They found that communities producing their own alcoholic drinks, like fruit wines or cereal beers, often showed higher levels of political organization.
Er ah, er ah. Makes perfect sense to me.
Posted on 07/17/2025 1:10:45 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Alcohol may have done more than just fuel celebrations in ancient societies. A study led by Václav Hrnčíř from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology suggests that indigenous fermented drinks helped ancient societies grow in size and complexity.
The study, published in Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, draws a link between alcohol and the rise of structured governance.
Researchers analyzed data from 186 traditional societies worldwide. They found that communities producing their own alcoholic drinks, like fruit wines or cereal beers, often showed higher levels of political organization.
The team focused on societies that existed before industrialization and widespread colonial influence, ensuring that the alcohol used was locally made and not introduced by outside cultures.
Fermented drinks linked to complex political structures
The link between alcohol and political complexity held up even when researchers accounted for other possible explanations, such as farming, environment, and shared ancestry. While the effect was modest, it was consistent.
Grecian Delight supports Greece
Societies with native alcohol traditions were more likely to have layered political systems, meaning they had organized leadership beyond simple village groups.
The researchers tested the so-called “drunk” hypothesis, which argues that alcohol helped people cooperate on a large scale. Drinking lowered social barriers and boosted group bonding, especially during communal feasts.
These gatherings weren’t just about pleasure. They helped form alliances, mobilize labor, and reinforce social roles. Leaders often used alcohol to reward loyalty and strengthen their power.
New dataset focuses on pre-industrial societies
To test this idea, Hrnčíř and his team built a new dataset. Since existing cross-cultural databases lacked detailed information on alcohol, the researchers reviewed ethnographic sources to document where indigenous drinks were present.
They focused on non-distilled fermented beverages, which have a lower alcohol content and fewer harmful effects than modern liquors.
Using Bayesian statistical models, the team measured how much alcohol influenced political development. In the simplest models, the presence of alcohol showed a strong link to higher political organization.
But when they included other variables—especially agriculture—the alcohol effect became smaller. Farming clearly played a larger role in shaping early societies, but alcohol still appeared to give cooperation a social boost.
Agriculture played a stronger role, but alcohol still mattered
The study’s findings suggest that alcohol helped make early state formation easier, though it wasn’t the sole driver. It offered a social “glue” that made it easier for people to live and work together in bigger groups. In some places, the need for alcohol may have even encouraged the first efforts at farming.
But alcohol had its limits. The effects were weaker in models that considered farming and the environment. Still, researchers found that fermented drinks were more common in complex societies than in simpler ones. Alcohol, then, may have been one of several tools—along with agriculture, religion, and trade—that supported the growth of civilization.
Despite the positive group effects, the study notes that alcohol could also spark conflict. In some societies, drinking parties often ended in arguments. Yet in well-integrated cultures, social drinking usually took place during rituals, feasts, or after work. It wasn’t seen as a problem unless drinking became solitary or excessive.
Societies rise with alcohol consumption and decline under prohibition. History proves it out. Drink responsibly.
They found that communities producing their own alcoholic drinks, like fruit wines or cereal beers, often showed higher levels of political organization.
Er ah, er ah. Makes perfect sense to me.
A gram is better than a damn.
There were beer halls all over ancient Egyptian.
The “Irish Virish”.
The Egyptians had a prayer to a God or gods paraphrasing - give my soul beer and onions!
Little known factoid: Egyptian civilization collapsed due to an overabundance of ground level methane!
Do you have a link to such data?
Some of my best times, sitting around a bar with friends, getting fairly sloshed and having conversations that were only meant for bars and wild laughter. Way before the 3 drink limit. Damn, 3 drinks and we were only getting started.
Great article, thanks for posting.
Years ago, I spent a wonderful week traveling through Greece. Had my first Retsina there and loved it. Forgot about it, but now I’ll go buy a bottle. I usually have one glass of Charodonnay from Australia every night with dinner. Retsina can be interesting substitute now and then.
No ouzo?
Great. Let’s go have a drink! Laz is buying.
Didn’t like flavor or Ouzo.
Ouch! I love it . . too much. So I quit buying it. It’s like liquid candy to me so I stay away from it.
The Irish have tried for years to get Drunken Bar Fight included as an Olympic sport. To no success, alas.
Read the title to THIS article.
Alcohol, especially beer, allowed communities to scale their size and increase population densities. Societies without alcohol often failed to grow because the increased population density contaminated the water supply, increasing sickness from polluted water. By drinking beer instead, organisms in the drinking water were killed, which allowed more people to live in a smaller space. Instead of a frontiersman life where they had to do all things themselves, population growth allowed specialization and shops that specialized (bakeries, blacksmiths, food vendors, etc.) in specific markets resulted in scale economies and rising incomes.
“Researchers analyzed data from 186 traditional societies worldwide. They found that communities producing their own alcoholic drinks, like fruit wines or cereal beers, often s
showed higher levels of political organization. “
The study likely does not distinguish between cause and effect; ignoring the possibility of other attributes of higher levels of political organization, of which alcohol may have been a social attribute but not the cause of higher political organization.
They think they know which came first, the chicken or the egg, but they don’t know.
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