A large-scale production brewery, said to be "the oldest" in the world, has been discovered in Egypt. Beer, the favorite drink of ancient Egypt, was brewed at this burial site.
Photo provided by the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism on February 13, 2021 shows a beer-making site, at the Egyptian archaeological site of Abydos.
A large-scale production brewery, said to be "the oldest" in the world, was discovered in Egypt by an Egyptian-American team at the archaeological site of Abydos (south), the Ministry of Tourism announced on Saturday February 13, 2021. in Cairo. Beer, the favorite drink of ancient Egypt, was brewed at this burial site, according to the statement posted by the ministry on its Facebook page.
The beer factory "probably dates back to the era of King Narmer"
“The Egyptian-American Archaeological Mission, led by Matthew Adams of New York University and Deborah Vischak of Princeton University, has discovered what appears to be the oldest large-scale production brewery in the world” , the statement said. The beer factory "probably dates back to the era of King Narmer" , said the secretary general of the Egyptian General Council of Antiquities, Mostafa Waziri, quoted in the text.
Narmer is the first king who united Upper and Lower Egypt. He ruled over 5,000 years ago and is considered by some to be the founder of the First Dynasty of pharaohs. British archaeologists had made discoveries at the beginning of the 20th century leading them to believe that an old brewery was in the area, but they had not been able to locate it precisely. The Egyptian-American team managed to do it.
According to Waziri, the brewery consisted of eight large areas used as "production units". Each area contained approximately 40 large terracotta basins arranged in two rows. A mixture of grains and water was heated in the containers, "installed vertically in the form of rings", according to the same source.
Some 22,400 liters produced "at the same time"
Dr Adams says in the statement that studies have shown that beer is being produced there on a large scale with some 22,400 liters being produced "at one time". The brewery "may have been built here specifically for the royal rituals that took place inside the burial sites of the kings of Egypt". Evidence of beer-making in ancient Egypt is not new, as was already indicated in 1994 by the presence of beer residue on pottery dating back to 3,500 BC found at the site of Hierakonpolis, in Upper Egypt.
Fragments of pottery used by the Egyptians, more than 5,000 years old, including large ceramic basins used to produce beer, were discovered on a construction site in Tel Aviv, the Israeli Authority announced in 2015. Antiques. Known for its temples, the archaeological site of Abydos, in the province of Sohag, has unveiled many treasures over the years.
Egypt has announced major archaeological discoveries in recent months and hopes they will help revive tourism, a key sector undermined today by the coronavirus pandemic.