Archaeological Microbiology Startup Gears Up to Sell Yeast Like No Other to Bakers and Brewers, Thanks to the Discovery of Strains Dating as Far Back as 5,000 Years and a Night at a Jerusalem Bar
Feb. 15, 2021
A beer factory that may go back more than 5,000 years has been found in Egypt at the ancient city of Abydos, located near the Nile about 450 kilometers (280 miles) south of Cairo. The discovery was announced by Egyptian authorities on Saturday.
The factory apparently dates to the region of King Narmer, who is famed for unifying ancient Egypt at the beginning of the First Dynastic Period (3150 B.C.E- 2613 B.C.E.), said Mostafa Waziri, secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities.
American and Egyptian archaeologists found eight enormous production units, each one 20 meters (about 65 feet) long and 2.5 meters wide. The units contained about 40 pottery basins in two rows, which had been used to heat a mixture of grain and water to produce beer, Waziri said.