Sponsored by: Archaeological Institute of America
This talk looks at the evidence of beer in the archaeological record from China, Egypt, Nubia, Mesopotamia, and the Americas and whether beer may have been a factor in the domestication of grains. In addition to the archaeological evidence, I’ll discuss the importance of beer among many indigenous societies for daily food but also as a ritual lubricant during feasts. My ethnoarchaeological and archaeological research from southwestern Ethiopia documents how we can decipher beer in the archaeological record.