Abstract:
This thesis has outlined the cultural history of alcoholic beverages by man from
the earliest evidence until the early Middle Ages. The evidence suggests that grain-based
alcohol production began circa 10,000 BC in the Levant by the Natufian culture with
other development events taking place in east Asia and Mesoamerica. Processing grain
into malt to obtain a sweet flavor and then into alcohol became part of the Neolithic
package and arrived in western Europe by 4,000 BC. The first physical evidence of a
specific beverage was recovered in Balfarg, Scotland dating to 3,040 BC. From that time
on in Europe alcohol and drinkware were associated with death rituals including grave
gifts and in the Bronze Age became part of ritual feasting among war-bands to create and
strengthen social ties in a fictive kinship. In the early Middle Ages religious and
economic changes changed this dynamic but alcohol remained a high demand consumer
good, as evidenced by the Germanic law codes between 400-1,000 AD.
