Conny Waters – AncientPages.com – Scholars suggest that alcohol promoted cooperation and the development of complex societies. An analysis of 186 non-industrial societies found a small positive link between traditional fermented beverages and political complexity, indicating agriculture was more crucial.
Alcohol has played an important social, political, and religious role in many societies, including ancient Mesopotamia, where people drank beer together from large vessels using long straws. Image credit: MPI f. Evolutionary Anthropology
Throughout history, alcohol consumption has been a significant aspect of human culture. Historical evidence suggests that alcohol played a crucial role in numerous early civilizations, including those in ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, China, and the Mayan and Inca empires. In ancient Sumeria, for instance, beer held substantial religious significance as it was offered to deities to secure prosperity.
Additionally, it played vital economic and political roles by serving as a form of payment for laborers and contributing to social cohesion within these societies.
Throughout history, alcohol consumption has been a significant aspect of human culture. Historical evidence suggests that alcohol played a crucial role in numerous early civilizations, including those in ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, China, and the Mayan and Inca empires. In ancient Sumeria, for instance, beer held substantial religious significance as it was offered to deities to secure prosperity. Additionally, it played vital economic and political roles by serving as a form of payment for laborers and contributing to social cohesion within these societies.
Based on this and additional evidence, certain scholars have proposed that alcohol may have played a pivotal role in the development of large-scale, stratified societies.
This theory, informally referred to as the “drunk hypothesis” after Edward Slingerland’s book “Drunk: How We Sipped, Danced and Stumbled Our Way to Civilization,” suggests that the human inclination towards intoxication is not merely an evolutionary anomaly. Instead, it has historically conferred cultural advantages that surpass its detrimental health and social impacts.
In a recent study, researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig conducted a cross-cultural analysis to examine these claims. Václav Hrncír, a postdoctoral researcher who initiated and led the study, remarked on the intriguing nature of the “drunk hypothesis,” noting that it has not yet been quantitatively tested across different cultures.
This lack of comprehensive testing is attributed to the fragmentary nature of archaeological evidence related to alcohol, as well as the fact that written records are predominantly available from societies that were already complex and hierarchical.
The research team used different methods and gathered data on traditional fermented beverage consumption from 186 globally documented societies with varying political complexity.
They managed to separate’ the role of alcohol from other key factors that might influence political structures, like agricultural intensity and environmental productivity’, says Angela Chira, co-author of the study.
The reswarch found a modest positive relationship between fermented beverages and political complexity, after controlling for confounders like agriculture. While specific mechanisms weren’t examined, cross-cultural data suggest alcohol might interact with political complexity as described in the co-called “drunk hypothesis.”
For instance, political elites might employ alcohol as a mechanism to mobilize labor, forge alliances, and consolidate power and authority. At the same time, Hrncír notes that a relatively weak signal indicates that intoxication was likely not the primary catalyst for the emergence of complex societies.
In conclusion, the authors observe that the study concentrated on the role of low-alcoholic beverages within non-industrial environments.
In today’s society, where alcohol is abundantly accessible, including high-alcohol distilled spirits, and where drinking has increasingly become a solitary activity, the potential hazards associated with alcohol consumption may sometimes surpass its possible social advantages.
Written by Conny Waters – AncientPages.com Staff Writer