Ancient drinking habits revealed as researchers uncover 4,000-year-old beer receipt
Researchers analyzing ancient cuneiform tablets recently unveiled a 4,000-year-old beer receipt — offering a rare glimpse into Mesopotamian beer culture.
The news was announced in a University of Copenhagen news release in April.
Mesopotamia, often called the "cradle of civilization," was centered in parts of modern-day Iraq and Syria thousands of years ago.
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Researchers from the university and the National Museum of Denmark recently analyzed, identified and digitized the ancient texts as part of a joint project called "Hidden Treasures."
The tablet had been sitting in the National Museum's archives, and the release said the texts had not been studied in recent times.
Of particular interest is NMC 7962, a tablet detailing beer deliveries.
The beer tablet dates to the Ur III period, around 2112-2004 B.C.
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NMC 7962 was previously published by Danish Sumerologist Thorkild Jacobsen before researchers re-analyzed it during the digitization project.
Beer receipts were common administrative records in ancient Mesopotamia, said Troels Pank Arbøll, an associate professor of Assyriology at the University of Copenhagen.
Arbøll — the only professor who specializes in Assyriology at the university — told Fox News Digital the records were intended "to record how much beer was delivered or distributed by an institution."
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"Beer was a central part of Mesopotamian culture from the invention of writing in the late 4th millennium BCE until the end of cuneiform culture," he noted.
"It was considered an integral part of urbanized life."
The receipt differentiates between high-quality and "ordinary" beer.
"The concrete example lists different types of beer delivered on two successive days: 16 liters of high-quality beer and 55 liters of ordinary beer, followed by 12 liters of high-quality beer and 40 liters of ordinary beer," he said.
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One liter of beer is just under three standard 12-ounce beer cans — meaning that the delivery totaled over 30 gallons over two days.
"It is not clear from the text who exactly it was intended for, although it was received by the provincial governor, as his cylinder seal is impressed on the clay tablet in question," Arbøll noted.
As for what the beer may have tasted like, Arbøll said there are some clues.
"Early on, most beer was produced on the basis of barley, though it could in some periods include, for example, date syrup or emmer wheat in the production process," he said.
The drink also contained some sediment, and depictions show it being consumed through hollow reeds used as straws, he said.
Some have attempted to reproduce Mesopotamian beer, particularly at the University of Chicago, Arbøll said.
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Mesopotamian beer "was probably not high in alcohol, though it was nutritious," he added.