Raise Your Glass to the Past: An Experimental Archaeology of Beer and Community

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

A pint of beer is more than a "simple" beverage. The presence of ethanol resulting from the yeast-based fermentation contributes to making beer a unique form of embodied material culture that has fermented alongside humanity since well before written records. It is the most widely used psychoactive substance in the world, and is regularly discussed in anthropological literature as a stimulator of social relations. Beer also struggles today with the after effects of Prohibition on our North American conceptualizations of alcohol. In an attempt to unlink modern prejudices from ancient understandings, this experimental archaeology project both crafts an ancient beverage with the help of modern brewing expertise, as well as engages our local community with our recreation. To put faces back onto the past we must imagine ancient sites filled with people, practicing daily life, repeating habit and tradition, and at times, drinking beer. Our goal is not to recreate the most authentic beer recipe from the prehistoric past, but instead to reimagine the past in a way that engages our own modern public as well as the academic.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 24478