Hum Ecol (2011) 39:351–360
DOI 10.1007/s10745-011-9395-x
Never Mind the Bottle. Archaeobotanical Evidence
of Beer-brewing in Mediterranean France
and the Consumption of Alcoholic Beverages
During the 5th Century BC
Laurent Bouby & Philippe Boissinot & Philippe Marinval
Published online: 25 May 2011
# Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2011
Abstract This article reports on an example of early
archaeobotanical evidence for beer-making in Iron Age
South-Eastern France. An archaeological sample from a
fifth century BC house at the site of Roquepertuse produced
a concentration of carbonized barley (Hordeum vulgare)
grains. The sample was taken from the floor of the
dwelling, close to a hearth and an oven. The barley grains
are predominantly sprouted and we argue that the assem-
blage represents the remains of deliberate malting. Malt
was most likely related to beer-brewing. The neighboring
oven could have been used to stop the germination process
at the desired level by drying or roasting the grain. Beer-
making evidence in Roquepertuse is discussed in the
context of the consumption of alcoholic beverages in the
Iron Age Western Mediterranean using archaeological and
historical data.
L. Bouby (*)
CNRS-Centre de Bio-Archéologie et d’Ecologie
(CBAE)-UMR 5059-Institut de Botanique,
163 Rue Auguste Broussonet,
Montpellier 34090, France
e-mail: laurent.bouby@univ-montp2.fr
P. Boissinot
EHESS-Travaux et Recherches Archéologiques sur les Cultures,
les Espaces et les Sociétés
(TRACES)-UMR 5608,
39 allées Jules Guesde,
Toulouse 31000, France
e-mail: philippe.boissinot@free.fr
P. Marinval
CNRS-Archéologie des Sociétés Méditerranéennes
(ASM)-UMR 5140,
390 avenue de Pérols,
Lattes 34970, France
e-mail: marinval@cict.fr
Keywords Beer . Archaeobotany . Iron Age .
Mediterranean . Social consumption of
alcoholic beverages
Introduction
The last millennium BC was a very dynamic period
in the Mediterranean. Eastern civilizations, especially
Greeks and Phoenicians, founded many coastal colonies
across the western Mediterranean, maintaining strong
cultural and economic relations with indigenous societies
(see Dietler 1997, 2007; Hodos 2006). In the French
Mediterranean area of the Etang de Berre, Iron Age
communities had intense economic relations with the
neighboring Phocean Greek colony of Massalia (modern
Marseille), a city founded around 600 BC. Numerous wine
amphorae and Greek ceramics retrieved from indigenous
settlements provided strong evidence of imports from
Massalia. The indigenous counterparts to this exchange
are poorly known, but it is often hypothesized that
agricultural resources, and above all cereals, could have
played a large part in this trade (Garcia 1987, 1999; Py
1993; Dietler 1997). New Mediterranean products, espe-
cially wine, could have had a significant cultural and
economic influence on indigenous societies (Dietler 1990,
2007), but it is actually very difficult to assess exactly
what this might have meant for local agriculture and
alimentation.
Carbonized fruits and seeds preserved in archaeolog-
ical sediments are essential sources of information
concerning economic plants, diet and agriculture of past
human populations (see Renfrew 1973; Zohary and Hopf
2000). A major difficulty lies in the identification of the
352
ways in which specific plants were used. We know, for
example, that six-row barley was the main cultivated plant of
the Iron Age. The reasons for this have been the subject of a
number of hypotheses (e.g., Jones 1981; Marinval 1988), but
we lack direct evidence about its uses. In this article, we
discuss the first archaeobotanical results obtained from the
well-known site of Roquepertuse, which suggest that six-
row hulled barley was employed to make beer.
Iron Age Economic Plants
In the Provence region of southeastern France archaeobotan-
ical studies have been carried out, especially on hillfort
settlements excavated during the 1970s and 1980s located in
the vicinity of the Etang de Berre (Marinval 1988; Bouby
and Marinval 2000). These results indicate that local
agriculture in the Late Iron Age (ca. 450–25 BC) was based
on hulled six-row barley (Hordeum vulgare) and naked
wheat (Triticum aestivum/turgidum). Cereals also included
broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum), Italian millet (Setaria
italica) and emmer (Triticum dicoccum). Pulses seem to have
played an important role along with cereals (Marinval 1988).
Bitter vetch (Vicia ervilia), lentil (Lens culinaris) and grass
pea (Lathyrus cicera/sativus) are predominant in storage
places. Two oil plants, gold-of-pleasure (Camelina sativa)
and flax (Linum usitatissimum), were probably also cultivated.
This range of cultivated plants is largely similar to
those identified at the same time throughout the French
Mediterranean area, especially in the Languedoc region,
on the opposite shore of the Rhône River (Marinval
1988; Buxo I Capdevila 1996; Bouby and Marinval 2000;
Py and Buxo I Capdevila 2001; Alonso et al. 2007). This
agricultural pattern largely developed from a more ancient
Early Iron Age (ca. 750–450 BC) and Late Bronze Age
(ca. 1,400–750 BC) tradition that focused on hulled six-
row barley. The most striking innovation concerns the
diffusion of viticulture, at least from the beginning of the
fifth century BC onwards. This can be inferred from the
increasing frequency of grape pips and from the presence
of the domesticated morphotype at most sites, particularly
in the Etang de Berre area (Marinval 1988; Bouby and
Marinval 2001; Bouby et al. 2006). Relations with
Phoceans from Massalia and with other Mediterranean
agents probably had an influence on the rapidity of the
spread of cultivated grapes, but little is known concerning
the other species and how they were culturally employed.
Site and Sampling
Roquepertuse (Velaux) has been a well-known archaeo-
