Ancient beer factory found in Egypt
Adams said the factory was apparently built in this area to provide royal rituals with beer, given that archaeologists found evidences showing the use of beer in sacrificial rites of ancient Egyptians.
CAIRO — American and Egyptian archaeologists have unearthed what could be the oldest known beer factory at one of the most prominent archaeological sites of ancient Egypt, a top antiquities official said Saturday.
Mostafa Waziri, secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, said the factory was found in Abydos, an ancient burial ground located in the desert west of the Nile River, over 280 miles south of Cairo.
Waziri said the factory apparently dates back to the region of King Narmer, who is widely known for his unification of ancient Egypt at the beginning of the First Dynastic Period, between 3150 B.C. and 2613 B.C.
Archaeologists found eight units — each about 65 feet long and about 8 feet wide. Each unit includes some 40 pottery basins in two rows, which had been used to heat up a mixture of grains and water to produce beer, Waziri said.
The joint mission is cochaired by Dr. Matthew Adams of the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, and Deborah Vischak, assistant professor of ancient Egyptian art history and archaeology at Princeton University.
Adams said the factory was apparently built in this area to provide royal rituals with beer, given that archaeologists found evidence showing the use of beer in sacrificial rites of ancient Egyptians.
British archaeologists were the first to suggest the existence of the factory in the early 1900s, but they couldn’t determine its location, the antiquities ministry said.
With its vast cemeteries and temples from the earliest times of ancient Egypt, Abydos was known for monuments honoring Osiris, ancient Egypt’s god of underworld and the deity responsible for judging souls in the afterlife.
The necropolis had been used in every period of early Egyptian history, from the prehistoric age to the Roman empire.
Egypt has announced dozens of ancient discoveries in the past couple of years, in the hope of attracting more tourists.
The tourism industry has been reeling from the political turmoil after the 2011 popular uprising that toppled longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak. The sector was also dealt a further blow last year by the coronavirus pandemic.