Main Body
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Mieko Matsumoto; Charlotte Miller; and Cynthia Smith
INTRODUCTION
DISCOVERY
That the ancient Egyptians honored their dead and believed in an eternal afterlife is incontrovertible. The great pyramids and practice of mummification are testament to the elaborate belief systems and rituals Egyptians developed to commemorate death. However, prior to the advent of pyramid building and mummification, the Egyptians honored their dead in a much simpler way, by raising a glass. In 2018 researchers discovered the worldʻs oldest industrial brewery in North Abydos, Egypt, using magnetic survey technology. The 5,000 year old brewery has been dated to around 3,150 BCE and was capable of churning out 5,900 gallons of beer at a time. Archaeological evidence suggests that the beer was used for rituals with “thousands of pottery ʻbeer jarsʻ found in and around some of the funerary temples” (Gershon 2021, NP). Beer was also associated with a variety of gods and goddesses and used for rituals.
So we know that the ancient Egyptians could mass produce beer, but what did it taste like? A food historian and a brewery took on a project with the British Museum to try to recreate ancient Egyptian brews. They found that ancient Egyptian brewing methods were efficient (fermentation was faster than with modern brewing) and produced a tasty light beer. Beer was drunk from ceramic vessels with straws. In addition to being used in rituals, beer was consumed daily. The laborers who built the pyramid of Giza were given a daily beer ration that was the equivalent of 10 pints!
In addition to the discovery of the ancient brewery, archaeologists and Egyptologists continue to make new inroads in understanding the ancient Egyptian views on life and death. The recent archaeological discovery of a vast mummification workshop in Saqqara has shed further light on the business of mummification. And mummification was big business. Egyptologists and archaeologists found that the workshop was divided into areas dedicated to the different steps of the mummification process. The families of the deceased could choose various burial options for their loved one based on their budget. The wealthy were buried in elaborate sarcophagi with masks made of precious metals and inlaid with jewels. Their preserved organs were encased in alabaster canopic jars. Budget burials usually featured wooden coffins, linen shrouds, clay canopic jars, and plaster masks. After burial in the tombs next to the workshop, priests were paid to take care of the tombs and ensure peaceful and happy afterlives for the deceased.
These recent discoveries in Abydos and Saqqara are only two examples of new archaeological finds that have furthered our understanding of the ancient Egyptian world. Furthermore, these new sites and the research being conducted make evident that history is a living subject. Analyses of the past change and there are always new things to learn. And that is something we can all raise a glass to.
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