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Amphorae in Sicily / Alamy
Léa Drieu, a postdoctoral fellow and chemist at the University of York, uses a mix of chemistry and archaeology to study the eating and drinking habits of people who lived thousands of years ago.
When an archeological dig unearths ancient pottery, for example, she works with a team of scientists to determine whether they were used to contain wine, vinegar or other fruit juices. “It’s a tricky question,” says Drieu.
Like others who study drinks in antiquity, her work is challenging and constantly evolving. Thanks to biological, archeological and chemical detective work, new scientific technologies and methods that span ancient pottery and DNA analyses are revealing the histories of alcoholic beverages worldwide.