious about the genealogy of the beverages they enjoy today, the earliest chemical evidence of beer crafted using barley stems from the Godin Tepe site in the Zagros Mountains of western Iran. This important find, dating from approximately 3500 BC-3100 BC, could be considered a forefather of modern beers.

Based on these examples, archaeologists argue that the Near East served as a crucible for the invention and production of alcoholic drinks. But it seems that it wasn't just beer our ancestors enjoyed. In the 1990s, archaeologists working at the Hajji Firuz Tepe site in Iran, which dates to around 5400 BC-5000 BC, unearthed sediment deposits at the base of an amphora (storage jar) containing tannin and tartrate crystals a possible indication of wine production.

An even earlier tale unfolds in China. Residues discovered on pottery fragments from the Neolithic Jiahu sites, which have been radiocarbon-dated to c7000 BC-6600 BC, point to the consumption of fermented rice, honey and fruit. This would place China at the forefront of ancient wine production, long preceding developments witnessed in Europe.