logical site since the nineteenth century and the discov-
Hum Ecol (2011) 39:351–360
ery of stone statues of two cross-legged warriors. It is
located on the southwestern slope of a rocky hill
dominating the valley of the Arc River, some 15 km
west of the modern city of Aix-en-Provence (Fig. 1), and
7 km east of the Etang de Berre. New excavations carried
out during the 1990s (Boissinot et al. 2000) largely
rejected the earlier “sanctuary hypothesis” and interpreted
the prestigious art and symbolic elements within the
context of the dynamics of a small hill-fort village over
a period lasting from the fifth to the early second century
BC (Fig. 2).
The Iron Age occupation began during the second half of
the fifth century BC with the erection of two partially rounded
structures made of wood and clay. The presence of hearths, of
an oven and of various large and small storage vessels show
that both buildings were used as human habitations. They
were destroyed by fire before the end of the fifth century.
The site underwent major changes around 300 BC, the
most obvious being the construction of a fortification wall
made of stone, encircling a 1,300 m² surface around the
plateau. During the third century BC, the fortification wall
was made thicker and more monumental. Human habita-
tions spread outside the wall along the access path in the
small valley. It is probably at this time that the carved
cross-legged warriors and the stone portico retrieved from
ancient excavations were erected in the village (Boissinot
Luberon
Alpille Dur
s ance
Rh
Coudouneu Roquepertuse
ôn
e
Castellan
Berre
pond Sainte Baume
Martigues mountains
Massalia
Mediterranean Sea
0 50 km
N 500 to 1000 m asl
FRANCE 200 to 500 m asl
100 to 200 m asl
0 to 100 m asl
Fig. 1 Location map of Roquepertuse (Velaux, Bouches-du-Rhône,
France) and of the main sites mentioned in the text
Hum Ecol (2011) 39:351–360
A
450-400 BC 300-200 BC
? ?
plateau plateau
habitation A
habitation B terrace 1
B fortification wall
Storage area
slope
Concentration of
germinated barley
grains
Hearth
1m Oven
Posthole
Fig. 2 Chronological stages of the small agglomeration of Roquepertuse (after Boissinot et al. 2000, simplified)
2004). Real or sculpted human heads were exhibited in
niches carved in the pillars of the portico, in the Celtic
tradition. Portico and sculpted warriors could have consti-
tuted a kind of gallery of heroes. This village was the object
of a military assault during the second half of the third
century BC, when it was destroyed by fire.
By the end of that century, occupation was much more
limited and the fortification would have lost most of its
prestige and defensive value, becoming an isolated rural
dwelling-place with substantial storage activities and proba-
bly wine production. Beyond the presence of grape pips,
various archaeological features point to local wine produc-
tion: a plantation pit was found close to the entry of the site,
along with a cellar with various storage jars (dolia), clay vats
that could have been used to tread grapes, and a pruning knife
(Boissinot et al. in prep). This settlement was in turn
violently destroyed about the end of the third or the early
second century BC, as were other settlements in the area.
Excavations during the 1990s sampled sediment from
three archaeological contexts where macrobotanical remains
were visible to the naked eye. These were water-sieved
through 2 mm and 0.5 mm meshes. One sample comes from
the floor of one of the fifth century BC houses, close to a
hearth and an oven. The other two samples were taken from
the contents of a ceramic vessel and from a pit. Both were
located in the vicinity of two different storage areas.
Botanical Results
The density of carbonized plant remains is high in the three
samples (Table 1). A total of 7780 plant remains have been
353
225-175 BC
?
plateau
terrace 6 terrace 5 terrace 6 terrace 5
terrace 1
tower storage tower
area
cellar ?
door door
stairway fortification wall storage
area
terrace 2 oven
terrace wall
terrace 3
N
path terrace 4 10 m
valley
identified, providing evidence for 19 taxa. In general,
hulled six-row barley is the most common species and is
well represented in all samples. Both dense-eared and lax-
eared six-row barley are in evidence. Naked wheat and
millets—broomcorn and Italian millet—are well repre-
sented, the former in sample B and the latter in sample C,
with both samples dated to the last period of occupation of
the site. A few seeds of pulses (grass pea and bitter vetch)
and, probably, of flax, an oil and textile plant, were
recovered. Fruits are represented by hazelnut and grape
remains consisting of various pips and one single pedicel.
Grape is mentioned in all samples. Morphometric analysis
of the pips (see method in Bouby et al. 2006) allows
identification of at least seven specimens as cultivated
morphotype and three as wild morphotype. The cultivated
subspecies is already present during the fifth century BC
(sample A). Wild herbaceous plants are mostly segetal and
ruderal weeds and are only reported in samples B and C
(ca. 225–175 BC).
The fifth century BC sample is strongly dominated by
barley (Fig. 3). In spite of favorable conditions for the
preservation of seeds in the sediment, which was rich in
ash, charcoal and generally carbonized plant material, the
grains are corroded and highly fragmented. This fairly poor
preservation seems rather specific to the barley grains from
this sample. Conditions are therefore not suitable for a
satisfactory observation of all the morphological features of
most of the grains. However, the best-preserved specimens
allow the assessment that slightly more than 90% of the
grains were sprouted when carbonized (Table 1, Fig. 3) and
this is easily visible from the groove-like channel imprinted
on the dorsal side of the grains (Fig. 4). As far as we can
354 Hum Ecol (2011) 39:351–360

