Alcohol: Anthropological/Archaeological Perspectives

In his 2006 article, appearing in Annual Review of Anthropology, Michael Dietler sets out to aggregate anthropology’s various outlooks on alcohol, something which had not been done since 1987.  Dietler begins by discussing the evolution of anthropology’s view of alcohol by describing the evolution of how alcohol is identified and studied throughout history and between cultures.  Of note, the reader is reminded that anthropology had been stunted in its assessment of alcohol but an unfair tendency to lump all forms of alcohol into one category based solely on the presence of ethanol in a substance and its psychoactive effects.  Dietler goes on to explain how this is a problematic concept, since throughout time cultures have approached alcohol differently, especially when different types of alcohol were considered. 

             Although Dietler examines many aspects of how anthropologists study alcohol (including alcohol’s impact on gender roles, political presence, colonialism, and religion) my primary interest in his work was a survey of early brewing, namely the origins of alcohol production in ancient cultures.  Something that is rarely considered is alcohol’s relationship with the agricultural revolution since evidence of crop cultivation and alcohol production occur not only at the same point on the timeline but also in the same locations (namely Georgia, Iran, Mesopotamia, and China).  What comes from this evidence is a “chicken and the egg” type question.  Did a desire for alcohol drive humans to start planting crops or did the presence of cereal surpluses lead to the sudden production of large quantities of beer?  Dietler does not attempt to answer this question, but he does suggest that it was the latter, a strong demand for beer, that caused the agricultural revolution.

 

Dietler, Michael. "Alcohol: Anthropological/Archaeological Perspectives." Annual Review of Anthropology 35.1 (2006): 229-49.