NEWSArchaeological Science: Reports,
cereal-based beer was being
consumed some 13,000 years
ago. Researchers from Stan-
ford University and the Uni-
versity of Haifa in Israel made
this discovery in Raqefet Cave
on Mount Carmel, near Haifa
in northern Israel.
The site was once occupied
by the Natufians, who livedH
umans were down-
ing beers thousands
of years earlier than
experts previously
thought—long before the
advent of agriculture.
The oldest traces of beer
brewing used to date to
around 9,000 years ago,
but according to research
published in theJournal ofCraft Brewing in Caves:
Earliest Evidence of Beer
A new discovery in Israel reveals how a prehistoric community consumed
beer as a part of their paleo diet, centuries before humans took up farming.THE ART OF ANCIENT ALESsome 15,000-11,500 years ago.
Archaeologists believe them
to be among the first people
to abandon nomadic practic-
es and opt for a semi-settled
way of life.
The cave contains many
important finds, including a
Natufian burial ground with
the remains of 30 people. Ar-
chaeologists also found tools,4 MARCH/APRIL 2019Haifa
M
t.
Ca
rm
elRaqefet
CaveMediterraneanSeaISRAELStudyareaNG MAPS
MOUNT CARMEL is
dotted with Natufian
settlements, such
as the Raqefet Cave.
Thriving around
13,000 years ago, the
Natufians developed
funerary rites and
buried their dead on
beds of herbs.THE RAQEFET CAVE NATUFIAN PROJECT
THE ISRAELI ARCHAEOLOGICAL TEAM
WORKS NEAR THE MOUTH OF THE
RAQEFET CAVE IN NORTHERN ISRAEL.