Table 1 Archaeobotanical results from Roquepertuse

Sample A B C Total

Origin House floor Vessel Pit

Age (years BC) 450–400 225–175 225–175

Volume of sediment (l.) ca. 5 3 10 ca. 18

Cereals - grain
Cerealia fg. 570 600 111 1281
Hordeum vulgare (hulled) ungerminated caryopsis 10 319 199 528
germinated caryopsis 93 - - 93
caryopsis (germination undetermined) 134 - - 134
fg. 2140 838 620 3598
Panicum miliaceum caryopsis - - 464 464
fg. - - 40 40
Setaria italica caryopsis - - 802 802
fg. - - 62 62
Triticum estivum/turgidum caryopsis 3 238 5 246
underdeveloped caryopsis - 3 - 3
fg. 4 216 1 221
Triticum sp. caryopsis 2 - 1 3
fg. 16 - - 16
Cereals - chaff
Cerealia fg. glume 9 - - 9
Hordeum vulgare (hulled) lemma dense-eared 11 - - 11
lemma lax-eared - 15 2 17
Oil plants, pulses
Linum cf. usitatissimum seed - - 1 1
Lathyrus cicera/sativus seed - - 3 3
fg. - - 4 4
Vicia ervilia seed 3 4 7 14
cotyl. - - 3 3
fg. - 2 1 3
Fruits trees/Hedges, woodland margins
Corylus avellana fg. 1 - - 1
Vitis vinifera seed 12 3 - 15
fg. 5 10 8 23
pedicel - - 1 1
Segetal weeds
Asperula arvensis seed - - 1 1
Bupleurum lancifolium/rotundifolium seed - - 3 3
fg. - - 1 1
Lolium temulentum caryopsis - 7 5 12
fg. - 1 1 2
Vaccaria hispanica seed - - 9 9
fg. - - 1 1
Ruderal weeds
Anagallis arvensis seed - 1 - 1
Echinochloa crus-galli seed - - 32 32
Wet places
Scirpus lacustris seed - 1 - 1
Hum Ecol (2011) 39:351–360 355

