Travis Rupp, University of Colorado – Boulder

The program will discuss origins of beer production in the ancient Near East and Egypt in conjunction with the rise of domestication and farming. It will cover how this industry grew and expanded into the Mediterranean cultures of Greece and Rome, and it will examine how beer developed in cultures biased against fermented grains. Though ancient Greece and Rome boasted the superiority of the grape, beer production and consumption was at the core of Mediterranean diet and nutrition dating back to the Bronze Age.