When Did Ancient Humans Start Drinking Alcohol?

When did ancient humans start drinking alcohol? The answer goes back way further than you'd expect — not thousands, but millions of years. Our relationship with alcohol didn't begin with the invention of wine or the first brewery. It started on a forest floor in Africa, ten million years ago, when a small primate picked up a piece of fruit that had been sitting on the ground too long. This video traces the full history of alcohol — from fermented fruit to the Natufian caves of Israel, the mysterious stone monuments of Göbekli Tepe in Turkey, the world's oldest recipe in ancient China, and the civilization-powering beer of ancient Egypt. By the end, you might start seeing your next drink a little differently. All research and sources are linked below. ———————————————————— 📚 RESEARCH & SOURCES: ▸ Robert Dudley — "The Drunken Monkey: Why We Drink and Abuse Alcohol" (2014, UC Press) https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520275690/the-drunken-monkey ▸ Raqefet Cave Discovery — "Fermented beverage and food storage in 13,000 y-old stone mortars at Raqefet Cave, Israel" (2018, Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2018.08.008 ▸ Patrick McGovern — "Fermented beverages of pre- and proto-historic China" (2004, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences) https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0407921102 ▸ Patrick McGovern — "Uncorking the Past: The Quest for Wine, Beer, and Other Alcoholic Beverages" (UC Press) https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520267985/uncorking-the-past ▸ Göbekli Tepe — Archaeological evidence for fermented grain in large stone vessels at the site (German Archaeological Institute, Oliver Dietrich et al.) ▸ Ancient Egypt — Beer rations for pyramid workers at Giza, archaeological evidence from excavations near the Giza Plateau ———————————————————— PEOPLE MENTIONED IN THIS VIDEO: ▸ Robert Dudley — Professor of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley. Author of "The Drunken Monkey" hypothesis, which propos