Beer was a staple food, but also served a variety of social functions in the political economy of Ancient Egypt. Recent excavations at Hierakonpolis, a major site of Egypt’s Pre- and Early Dynastic period, have revealed large-scale brewery installations, suggesting that the beverage played a significant role in the development of complex society and the expression of power and status, with collateral impact on craft specialization. However, there is as yet no definite consensus on how beer was produced, distributed or consumed in Predynastic Egypt. To address this gap, this research applies microfossil residue analyses on pottery fragments recovered at two different areas at Hierakonpolis: from a midden near the Predynastic beer production site at Locality HK11C; and from the Second Dynasty ceremonial enclosure of King Khasekhemwy. The results provide the first scientific evidence for a long tradition of beer jars—pottery vessels specifically for and symbolic of beer—beginning in the early Naqada II phase of the Predynastic period. The results suggest that beer production contributed to the economic and ideological integration of society, the rise of the elite, and the cultural unification that took place leading up to the consolidation of the centralized political state.

啤酒是一种主食，但在古埃及的政治经济中也具有多种社会功能。最近在埃及前王朝和早期王朝时期的主要遗址希拉孔波利斯 (Hierakonpolis) 进行的发掘揭示了大型啤酒厂装置，表明这种饮料在复杂社会的发展和权力和地位的表达中发挥了重要作用，并具有附带影响关于工艺专业。然而，对于前王朝时期的埃及如何生产、分销或消费啤酒，目前还没有明确的共识。为了弥补这一差距，本研究对在 Hierakonpolis 的两个不同地区回收的陶器碎片进行了微化石残留分析：来自 Locality HK11C 的 Predynastic 啤酒生产基地附近的中间地带；以及来自第二王朝国王 Khasekhemwy 的仪式围栏。结果为啤酒罐的悠久传统提供了第一个科学证据 - 专门用于啤酒和象征啤酒的陶器 - 始于前王朝时期的早期 Naqada II 阶段。结果表明，啤酒生产促进了社会的经济和意识形态整合、精英的崛起以及导致中央集权政治国家巩固的文化统一。