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/97805202... ▸ 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... ▸ 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/97805202... ▸ 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 proposes that human attraction to alcohol evolved from our primate ancestors' preference for fermenting fruit. ▸ Patrick McGovern — Archaeochemist at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. Leading expert on ancient fermented beverages. Author of "Uncorking the Past" and "Ancient Brews." His research identified the world's oldest known alcohol recipe at Jiahu, China (7000 BCE) and he has long argued that humans began farming to make beer, not bread. ———————————————————— 📩 Business: [email protected] 🔔 Subscribe for weekly deep dives: https://www.youtube.com/@Cognevo #ancienthistory #alcohol #history #beerhistory #humanhistory #explainer #animation #education #ancientegypt #göbeklitepe #archaeology