Navigate Select ESC Close

It Wasn't food! Human Farming Began For a Super Bizarre Reason: BEER!

2026-01-03 Science & Technology
77.4k
6.4k
1.7k
Anton Petrov
Anton Petrov
1.6m subscribers

Unlock all features

FREE: Get instant access to 10 AI summaries, chats, or transcripts per day.

Description

Support this channel on Patreon to help me make this a full time job: https://www.patreon.com/whatdamath (Unreleased videos, extra footage, DMs, no ads) Alternatively, PayPal donations can be sent here: http://paypal.me/whatdamath Get a Wonderful Person Tee: https://teespring.com/stores/whatdamath More cool designs are on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3QFIrFX Hello and welcome! My name is Anton and in this video, we will talk about beer...kind of Links: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2352409X18303468?via%3Dihub https://www.pnas.org/doi/epdf/10.1073/pnas.1801071115 https://www.pnas.org/doi/epdf/10.1073/pnas.2412274121 #agricuture #science #archeology 0:00 Why was agriculture invented? 3:10 This started in 11 different regions 3:45 Levant region was the first 4:20 China and Mesoamerica 5:50 Production of food or beer? 6:30 Why it's hard to figure this out 7:05 Natufian culture from 14,000 years ago - bread and brewing 9:05 Chinese evidence of rice wine production 10:30 What came first and why? 11:40 Agriculture also influenced our psychology - Rice Theory of Culture 13:00 Accidental experiment in China 13:58 Strange results 15:40 Conclusions and implications Enjoy and please subscribe Bitcoin/Ethereum to spare? Donate them here to help this channel grow! bc1qnkl3nk0zt7w0xzrgur9pnkcduj7a3xxllcn7d4 or ETH: 0x60f088B10b03115405d313f964BeA93eF0Bd3DbF Thank you to all Patreon supporters of this channel Special thanks also goes to all the wonderful supporters of the channel through YouTube Memberships Credit: Chiswick Chap CC BY SA 4.0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_agriculture#/media/File:Vavilov-centers_updated.jpg Michal Feldman, Eva Fernández-Domínguez, Luke Reynolds, Douglas Baird, Jessica Pearson, Israel Hershkovitz, Hila May CC BY SA 4.0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natufian_culture#/media/File:Ancient_West-Eurasian_PCA.jpg Dani Nadel CC BY 3.0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_beer#/media/File:Raqefet_Cave_rock_mortars.jpg v CC BY 3.0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natufian_culture#/media/File:NatufianSpread.svg v CC BY SA 3.0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natufian_culture#/media/File:Dagon_Museum,_Mortars_from_Natufian_Culture,_Grinding_stones_from_Neolithic_pre-pottery_phase.JPG Alexia Smith ,Amy Oechsner,Peter Rowley-Conwy,Andrew M. T. Moore CC Y sa 3.0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natufian_culture#/media/File:Reconstruction_of_phase_1A_(13,300-12,800_cal_BP)_pit_dwellings_showing_a_person_seated_on_the_open_bench_area_in_the_foreground._Abu_Hureyra,_Syria.jpg Licenses used: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ and relevant Creative Commons licenses

Top Comments (10)

@thehellyousay 2026-01-03

i told a prof at college that beer was why we stopped following herds, built settlements, and started growing crops, and he told me i was daft. i pointed out that farming was[is] heavily labour intensive, often crippling work, whereas foraging and hunting were not labour-intensive, and although some hunts could be crippling or even lethal, that was on the ego of the hunters. the only possible advantage to ceasing a more leisurely life was the requirement for grain, or fruit, to be boiled and ferment for a period of 2-3 weeks in a relatively temperature stable environment like, say, a built structure, because someone wanted to get hammered.

1.2k 191 replies
@g33k37 2026-01-04

Humans didn't discover farming we were domesticated by brewers yeast.

1.1k 54 replies
@marktrain9498 2026-01-03

Ancient beer *was* food. It was a lumpy gruel of grain, allowed to ferment and form alcohol to enhance its long-term preservation.

800 93 replies
@GrannyTheftAuto 2026-01-04

From hunter gatheres to alcoholics.

341 11 replies
@Bundestangle 2026-01-03

As a Bavarian, that theory makes perfect sense to me. Prost! 🍻 (Also a happy new year to all you wonderful people out there!)

184 5 replies
@xrayzebra 2026-01-05

Facts: we grew and stored grain to make beer, this (edit to add, of course there was the intermediate step where stored grain attracted rodents and they attracted) and caused the domestication of cats, and this led to the creation of videos about cats to entertain us as we drink beer

154 6 replies
@TyBuchanan 2026-01-05

Chimpanzees have been seen drinking naturally fermented palm sap, and some consume the equivalent of many alcoholic beverages every day. However, grains do not ferment with wild yeast naturally. Early people, before farming, did collect wild grain to make a gruel or grind up to make bread. Grain left in pots (especially with water or milk) can ferment due to naturally present wild yeasts and bacteria. This process is the basis of many traditional foods (like sourdough or some animal feeds), Note, workers in Egypt being paid in beer is an important factor in the farming-to-make-beer premise.

53 2 replies
@daviddziuk-uz8ps 2026-01-04

I love how we always try to pose these questions as "either or" rather than probably being "All of the above".

36 1 replies
@clevername333 2026-01-05

I saw a documentary called "How Beer Saved the world" about 15+ years ago that covered this subject in detail. Very funny documentary.

18
@GoldenMinotaur 2026-01-05

The story of Vancouver Canada is such. Gassy Jack showed up to a logging camp with two barrels of rum. He said to the loggers, build me a building and I'll give you this barrel of rum. He was true to his word. He sold them the second shot by shot. And the third, and the fourth. Now there's a city here

5

Unlock the Data Inside
Turn Videos into Knowledge

  • Get FREE 10/day: transcripts, summaries, chats
  • Chat with videos, export text & PDF
  • $1 free API credit for RAG, chatbots & research

Free forever plan • All features unlocked

App screenshot