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merryn @merryn02.bsky.social · 1h

Yeah, like I said, it's complicated. There's a lot of academic papers and books on the biochemistry and physiology of grain germination. Barley is probably *the* most researched grain in this respect. Not by archaeologists, of course, but by biochemists, malting, brewing and cereal scientists.

merryn @merryn02.bsky.social · 3h

Yes I saw that. Nice reference to our 1999 paper. This one. (Good excuse for me to post a link to it.) Cheers!

Correction: in the paper I refer to calcium oxalate when it should be beerstone. I know that now. It is the best evidence for cereal fermentation.
www.researchgate.net/publication/...

(PDF) Neolithic Ale: Barley as a source of malt sugars for fermentation

PDF | In the British Isles, around 4000 BC, people began to cultivate and process barley and wheat. Cereals are generally believed to have been a... | Find, read and cite all the research you need on ...

www.researchgate.net

Reposted by merryn

Aidan O'Sullivan @aidanosullivan.bsky.social · 4h

Impossible to read this & not think, stupid, appalling, pointless

Gaza uttterly destroyed, tens of thousands of innocents slaughtered, people with life-changing injuries, children orphaned

Hamas have not been wiped out by Israel

Israel now a pariah state

Despite delays, Netanyahu will be jailed

The Irish Times @irishtimes.com · 4h

Gaza ceasefire: Palestinians return to destroyed north, Hamas ‘gathers remaining hostages’

‘For the most part, there is consensus’ on next stages of the ceasefire plan, says Trump

www.irishtimes.com

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merryn @merryn02.bsky.social · 4h

Complicated, like I said. But nevertheless, interesting.

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merryn @merryn02.bsky.social · 4h

I wish I'd been there. So many questions I'd ask them. Potential archaeological evidence for brewing in prehistory would be my specialist subject, if I had to pick one. There is a general attitude of "no convincing evidence" from the academic community. I've met with it a lot over the years. Why?

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merryn @merryn02.bsky.social · 6h

I take your point to some extent I'll go back to study details in the paper. However as I understand the science starch doesn't ferment into alcohol. It's a lactic fermentation. Pitted starch granules indicate enzyme attack to make sugars. Not fermentation into alcohol. Complicated stuff, this.

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Drew @drewavery.bsky.social · 21h

@mychal3ts.bsky.social

Orkney Library & Archive @orkneylibrary.bsky.social · 1d

This is #BookyMcBookface sailing back from Rousay this afternoon. 💨🌊 #Orkney

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merryn @merryn02.bsky.social · 22h

A few succinct words from Brian Cox on the amazing spectacle (a comet) that's travelling through the universe and, even more amazing, how photographs of it were taken from the surface of Mars by one of the rovers.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/...

Brian Cox on 3I/Atlas - the comet flying through our Solar System

The physicist explains the journey of this

www.bbc.co.uk

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merryn @merryn02.bsky.social · 23h

The grain itself is not fermented. Grain is malted (some would say germinated) to begin the saccharification process but it is not fermented. So *if* I understand this paragraph from the paper correctly that's what is being suggested as potential evidence for an alcoholic cereal based fermentation.

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merryn @merryn02.bsky.social · 1d

That is the bit I don't agree with.

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merryn @merryn02.bsky.social · 1d

It's all rather complicated. I have several issues with the 'Natufian beer' paper. They have identified malt not beer. These discoveries of ancient cereal processing activity are interesting. The variation in them probably indicates a wide range of activity, experimentation with cereals and grains.

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merryn @merryn02.bsky.social · 1d

Also worth considering this paper @larsga.bsky.social. A similar sort of date but totally different discoveries. I don't think it's a 'one or the other' situation: bread or beer. There's another option: malt and malt sugars. Epi Palaeolithic cereal processing.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

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merryn @merryn02.bsky.social · 1d

There were some articulated deer skeletons found near Skara Brae too. In both circumstances, did they use the deer skins to make boats (they'd be good for that) and then paddle away? Leaving the smelly and inedible deer carcasses behind. Have to agree, it's a strange and curious little mystery.

