Hasta La Gadget!

Beer. Not only is it the facilitator of softball leagues, awkward first dates, and televised sports, but it also may have played an integral role in the development of human civilization.

As early man transitioned from nomadic hunter-gatherer to an agriculture-based species, a large bulk of their early crops consisted of grains. But current research suggests that only small amounts of these crops were used for consumption as food. The bulk were probably allotted for fermenting into early incarnations of beer.

So, the theory goes, the development of agriculture owes its existence to the human desire to get a buzz on.

“Signs that people went to great lengths to obtain grains
despite the hard work needed to make them edible, plus the knowledge that
feasts were important community-building gatherings, support the idea that
cereal grains were being turned into beer,” archaeologist Brian Hayden at Simon Fraser University in Canada told livescience. “Beer is sacred stuff in most traditional
societies.”

As human domestication developed, various groups and tribes would have settled in close proximity. Whereas nomadic groups could learn to avoid each other, alcohol might have served an important function in easing tensions of early peoples adapting to this new concept of “neighbors.” This brew-fueled social bonding would serve a far more important use for grain cultivation than the creation of bread.

Researchers believe that the prehistoric peoples of Syria, for example, would travel up to 60 miles just to procure grains needed in the
production of alcohol. People would likely not put forth the effort for mere bread or rice.

According to Hayden’s research, fermentation seems irrevocably linked with early human civilizations throughout the world including in China, the Sudan, Greece, and possibly the first use of maize.

So, drink up. It’s what your ancestors would have wanted.