Steady Supply Of Beer Kept Ancient Wari Empire Intact For 500 Years

[Judi Lynn]

21 April 2019, 12:12 pm EDT By Maui Hermitanio Tech Times

Brewing a steady supply of beer to serve during festivities could have helped the ancient Wari civilization's political stability in its 500 years of existence.

In their latest research that probed how beer is crucial to the longevity of an empire, a team of anthropologists from the Field Museum recreated ancient brewing techniques. They concluded that beer really helped form unity among the populations of the ancient civilization and the shared identity and cultural practices that help stabilize societies are still relevant up to today.

The Wari Empire And Beer Diplomacy
Over a thousand years ago, the Wari empire existed in Peru even before the Inca civilization. This empire lasted from 600AD to 1100AD and developed in the mountainous valley of Ayacucho in Central Peru that is largely influenced by the Tiwanaku culture of Bolivia. It is believed that the Wari state created its large sphere of power with the help of political force, and was probably the first centrally governed state of the Andes.

For several centuries, the Wari leaders and their rivals from the Tiwanaku empire gathered and held festivities together with the local communities. They drank vessels of the beer-like beverage called chicha de molle that was made from fermented corn and pepper berries.

More:
https://www.techtimes.com/articles/241949/20190421/steady-supply-of-beer-kept-ancient-wari-empire-intact-for-500-years.htm

Wonderful architectural images from the Wari/Huari empire in Ayacucho, Peru:

https://tinyurl.com/y36uremb

[sandensea]

1. That would do it.

[Judi Lynn]

2. AN EMPIRE BUILT ON BEER

APRIL 27, 2019 | KIRSTY VITARELLI
AN EMPIRE BUILT ON BEER

Archeologists have been researching how an ancient Peruvian empire was so successful that it lasted for centuries — and it turns out the answer is… beer.

With his team at the Field Museum in Chicago, curator Ryan Williams discovered a site at Cerro Baúl in the mountains of southern Peru that once served as a kind of microbrewery for the Wari civilization. Predecessors to the Incas, the Wari flourished from roughly 600 AD to 1,000.

The Field Museum team analyzed fragments of pots and discovered that the Wari brewed beer with ingredients including a local drought-resistant berry. Use of this berry meant the beer could be produced and enjoyed even in the leanest of seasons.

The ‘chicha’ beer — light in alcohol content and sour in taste — had a shelf life of only a week at most, so it had to be drunk where it was made.

More:
https://whowhatwhy.org/2019/04/27/an-empire-built-on-beer/