Table 1 (continued)

Sample A B C Total

Origin House floor Vessel Pit

Age (years BC) 450–400 225–175 225–175

Other
Avena sp. fg. - 4 - 4
fg. awn - 1 2 3
Fabaceae fg. 2 1 2 5
Malva sp. seed - - 1 1
Panicum/Setaria caryopsis - - 18 18
fg. - - 87 87
Poaceae fg. - 1 - 1
Silene sp. seed - 1 - 1
Undetermined seed - 1 - 1
Total (number of remains) 3015 2267 2498 7780
Nb of remains/litre ca. 600 755.67 249.80 -
Fragmentation rate (%) 91.48 74.50 37.87 69.32

see, sprout length is not perfectly uniform, but it seems
generally to reach half or two thirds of grain length.
The poor preservation of barley grains is probably
largely caused by germination, which tended to render
them brittle. Fragmentation occurred mostly after carbon-
ization and is therefore not due to Iron Age human
practices. The bad preservation of germinated carbonized
grains has been confirmed experimentally (Stika 1996).
Even if they are weakly represented, the presence of hulled
caryopses and glume fragments must be regarded as
evidence that grains were not dehusked before carboniza-
tion. We might note that chaff is actually destroyed faster
than grains during carbonization (Boardman and Jones
1990). Charring is certainly also responsible for the
disappearance of coleoptiles, coleorhizae and roots from
our sample.
Discussion
The Remains of Deliberate Malting
Germination of cereal grains can potentially be either
accidental or deliberate in origin (van Zeist 1991; Stika
1996). Accidental germination can happen in the field or
during storage, in both cases because of overly damp
conditions. On the other hand, germination can be actively
induced by steeping grains in water in order to promote the

Fig. 3 Composition of sample

A from the floor of a 5th c. BC
A Triticum sp. - 1.1% B
Vitis vinifera - 1.1%
house. a, Overall relative abun- Various - 0.4%
dance of taxa represented by - Number of grains (237)
seeds and expressed as Minimal
Number of Individuals (MNI=
Nb of seeds+1/2 Nb of fg.). b,
50 100 150 200 250
Proportion of sprouted six-row 0
barley grains
- Relative proportion sprouted vs. unsprouted

