Large-Scale Brewing Develops at Hierakonpolis

Around 3600 BCE, brewers at Hierakonpolis in Upper Egypt produced beer on a scale extending beyond ordinary household preparation. Radiocarbon analysis dated residue from the brewery installation at locality HK11C to between 3764 and 3537 BCE. The installation contained large ceramic vats arranged for heating, forming part of a wider zone of specialized beer and pottery production at the Predynastic settlement. Botanical examination found that the beer was made primarily from emmer wheat with a smaller proportion of barley. The grains had been coarsely crushed or ground, and some had been malted before being heated with water in the vats. Chemical analysis detected organic acids and other fermentation products, confirming the installation’s use for brewing. The evidence documents both the importance of emmer in Predynastic Egyptian beer and the early development of organized, large-scale brewing several centuries before Egypt became a unified kingdom.