[thanksforcoming]

It's been a few years, but I remember learning about Gobekli Tepe in one of my humanities classes in college. The theory I learned is that it was a non-permanent gathering/ceremonial site (for what reason isn't exactly known), but this article neglects to mention one very interesting thing - there's trace evidence of beer at the site!

Makes you wonder what grains were used for first, beer or bread... Also the role that alcohol plays in the rise of civilization. Would these people be warring or otherwise combatitive if they didn't gather every year to drink and feast?

http://www.livescience.com/25855-stone-age-beer-brewery-disc...

[mc32]

Since people can get alcohol from palm wine [which is pretty universal in warmer clines] already maybe initially from an accidentally fermented vat, might people use grain primarily for food and only use it for alcohol if they had surplus that would go bad if unused?

[wl]

The world's oldest beer recipe, the Hymn to Ninkasi[0], uses the grain for bread ("bappir") first. The bread is then turned into beer.

[0] http://www.piney.com/BabNinkasi.html