Beer Sustains Workers in Old Kingdom Egypt

Around 2600 BCE, Egypt’s royal administration supplied bread and beer as staple rations to people working on state projects. Old Kingdom food production and storage were organized through institutions that combined granaries, bakeries, and breweries. Beer thus formed part of a larger provisioning system that enabled the state to maintain concentrated labor forces away from their homes. Evidence from the Giza settlements and contemporary administrative records connects this ration system with the workforce supporting pyramid construction. The Wadi el-Jarf papyri from the reign of Khufu also record officials obtaining bread and beer for organized crews. Beer was not the workers’ only food or simply a recreational reward: it belonged to a varied diet and functioned as a regular form of sustenance within the administration of royal labor.