Discover the oldest brewery in history in Egypt

Archaeologists have discovered in Egypt what can be described as the oldest brewery in history, with an age of more than 5,000 years.

An Egyptian-American mission managed to reach the discovery in Abydos, one of the most important burial areas in ancient Egypt, in the Western Desert in Sohag Governorate.

The mission found a number of fermentation units, including 40 jars for mixing wheat and water and fermenting the mixture to produce beer.

According to what the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities announced, the factory dates back mostly to the era of King Narmer.

Narmer ruled Egypt about 5,000 years ago and is believed to have established the First Dynasty and united Egypt.

Mustafa Al-Waziri, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities in Egypt, said that the factory consists of 8 units, each containing 40 pottery containers over an area extending to 20 meters in two parallel rows.

A mixture of wheat and water was heated in clay pots, and by using pottery levers, huge pots were moved as needed.

A statement by the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism quoted the head of the joint mission, Matthew Adams, as saying that “the factory was producing about 22,400 liters of beer at a record time, and it may have been built in this place specifically to provide the beer required in the royal rituals that were taking place inside funeral sites for the kings of Egypt.”

Evidence of the use of beer in funeral rites and sacrifices was found through excavations that took place at these sites.

The Abydos area in Sohag Governorate, which used to include the ancient city of Luxor, includes hundreds of ancient Pharaonic cemeteries.

Last month, Egypt revealed a funerary temple, and the oldest coffins were found in Saqqara, another ancient cemetery south of Cairo, and the country discovered 52 burial wells with more than 50 wooden coffins found inside, dating back 3000 years.

source: B.B. C.