The discovery of a 5,000-year-old brewery in China last month provided evidence for our long-held suspicion that beer, in addition to being delicious, is also one of the building blocks of society.
Now, thanks to an ancient tablet unearthed in present-day Iraq, we also know that beer has always been able to make man do pretty much anything — work included.
The cuneiform tablet — found near the ancient Mesopotamian city of Uruk — is believed to be the world’s oldest-known payslip, and it features characters representing beer and work.
According to New Scientist: “We can see a human head eating from a bowl, meaning ‘ration,’ and a conical vessel, meaning ‘beer.’ Scattered around are scratches recording the amount of beer for a particular worker.”
If you’re wondering why there weren’t say, oh, scratches for food rations, that’s because “in the ancient world, beer was a hearty, starchy brew that could double as a meal.”
Some things never change.
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