Archeobotany: first brew

Archeobotany; looking at archaeological remains of plants is a little more challenged by beverages than food because liquids are not usually found fossilised in solid lumps unlike ancient food that can sometimes be discovered relatively intact. Evidence of plants in beverages is indirect. For example by finding plant remains in conditions in which assumptions can be made about how the plant was used. Mead can be evidenced directly because of the pollen contained in honey. Small traces of this can be analysed and lead to plant identification.




The earliest evidence of beer is from Neolithic times. One of the oldest pieces of evidence of brewing in Britain is of heather ale in Scotland. Though there is some dispute over whether evidence of mead containing meadow sweet is older.



Most cultures across the world brew beverages. The underlying process of fermentation is used in the production of food; though technically fermented beverages can themselves also be food. Food, medicine and drugs are relatively recent and arbitrary divisions of substances that humans ingest. Making risen bread relies on bubbles of carbon dioxide being given off to give a light texture. Bread can be made using cream of tartar and bicarbonate of soda. But most commonly fermentation by yeast is used to make bread. Fermentation can be used in other ways to preserve food or even to detoxify toxic foods such as Cassava.



Your home brewing might use bakers or brewers yeast purchased from the shop, or a culture of yeast you have nurtured over the years having kept it growing after a batch of brew. In historical terms these are brief periods of time. The overarching heritage of yeast and the beverages it creates stretch to thousands of years.