Do We Really Have Beer to Thank for the First Writing and Cities?

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Humanity's love affair with beer goes *way* back: 5,000 years ago, the civilization that arose in Mesopotamia invented writing, and one of the very first things they wrote about was... beer! But where was beer itself invented? This episode, we've got the story of beer's origins, the debate over whether humanity domesticated grains for brewing or for baking, and why beer was so essential to the smooth functioning of the world's first cities and states. But the story of how we know this—how we can decipher millennia-old drinking songs written in a forgotten language and alphabet, analyze pottery to reconstruct the ingredients list for ancient brews, and even figure out that, for maximum authenticity, we need to drink the resulting beverage through a hollow reed—well, that's perhaps even more fascinating! This week, archaeologist Tate Paulette is our guide as we meet the goddess of beer, sneak a peek at the letters of beer-brewing wives left behind by merchant husbands, and enjoy a time-traveling tasting of an ancient ale, produced with the help of cutting-edge science. Fill your glass and listen in—and don't forget your straw!

A cylindrical stone seal that, when rolled out in wax, depicts people enjoying a communal beer through straws. The seal was excavated in the 1930s in Iraq, and has been dated to 2600-2350 B.C. (Image credit: University of Chicago Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures)

Episode Notes

Tate Paulette

Tate Paulette studies urban food systems in the ancient world at North Carolina State University. He's the author of In the Land of Ninkasi: A History of Beer in Ancient Mesopotamia.

Left, adding date paste to a mashing vessel, heated over charcoal in a brazier, to brew an imitation of Mesopotamian beer; right, replica ceramic vessels, modeled on actual examples excavated in Iraq, in front of modern brewing equipment at Great Lakes Brewing Co. in Cleveland. The four ceramic vases on the wooden stand are the onomatopoeic "dubul-dabal" vessels. (Images credit: Tate Paulette)
Tate holds a chunk of "bappir," the starter-like, partially baked bread used to kick off the brewing process. (Image credit: Brian Zimerle)
Left, samples of the "Enkibru" beer, brewed using authentic Mesopotamian equipment, ingredients, and brewing processes, at a tasting event at Great Lakes Brewing Co; it was also served in communal vessels with straws. Right, the "GilgaMash" beer, brewed with modern equipment and yeasts, in a glass printed with an approximate translation of "Great Lakes"—as written, "great water"—in cuneiform. (Left image credit, Kathryn Grossman; Right image credit, Stephen Lyford)

Dogfish Head's Midas Touch

Brewer Sam Calagione has developed an entire range of archaeologically inspired brews: the Ancient Ales series. We were lucky enough to try a can of Midas Touch, which you can read more about on their website.

The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation for the Public Understanding of Science, Technology, and Economics

This episode of Gastropod was supported by a generous grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation for the Public Understanding of Science, Technology, and Economics. Check out the other books, movies, shows, podcasts, and more that they support here.