Hordeum vulgare
- 97.4% 90.3% 9.7%
Germinated
Ungerminated
Not to estimate

NR = 3015
356
Fig. 4 Germinated carbonized
six-row barley grains (Hordeum
vulgare) from sample A
2 mm
development and activity of an enzyme that transforms the
starch of the grain into fermentable and more easily
digestible sugars. Malt (the sprouted grain) has various
alimentary uses (Maurizio 1927): it can be eaten as is or
used to make bread, but its most common use is certainly
related to the production of fermented beverages. Beer
results from alcoholic fermentation. Other kinds of fermen-
tations can also occur, especially lactic fermentation, which
is generally regarded as responsible for the spoilage of the
initial product but can sometimes be promoted to produce
acidic beverages or soups like the Russian kvas (Sigaut
1997) or the African kaffir beer made of malted millet or
sorghum (Hornsey 2003). These acidic beverages generally
also contain at least a small amount of alcohol (Maurizio
1927). Evidence from the site at Hochdorf suggests that,
due to the slowness of the drying process, the activity of
lactic acid bacteria would be high, both helping preserva-
tion due to acidity but also giving a sour taste to the beer
(Stika 2011).
Various reasons lead us to argue that sample A from
Roquepertuse represents the remains of malt and therefore a
probable evidence of beer-brewing. Due to its high density
(more than 500 plant remains/l.) and to its purity (barley
grains make up more than 97% of the sample), it can be
characterized as a close find assemblage or concentration
(see Rösch et al. 1992), which implies a single product,
carbonized during storage or during its transformation
process. Caryopses were still hulled but totally free of
weed seeds which points to a careful processing of the
grain. This does not fit with the hypothesis of a spoiled
crop. Even more conclusive is the very high proportion of
germinated grains. It cannot reasonably be argued that a
germination rate above 90% could be achieved accidentally.
Van der Veen (1989) assumes that above 15% of germinat-
ed grains, one can probably rule out accidental sprouting. In
fact, mature and well-developed caryopses germinated at a
rate above 75% are regarded as a reliable evidence of malt.
According to the traditional literature dedicated to beer-
brewing (Laubenheimer et al. 2003), as a prerequisite to
this, barley grains are carefully cleaned of every sort of
Hum Ecol (2011) 39:351–360
contaminant. Then, ideally, 95% of the grains should
germinate to provide good starch degradation. This de-
scription closely fits the situation displayed by the
Roquepertuse sample. In the classical process, however,
germination should be uniform and stopped when the
sprout reaches two thirds of caryopsis length. However, it
seems likely that it would have been difficult to obtain such
an even germination before the establishment of rigorous
methods and processes of industrial brewing (van der Veen
1989). Moreover, it has been demonstrated experimentally
that when hulled barley is malted, the length of the dorsal
groove is constrained for a large part by the tightening
glumes. The malting level of the grains is reflected only to
a minor extent in their morphology (Stika 1996). We can
therefore estimate that barley grains were carbonized at the
end of the malting process and before grinding of the dried
malt.
Beer Brewing: A Domestic Activity?
There may thus be sound evidence that the barley deposit
from sample A represents remains of malt and therefore
probably of beer brewing. The building where this evidence
was found displays all the features of regional Iron Age
human habitations. We consequently consider that, in this
case, beer brewing could have occurred as an ordinary
domestic activity. Beer-making does not require specialized
structures or implements (Arthur 2003; Laubenheimer et al.
2003). All that is needed is an amount of grain, some water,
containers (commonly pottery vessels) in which to soak the
grain, a flat paved area—possibly the floor—to spread out
and turn the grain during germination, an oven to dry it in
order to stop germination, domestic grindstones to grind the
malted grain, hearths and again containers for fermentation
and storage. Evidence for all of these sorts equipment is
reported from the Roquepertuse dwelling.
Of special interest is the oven discovered less than 2 m
from the barley concentration. In brewing activity, an oven
is often employed to stop germination at the desired level
by drying or roasting malted grain (van der Veen 1989;
Hum Ecol (2011) 39:351–360
Laubenheimer et al. 2003). The Roquepertuse oven (Fig. 5)
would have been especially suitable for this operation. It is
of a quite elaborate kind, typical of the French Mediterra-
nean area during the Iron Age and particularly well-known
in settlements from the Etang de Berre area (Py 1993;
Chausserie-Laprée 2005). Such ovens are composed of
three parts (Fig. 6): embers are contained in the lowest part
while food can be cooked in the upper part by hot air
circulating through the middle chamber. This would allow
gentle air-drying which is perfectly suited to stop the
germination process, as malt should not be overheated to
