Which came first?
Many assumed the baking of bread preceded the brewing of beer. Recent archaeology suggests otherwise. The inside of stone troughs uncovered at Gobekli Tepe were stained with a gray-black residue of calcium oxalate, a chemical typically formed when fermenting grain.
Archaeological excavations at Gobekli Tepe upset settled ideas about sequential human progress: 1. Hunter-gatherers. 2. Agriculture & Animal husbandry 3. Proto Religious beliefs 4. Towns & Cities, 5. Civilizations.
First of all, the site was dated to over12,000 years ago. That's several thousands of years older than any previously known civilization.
Second, the 20' high stone circle of monumental carved pillars was thought impossible for stone-age scavengers.
Third, no trace of homes, let alone cities, and the only bones found were of wild animals.
Forth, no evidence of agriculture.
Disconcerting!
This shouldn't be. How could simple hunter-gathers be organized enough to do all this, how in the hell could they be fermenting grain before they raised crops, and shouldn't they be baking bread before they brewed beer?
Apparently not.
The Gobekli Tepe builders did things differently.
They had a religion before they had either agriculture, or domesticated animals.
They didn't seem to have any use for houses
or cities.
Their diet seems to have been exclusively, wild game, (and only the choices cuts at that).
They probably brewed the beer from wild grains. They probably drank the greater part of their beer at festive ceremonial feasts in honor of the god/animals carved on their 20' high stone monuments.
Their commitment to build open-air temple monuments for their gods was probably the impetus for organizing the immense man-power needed.
The Gobekli Tepe, by their linking of religion and beer gave their own paleolithic twist to the Biblical axiom: Man does not live by bread alone.
They didn't build a civilization, but they did create the fundamental elements: abundant food; societal organization; technology; and beer.
My friend, James, once told me the same Hungarian word was used for both bread and beer. That sounded plausible, plus, James was Hungarian. I believed him.
He was wrong, but only linguistically.
Bread & beer are pretty much liquid and solid versions of the same thing, and both are basic to primary needs. I remember a girl who used to sing to herself, "Oh dear, Bread and beer, When I get rich, I'll get out of here".
Why get out, so long as the bread and beer holds-out?