CAIRO — Nearly a century since the world first learned about beer production in the days of the Egyptian pharaohs, a joint Egyptian-American archeological mission found what may be the oldest brewery in the world in the ancient city of Abydos. The mission, led by American researcher Mathew Adams from New York University and Deborah Fishak from Princeton University, made the discovery in south Egypt's Sohag governorate.
Ashraf Okasha, the head of antiquities for the Abydos archaeological site, told Al-Monitor that the discovery marked a breakthrough in understanding beer production in Pharaonic Egypt. The discovery follows over 100 years of excavations in the area — a British archeologist found evidence of beer production in the area in 1912 but did not locate the site.