Recent studies and experiments in Irish archaeology have greatly increased the available knowledge on the features generally described as grain drying kilns. Based on these studies, a typological framework has been established (www.emap.ie) to categorise kilns and to easier apportion different forms to different periods (ie. Keyhole, Figure of Eight, Dumb-bell and Pit/Irregular shaped). The excavation of an unusual later medieval kiln with a roughly T-shaped flue in the townland of Folkstown Great near Balbriggan does not however fit easily into this typological model. Three features which may be classified as ‘Pit Kilns’ according to the above typology were excavated nearby and yielded comparable medieval ceramic fragments and C14 date ranges to the T-shaped example. When the environmental samples were analysed, significant variations in the plant macrofossil assemblages were noted between the pit kilns and the T-shaped kiln. The particular morphology of the T-shaped kiln is here discussed and the kiln is regarded in the context of the wider archaeological signature of the area. This paper then contends that the T-shaped kiln was specifically designed to carry out a range of functions above and beyond that carried out at the conventional Pit-Kilns on site and finally proposes a function associated with the process of drying malted barley for the purpose of brewing ale. This suggestion is discussed in conjunction with several enigmatic mortar lined pits located nearby. Finally the ensemble of features is considered as a potential malting/brewing complex capable of producing large quantities of ale.

This co-authored introduction prefaces a collection of essays focused on the history of beer and brewing in Middle Ages and Renaissance, as well as post-medieval imaginings of beer's medieval history.

This manual happened by request, and is meant to help assist medieval enthusiasts, experimental archaeologists, re-enactors and anyone else interested in recreating historic ales and beers. It is a collection of bits and pieces published by many authors of the past on the brewing of beer – now conveniently gathered in one place – and it is meant to guide the modern brewer in making the best guesses possible for his or her historic brew. Much of the information available on brewing is from the 16th century, after the invention of printing press. Not all that unexpected, the first books specializing in beer and brewing appeared in Latin, the language of academics, and German, the language of a prolific brewing culture. While I will make an effort to include all books on brewing known to me, whether they are accessible to the English brewer or not, as I am neither fluent in Latin, nor in medieval German, I only have some tantalizing bits and pieces of foreign language information to share – for now. For more on the subject, and ongoing research, follow my blog at: https://medievalmeadandbeer.wordpress.com/

Alcohol has been a part of the human diet for millennia, however little analysis has been done on the origins of large-scale production, specifically in Europe. The rise of agriculture in Europe during the Neolithic revolution brought about a greater availability of food and the allowance for specialized skills. Naturally, one of these skills was that of brewing. Examining four different sites from Neolithic Europe, correlations and connections are made to suggest possibilities of the cultural role of alcohol in its production, consumption, and ritualization.

Since the 1970s, the craft brewing industry has grown in popularity. However, with the introduction of the Internet and the consequent globalization of cultures and economies, craft beer marketing has increasingly evoked the medieval past in order to appeal to our collective sense of a lost community, and even a lost purity. This book discusses the desire for the local, the non-corporate, and the pre-modern in the discourse of craft brewing, which has become a form of ideological resistance to corporate capitalism, forming a strong counter-cultural narrative. However, such discourses also reinforce colonial histories of purity and conquest while effacing indigenous voices, and there are troubling intersections between the desire for a medieval past and the desire to preserve the imaginary ŸwhitenessŒ of that past. Such considerations are particularly relevant now, during a time in which white nationalist groups (many of which turn to a medieval past for inspiration) are increasing in influence and visibility. Moving from beer in the Middle Ages to beer in 2019, this book deploys analysis of literary and historical texts, advertisements, labels, and interviews with craft brewers and writers to argue that craft beer is much more than a delicious drink and a social connector; its marketing, its appeal, and its ubiquitous presence in middle class North America reveals a powerful cultural desire for the past in a world that privileges the present.

This book is an attempt at analyzing all surviving evidence for beer in ancient Europe, whether literary or material, from the beginnings to about A.D. 1000. While in general in those places where cereal was grown beer was also produced, this was not the case in ancient Italy and Greece, seemingly because beer was considered a very different beverage than wine, being made through the rotting of cereals, and being by nature cold and wet and causing effeminacy. While Celtic tribes came to accept the primacy of wine they still drank beer, and with the takeover of the Roman Empire by Germanic tribes beer was reinstated as a manly beverage, if still inferior to wine.

This is not actually a separate paper but a chapter from my book, Craft Beer Culture and Modern Medievalism. It focuses on how beer and brewing were represented in medieval texts.

