An Egyptian-American Archaeological Mission, headed by Matthew Adams of New York University, and Deborah Vishak of Princeton University, working in north Abydos in the Sohag Governorate of Egypt, has revealed what is believed to be the oldest large-scale brewery in the world, according to the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities and Tourism.
Mustafa Waziri, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, said the factory likely dates to the tiem of the Early Dynastic Period Pharoah Narmar (roughly 3273 – 2987 BC), and consists of eight large sections with length of 20 m x width of 2.5 m x depth of 0.4 M, used as beer production units, each section contained about 40 regular pottery tubs in two rows to heat the grain and water mixture, and each sink mounted in position on clay stents.
Matthew Adams suggests that the plant was producing about 22 400 liters of beer at a time, and may have been built in this particular place to supply royal rituals performed inside private funeral facilities, evidence of beer having been found during the excavations of these sites.
The site was previously investigated bt British archaeologists at the beginning of the 20th century, however, these excavations were not accurately located, and the current mission was was the first to re-locate, the site and re-examine its contents.