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Financial Times @financialtimes.com · 1d

Breaking news: María Corina Machado has been awarded the prize for ‘keeping the flame of democracy burning amidst a growing darkness’ . The win dashes the hopes of US President Donald Trump. on.ft.com/4ocHAKY

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merryn @merryn02.bsky.social · 1d

It looks like the accepted academic archaeological point of view: not proven. The 1999 paper is the first paper I ever wrote. I'd agree it's a good summary of the Neolithic evidence from these islands *at that time*. So much more since then. Is anyone looking for beerstone on Neolithic pots yet? 🤔🏺🍺

merryn @merryn02.bsky.social · 1d

fabulous find!

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Oscar Lozada @oz-of-the-ancients.bsky.social · 2d

#archaeologynews Well this wasn't a headline I expected today 😅

"The 'afterglow' would have lasted weeks... instilling increased openness and empathy in feast participants" researchers say

BUT: worth noting this is just a hypothesis & others are sceptical!

#archaeology #news🏺 tinyurl.com/bdet4dcm

Psychedelic beer may have helped pre-Inca empire in Peru schmooze elite outsiders and consolidate power

The Wari used beer mixed with psychedelics to help build an empire in Peru around 1,200 years ago, a new study suggests.

tinyurl.com

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merryn @merryn02.bsky.social · 1d

Because its such a good story to tell, probably. :-) Schmoozing with the boozing. I like the sound of that. Good title for a paper maybe. I wonder whether it happened in other cultures, such as British prehistory. Could well be a very similar story.

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merryn @merryn02.bsky.social · 2d

Anything that has anything to do with booze or psychedelics and prehistory gets this sort of story in the press. So it seems.

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Nina Willburger @drnwillburger.bsky.social · 2d

Fishing some 5,300 years ago: a Neolithic fishhook made of wild boar tusk, wrapped with a fishing line.
The size of the fishhook is 6.5 cm. It was used to catch pikes.
Found in the lake-dwelling settlement of Arbon Bleiche 3, Switzerland.

On display at Archäologisches Museum Frauenfeld

📷me

🏺

The picture shows a fishhook made of wild boar tusk. Only the curved, pointed end and the upper part are visible. The rest is wrapped in fishing line. The fishing line is made of twisted bast.

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Alan McLeod / A Good Beer Blog @agoodbeerblog.bsky.social · 2d

Well, things came to be which were not certain. The unknown became the known - or will be when the covers are lifted later. Time is a’ticking. That’s never as clear as the dawn when that zap of frost hits. And the Yankees lost. So it’s still a happy day. I can buy frikkin canned tomatoes all winter.

The Beery News Notes For The Threat Of Frost And The Yanks And Jays In What Might Just Be A Post-Passion World – A Good Beer Blog

abetterbeerblog427.com

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Cambridge University Press - Archaeology @cambup-archaeology.cambridge.org · 2d

🏆 ‘#OuedBeht, #Morocco: a complex early farming society in north-west #Africa and its implications for western Mediterranean interaction during later #prehistory’ wins the @antiquity.ac.uk Prize 2025. 👏 Read the article here: ⏩ https://cup.org/48WQW97

#archaeology #openaccess

Promotional image for the Neolithic Prize 2025, featuring a sunset over a field in Oued Beht, Morocco, with text highlighting a study on Morocco's Neolithic society by Cyprian Broodbank and Giulio Lucarini.

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patto1ro.bsky.social @patto1ro.bsky.social · 3d

Kveik gets to work very quickly. The photos show it immediately after being added to wort and 20 minutes later. The bowl was placed on the rim of the firepit, presumably to keep it nice and warm.
@kornolfest.bsky.social

A bowl of wort with kveik immediately after adding to wort. No activity, just lumps of kveik floating on the surface.

A bowl of wort with kveik 20 minutes later with a head formed from fermentation.

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merryn @merryn02.bsky.social · 2d

Heritage v Landrace barley: "Heritage Barleys are genetically true hybrid varieties, bred between 1905 and 1965. Landrace Barleys preceded them, and are selections from the wild, propagated mostly by generations of farmers up to the end of the 19th century."
www.warminster-malt.co.uk/our-heritage...

Our Heritage Malts - Warminster Maltings Limited

www.warminster-malt.co.uk

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merryn @merryn02.bsky.social · 2d

It's a while since I read the paper. It's quite dense and there's a lot to take in, as I recall. I'm wondering about the grinding tools at this site so I'll have another look in the light of your ideas. (btw I've hopefully got something published very soon about early cereal processing strategies).

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