avoid damaging the chemical properties of enzymes
(Laubenheimer et al. 2003). Archaeologists still regard the
specific functions of these typical ovens as unknown and
they could have been multi-functional. A particular func-
tion of the drying or roasting of cereals has often been
assumed (Py 1993; Chausserie-Laprée 2005). According to
the Roquepertuse evidence, the drying of malt may well
have been one of their specific functions.
In the case of Roquepertuse, it is not possible to state
whether carbonization results from the house being
destroyed by fire or whether carbonization was accidentally
caused during beer production, which involves heating at
various steps of the sequence, especially to stop germina-
tion, as we have seen.
Beer and Wine in Provençal Celtic Society
The consumption of beer among Celtic communities of
Western Europe is well known from classical Greco-
Roman written sources (André 1981; Garnsey 1999;
Laubenheimer et al. 2003). For example, according to
Pliny (N.H., XIV, 29) in the first century AD, a wide
variety of beers was brewed in Gaul and Spain, and some
of the Spanish ones could be kept for several years.
However, most of these texts are quite late. We do not
know of any mention earlier than the first century BC.
Archaeobotanical evidence is therefore of great interest.
Nevertheless, convincing evidence from germinated grain
Fig. 5 Fragments of the oven retrieved in Roquepertuse, close to the
concentration of carbonized barley grains
357
Fig. 6 Schematic representation of the type of elaborated oven
identified in Roquepertuse (approximate height 1 m) (after Domallain/
Chausserie-Laprée 2005)
assemblages is not common and most dates to Roman or later
times (van der Veen 1989; van Zeist 1991; Stika 1996).
Except for Roquepertuse, the most ancient evidence seems to
come from the early Celtic site of Hochdorf in modern-day
Germany (ca. 600–400 BC; Stika 1996, 2011). In France,
assemblages of barley and millet grains contained in pots
retrieved from the Late Bronze Age cave (ca. 1,200–900
BC) of Planches-Près-Arbois (Jura; Pétrequin et al. 1985)
and from the Early Iron Age (ca. 750–700 BC) tumulus of
Saint-Romain-de-Jalionas (Isère; Verger and Guillaumet
1988) have been regarded as possible evidence of beer-
brewing. But in those cases, since the grain is not sprouted,
various other equally plausible explanations could be put
forward. Brewing of beer has been suggested from earlier
Spanish sites relying on other kinds of evidence: chemical
analyses of Bell Beaker ceramics from various funeral
settlements (Fabregas Valcarce 2001; Bueno Ramírez et al.
2005; Rojo Guerra 2006) and starch grains analysis in the
Late Bronze Age site of Genó (ca. 1,000–800 BC; Juan
Tresseras 1998). Archaeobotanical records of plants tradi-
tionally used to flavor beer, especially sweet gale (Myrica
gale) and hop (Humulus lupulus), strongly increase during
medieval times (ca. 500–1,500 AD) in northwestern Europe,
but some evidence of sweet gale in Iron Age settlements
from the Rhine estuary area could point to early use of this
additive and indirectly to beer-brewing (Behre 1992).
Diodorus of Sicily (Book V, 26) clearly mentions the
making of a barley beer in Gaul, which he calls zythos.
However, beer would not have been made solely from
barley but also from at least wheat (e.g., André 1981). Each
kind of beer would have had its own use and value, in
addition to the consumption of wine. This is reflected in
the writings of Posidonius of Apameia (135–51 BC)
358
(Athenaeus, Deipnosophists, 4, 152 d in Laubenheimer et
al. 2003). Rich people would have drunk wine from Italy
and from Massalia. Moreover, they would have drunk it
pure (which, in the eyes of the Greeks, was the sign of
absolute barbarism) or lightly mixed with water. Less
wealthy people would have drunk beer made from wheat
and prepared with honey. The lower classes would have
had to content themselves with a simple beer, without
honey, called corma, which other ancient authors, such as
Marcellus and Pedanius Dioscorides, describe as barley
beer. About the end of the first century BC, Strabo (IV, 6,
2) mentions barley beer as the drink of Liguria, a
Mediterranean region which included the hinterland of
Massalia at the time.
According to archaeobotanical data, there already seems to
have been much diversity and complexity in the consumption
of alcoholic beverages at Roquepertuse about three centuries
before the birth of Posidonius. Of course, even if naked wheat
and, later, millets are archaeobotanically identified in the site,
we still know nothing about their possible local use in
brewing. On the other hand, wine would have been quite
commonly consumed. Local people from fifth century BC
sites in the vicinity of Etang de Berre were accustomed to
buying considerable amounts of wine from Mediterranean
merchants and above all from the Massaliots (e.g., Dietler
1990, 1997; Py 1993; Sourisseau 2000). Although only
small amounts of Massaliote amphorae shards have been
recovered from the fifth century BC habitations of
Roquepertuse (Boissinot et al. 2000). Moreover, we have
to take into account the consumption of an indigenous,
