First evidence of social beer consumption found in 7,000-year-old Israeli town

Archaeologists say discovery at Tel Tsaf in the Jordan Valley is first known instance of alcohol being imbibed inside a community in the ancient Middle East.

A view of the archaeological site at Tel Tsaf, in the Jordan Valley (Courtesy University of Haifa)

Israeli researchers say they have discovered the first evidence of social beer consumption within communities in the ancient Middle East, after finding the remains of cereal grains used to produce alcohol in a 7,000-year-old town.

Beer is known to have been used in ancient times for ceremonial and religious purposes, but the find is the earliest indication of social drinking in the Levant prior to the widespread appearance of alcohol in the Bronze Age (circa 3300 BCE).

Five foods the ancient Egyptians used to eat

Evidence of some uniquely Egyptian foods from the ancient world still remains – a record of the diets and plans for the afterlife.

Detail from North Side of the West Wall of Nakht’s Offering Chapel showing grape picking to make wine (The Metropolitan Museum of Art)

We might not know what was on the daily menu in a typical ancient Egyptian household, but there’s no shortage of evidence of favourite foods.

Dr Mennat-Allah El Dorry, an archaeologist and archaeobotanist who specialises in the history of food, says that the cuisine Egyptian rulers prepared for the afterlife are well documented, and a clue to what Egyptians ate in daily life.