Discovery Of Beer Linked To The Growth Of The First Civilization Summary

Beer, the first beverage appeared as a result of changed lifestyle for the early humans. Before, humans were nomads, who would follow their food (pg. 9). But starting about 12,000 years ago humans had picked up on a new lifestyle (pg. 9). These small bands of about 30 people were now settling down in more permanent areas and had abandoned their old ways of constantly traveling (pg. 9). This drastic turning point in human history seemed to primarily come from one reason, the discovery of beer (pg.11). As beer was basically formed from the gathering of barley and wheat, humans had to form some type of permanent residency, and abandon their old nomadic lifestyle (pg.11).

Beer was existent in a time where there was a great increase in social intricacy because of the creation of cities from the settling of humanity after its practice of being nomadic.

Each drink has changed the world in many ways (good or bad). Starting with beer, beer steered people out of the hunting and gathering way of life into the agricultural lifestyle. People grew grains in order to make beer, but eventually in gave the people the idea that can also grow more crops instead of just grain. "Beer drinking was one of the many factors that helped tip the balance away from hunting and gathering and towards farming and sedentary lifestyle based on small settlements". Beer was also safer to drink than water because water was mostly contaminated. In the Stone Age, beer became the main drink, and it is still a popular drink today.

The author wants to show that beverages had a great impact on history. He wants to tell his

Beer might have/had influenced the transition from hunting and gathering to agricultural-based societies. One way beer could have done this was that after the discovery of beer, the demand for beer began to increase. With increase demand for beer, farming would increase taking away time to hunt and gather for food. With less hunting and gathering, farmers eventually settled down in small areas around the Fertile Crescent to create beer.

2. The author uses sources that date back to the Stone Age, to gather his information on the use of beer. He outlines how society changed from being hunter-gatherers, and relying on the environment for nutrition, to farmers who were independent of scavenging the environment for nutrition.

Water is believed to be the most quintessential and contributing drink towards the progress of the human race. While that may be the case, water was aided by many beverages that were developed over time. People were destined to eventually make, invent, find or discover these universal beverages, as described in A History of the World in Six Glasses by Tom Standage. He writes about six different beverages: beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea and Coca-Cola, which were all blown up to influence lifestyles, customs, cultures and more. While the six important beverages have not necessarily had a positive influence, they still demonstrate the different themes that define the progress of world history.

Assessing how environmental and geographical factors, such as location and availability of resources have affected and continue to affect the development, distribution, and diffusion of the human race over time is intriguing. There are several examples of how society’s start and why. One example is the site of ancient Mesopotamia, the birthplace of the world’s first civilizations. Diffusion is the movement of things and ideas from one culture to another. When diffusion occurs, the form of a trait such as tea drinking may move from one society to another but not its original cultural meaning. Two significant

Beer started out as gruel, and as the gruel fermented it turned into beer. Now it was not the first form of alcohol, but it was an important kind of alcohol. Beer was made from cereal crops, which were very abundant, and because it was so abundant it could be made whenever it was needed. They then found an even easier way to make beer by using beer-bread. Beer bread is basically everything needed to make beer in a loaf, making it convenient to store the raw beer materials. Beer started as just a social drink but then blossomed into a “hallmark of civilization”, as seen by the Mesopotamians. Grain was the basis of the national diet, it was

1. The author’s main thesis in setting up this book is that many drinks have built and brought together human history in to what we know about it.

1. The author’s main thesis in setting the book is that drinks have shaped human history ever since early humans were forced to live by rivers, springs and lakes to ensure an adequate supply of freshwater.

Beer: Beer was not invented, it was discovered. Exactly when the first beer was brewed is unknown but there was almost certainly no beer before 10,000 BCE. The rise of beer was closely associated with the domestication of the cereal grains rom which it is made and the adoption of farming. Beer originated in the Fertile Crescent in Egypt and Mesopotamia. To beer drinkers in the Neolithic period, beer’s ability to intoxicate and induce a state of altered consciousness seemed magical. This caused them to believe beer was a gift from the Gods. Since it was a gift from the gods, it was presented as a religious offering in religious ceremonies, agricultural fertility rites, and in

In Tom Standage’s novel a History in Six Glasses, Standage credits the discovery of beer and wine to the Neolithic Revolution. The Neolithic Revolution allowed humans to abandon their previous nomadic lifestyle they had in the Paleolithic era, and instead to discover how to produce agriculture and raise cattle. Humans were able to establish settlements in fertile areas with predictable climate, like the Fertile Crescent, resulting in farming spreading throughout the region. Rice and wheat became one of the first plants they cultivated, and eventually the production of beer and wine came to be. Beer was discovered when humans began to store and ferment grain. Soon, because of how easy and accessible grain was beer began to dominate the Egyptian

From fancy beer to the lowest quality that you could receive, beer was presented in celebrations or events because this drink “brought people together since the dawn of civilization” and this bringing together allowed the exchange of cultures and traditions to be passed down from generation to generation just like wine (39). These interactions shaped the mind of man, and helped them have

Beer has a long history. In 2000 B.C.E., Sumerians had prepared eight different beer types, ranging from “strong,” “red brown,” and “good dark” (Mauk, 2013). Breweries have created their own recipes, brewed their own beers—some with alcohol, some without. Over the past few years, craft beer gained steady market share away from the national and international breweries (Murray & O 'Neill, 2012). Separating one beer from the next is the product itself, and what the product has to offer. Competition is ferocious due to more informed, sophisticated consumers, as well as globalization and the spread of technology (Murray & O 'Neill, 2012).