locally produced wine. At Roquepertuse, domesticated pips
are evidenced. Of course we do not know whether grapes
were used to make wine on the site or eaten fresh, dried
or used in some kind of preparation. Nevertheless,
neighboring Late Iron Age sites provided unusual
archaeobotanical evidence of winemaking. In Coudouneu
(5th c. BC), Île de Martigues (4th c. BC) and le
Castellan (2nd c BC) (Fig. 1), assemblages of pips,
pedicels, and pressed grape skins have been recovered
from storage and domestic contexts (Marinval 1997;
Bouby and Marinval 2001; Marty and Del Corso 2002).
Such assemblages are clearly residues of wine-pressing
activities (Margaritis and Jones 2006). They consistently
demonstrate the existence of local wine-making.
Beer drinking seems to have had a strong cultural
connotation. Beer is regarded as a long-standing tradi-
tional beverage of Western Europe (Dietler 1990), even
if, as we have seen, the evidence remains scarce. On the
contrary, Greco-Latin authors considered beer with a fair
amount of disdain (André 1981). Mediterranean people
are regarded as wine-drinkers and in Southern France,
wine would have been an alien alcoholic beverage
borrowed from Mediterranean colonial agents and rapidly
Hum Ecol (2011) 39:351–360
indigenized (e.g., Dietler 1990; 1997). It is true that no
firm evidence of wine production or of grape cultivation
is available in Southern France and Eastern Spain before
the establishment of colonial trade and interactions
(Bouby and Marinval 2001; Brun 2004; Buxo 2008).
However, considering how fast grape cultivation and
wine production had spread in Mediterranean Southern
France, we should not totally rule out the possibility that
wine may have been known and used on a small scale by
local societies before the emergence of the Mediterranean
wine trade.
What could have been the respective status and
functions of these various alcoholic beverages? A kind
of social classification similar to the one portrayed later
by Posidonius of Apameia could be assumed: Massaliot
wine for rich people, local wine for common people and
barley beer for the poor. The social, cultural and
economical factors at work may however have been
more intricate, subtle and interdependent. In non-
industrial societies, alcohol is not only a foodstuff but
commonly has many sociocultural, political and sym-
bolic values (e.g., Dietler 1990, 2006; Jennings and
Bowser 2008; McGovern 2009). The fact that beer was
probably produced in a domestic context in Roquepertuse
does not necessarily mean that it was just an everyday
food. For example, in today’s Gamo society in Ethiopia,
beer is at the same time a common subsistence item, a
high status food and an important feasting and ritual
drink. It is a household product, even if more especially
made in the wealthiest households (Arthur 2003). In
Zimbabwe, we also encounter home-brewed beer which
is importantly utilized during ceremonies, but is also
drunk in everyday life, even if less commonly (Vermeu-
len et al. 1996). We should not regard beer as only or
primarily a poor man’s drink. Processing grain into beer
instead of bread requires investing a significantly amount
of labor and time, which adds to its value. Beer could
even have represented a commercial good in Celtic
societies. We mentioned above the passage in Pliny
(N.H., XIV, 29) referring to some Spanish beers that
could be kept for several years. Hence, if people were
able to preserve it effectively, beer could have been
exchanged. It has been argued that wooden barrels may
have been invented and produced by Celtic people to
store and transport beer before being used for wine
(Tchernia 1997).
Conclusion
In non-industrial societies, brewing beer does not necessi-
tate any special implement or structure. It can easily be
carried out in a household context. The production and use
Hum Ecol (2011) 39:351–360
of beer therefore leave hardly any discernable trace in
classical archaeological records. In this instance, archae-
obotany can be of great use to us, provided that favorable
preservation conditions are present.
This is what indeed seems to have been the case in the
fifth century BC human habitation at Roquepertuse. An
assemblage distinctly dominated by germinated barley
grains could be interpreted as accidentally carbonized malt.
A parallel can be drawn with much more recent Greco-
Roman texts which cite the use of barley beer among Celtic
populations in Gaul and Spain. The Roquepertuse example
suggests that beer was already produced within the context
of domestic activities. Compared to other archaeobotanical
and archaeological evidence, findings from Roquepertuse
contribute to portraying a society that combined an intricate
use of various alcoholic beverages including beer, which
was probably of long-standing local tradition, and wine,
which was, at least in part, promoted by colonial contacts
with Mediterranean agents.
Acknowledgements We would like to thank Cozette Griffin-Kremer
for her help in improving the English text. Many thanks are also due
to Michael Dietler and Hans Peter Stika, for their useful comments
and help in improving the manuscript.
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