Beer is not only a favourite drink for many archaeologists, but is increasingly the subject of their research. Brewing and beer consumption have played a significant role in prehistoric human cultures around the world. Beer was a tasty, nutritious food, a substance affecting the mind, medicine, a religious symbol, as well as a social medium and an accelerator. Alcohol relieved the pain and prevented the spread of infection. Beer was a safe and healthy drink compared to contaminated water. At the time when our ancestors began to domesticate agricultural crops, they commonly produced not only bread but also beer. It is probable that the first ceramic vessels in the Near East were created precisely out of the need to more effectively control the technological process of beer production. Similarly, in the Central European Copper Age, beer production and its growing social significance influenced the emergence of the set Ceramic complex that lasted continuously for more than three millennia. Beer has entered almost all aspects of social life, from everyday consumption and social interactions to initiation ceremonies and major religious celebrations. The study of beer and other fermented beverages sheds light on many aspects of the biocultural development of humans on this planet. ________________________________________________________________ Re´sume´ de recherche: Arche´ologies: La bie`re n’est pas seulement la boisson favorite de nombreuses arche´ologues mais elle devient de manie`re croissante le sujet de leur recherche. Le brassage et la consommation de bie`re ont joue´ un roˆle significatif dans les cultures humaines pre´historiques a` travers le monde. La bie`re e´tait un aliment savoureux et nourrissant, une substance alte´rant l’esprit, un me´dicament, un symbole religieux de meˆme qu’un outil et un acce´le´rateur social. L’alcool soulageait la douleur, empeˆchait la propagation de l’infection. La bie`re e´tait une boisson sans danger et saine contrairement a` l’eau contamine´e. A` l’e´poque ou` nosanceˆtres ont commence´ a` maıˆtriser l’agriculture, ils ont couramment produit non seulement du pain mais aussi de la bie`re. Il est probable que les premiers re´cipients en ce´ramique du Proche Orient ont e´te´ cre´e´s pre´cise´ment en raison de la ne´cessite´ de controˆler plus efficacement le processus technologique de production de bie`re. De meˆme, au cours de l’Aˆ ge de cuivre en Europe centrale, la production de bie`re et sa signification sociale croissante ont influe´ sur l’e´mergence de l’ensemble du complexe ce´ramique ayant perdure´ de manie`re continue pendant plus de trois mille´naires. La bie`re a e´te´ inte´gre´e a` presque tous les aspects de la vie sociale, qu’il s’agisse d’une consommation quotidienne et d’interactions sociales ou de ce´re´monies d’initiation et de ce´le´brations religieuses importantes. L’e´tude de la bie`re et d’autres boissons fermente´es apporte un e´clairage sur de nombreux aspects du de´veloppement bioculturel des humains sur cette plane`te. ________________________________________________________________ Resumen: Arqueologı´as: La cerveza no solo es una bebida favorita entre muchos arqueo´logos, sino que cada vez ma´s es el tema de su investigacio´n. La elaboracio´n de cerveza y el consumo de cerveza han jugado un papel importante en las culturas humanas prehisto´ricas de todo el mundo. La cerveza era un alimento sabroso y nutritivo, una sustancia que afectaba la mente, la medicina, un sı´mbolo religioso, ası´ como un medio social y un acelerador. El alcohol aliviaba el dolor, prevenı´a la propagacio´n de la infeccio´n. La cerveza era una bebida segura y saludable en comparacio´n con el agua contaminada. En el momento en que nuestros antepasados comenzaron a domesticar los cultivos agrı´colas, comu´nmente producı´an no solo pan sino tambie´n cerveza. Es probable que los primeros recipientes de cera´mica en el Cercano Oriente se crearon precisamente por la necesidad de controlar ma´s eficazmente el proceso tecnolo´gico de produccio´n de cerveza. Del mismo modo, en la Edad del Cobre de Europa Central, la produccio´n de cerveza y su creciente importancia social influyeron en la aparicio´n del conjunto del Complejo de cera´mica que duro´ continuamente durante ma´s de tres milenios. La cerveza ha entrado en casi todos los aspectos de la vida social, desde el consumo diario y las interacciones sociales hasta las ceremonias de iniciacio´n y las principales celebraciones religiosas. El estudio de la cerveza y otras bebidas fermentadas arroja luz sobre muchos aspectos del desarrollo biocultural de los seres humanos en este planeta. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ KEY WORDS Beer, Neolithic, Copper Age, Social interaction, European identity