BBC World Histories - 08.2019 - 09.2019

ISRAEL

Strange brew

Researchers in Israel have brewed an ‘ancient’ beer using

yeast up to 5,000 years old. Six strains of yeast were extracted

from pottery found in the Holy Land and used to create a beer

with 6% alcohol content, plus a 14%-strength mead. “Aside

from the gimmick of drinking beer from the time of King

Pharaoh, this research is extremely important to the field of

experimental archaeology,” said microbiologist Dr Ronen

Hazan, adding: “By the way, the beer isn’t bad.”

LAOS

Body of evidence

More than 100 giant stone jars have

been discovered in Laos. The three-

metre-tall vessels, believed to be

around 1,000 years old, were found at

15 sites across the mountainous central

region. These huge artefacts are common

across the so-called Plain of Jars, in Xiang

Khouang region, but the new discovery

reveals that they are much more wide-

spread than previously thought. Archaeol-

ogists believe the jars held bodies before

burial, but their

makers remain

a myster y.

WESSEL ISLANDS AUSTRALIA

Mystery money

A coin found on an Australian beach could rewrite the

history of global trade. Experts believe that the small

copper coin, probably minted before 1400, may have

come from the African city-state of Kilwa (in what’s

now Tanzania). Archaeologists suggests that it could

provide evidence of contact between indigenous

Australians and Kilwa traders, or might have been

carried to the island by Portuguese sailors.

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‘Ancient’ beer brewed using a

strain of yeast extracted from

pottery found in the Holy Land

dating from up to 3,000 BC

SHUTTERSTOCK/GETTY IMAGES

Stone vessels in the so-called

Plain of Jars, Laos. More than

100 jars have been found

at 15 previously unstudied

sites in Laos

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