Posted on 07/30/2004 2:59:04 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
MIAMI (Reuters) - U.S. researchers have unearthed what they say may be the oldest known brewery in the Andes, a pre-Incan plant at least 1,000 years old that could produce drinks for hundreds of people at one sitting.
The University of Florida said on Thursday that its archeologists and researchers from the Field Museum in Chicago found the brewery at Cerro Baul, a mountaintop religious center of the Wari empire that ruled what is now Peru hundreds of years before the Incas.
At least 20 ceramic, 10- to 15-gallon (38- to 57-litre) vats were found at the site some 8,000 feet up in the mountains of southern Peru.
"You get the idea that this is massive production, not just your basic household making beer to consume by itself," Susan deFrance, an assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Florida, said in a statement.
Patrick Ryan Williams, assistant curator at the Field Museum, said the site was remarkable for its size. Small-scale brewing is known to have been done in the Andes for thousands of years, he said by telephone from Peru.
The Wari civilization thrived from about A.D. 700 to 1000, conquering all of what is modern Peru before swiftly and mysteriously declining.
The brewery is thought to have produced "chicha," an alcoholic drink derived at the time mainly from a berry of the molle pepper plant. Modern chicha is made from corn.
Last year University of Florida archeologists discovered what they think are halls for "ritual intoxication" at Cerro Baul, where Wari noblemen apparently feasted and drank.
Mike Moseley, associate chairman of anthropology at the university, said the halls "become a place where politics are negotiated and economic decisions are made."
Williams said each nobleman would have consumed up to 2.6 gallons (10 litres) of chicha per ceremony.
The site appears to have been destroyed in a closing rite. The Wari burned the structures, threw their mugs into the embers and laid down a half-dozen necklaces of semiprecious stones as they left, said Moseley
might .. :-\
Im drinking a Foster's myself ;-)
What! No "Hold ma beer!" alert?
perhaps the debate was:
TASTES GREAT !! vrs LESS KILLING !!
and in fact it tasted great.
Only if you're running for President.
Bet it wasn't lite beer either.
Geez we're getting wimpy these days, I don't think anyone can drink that much. ??
And, to top it off Tony Stewart the sometimes tough guy just said after qualifying he wanted Krispy Kreme doughnuts to sponsor him!!
lol...
Incan spittle beer! Better the 2nd Time!
lol... I saw him on the tube but missed that.
2.6 gallons in one sitting .. those dude were embalmed before the ceremony was over.. bombed ain't even close to it
"Chicha is nasty. It is made by peasant women who chew up corn which they spit into a vat where it is left to ferment."
If that was the light lager version, a dark stout must have required some choice hockers to make. :-)
That is about a case of beer, right? I wonder what the alcohol content was? HMMMM...chicha: the beer that made Cuzco famous.
Any excuse for a party goes back a long, long way.
Actually, the women of a certain part of Bolivia, were known to make the best chica. Could never find out why though.
however, as you say, spit or no spit, it is still quite nasty. very easy to get drunk on and the hangover is wicked, the worse i've ever experienced...
ROFLMAO Sweet!
Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on or off the
"Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list or GGG weekly digest
-- Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.