Researchers: Bread and wine were the key to human development

The Epi of Gilgamesh is one of the earliest known texts in the world.

It is the story of a god-king, Gilgamesh, who ruled the city of Ulu in Mesopotamia in the third millennium B.C. Within its lines, the epicam suggests how the first viewed the origin of their civilization.

Gilgamesh Antagonist Enkidu is described as a wild man, living with animals and eating the grass with the roe.

But he was seduced by a beautiful priestess of the temple, who then offered him clothing and food, saying, "Enkidu, eat bread, is a pillar of life; drink wine, it's the custom of the country”.

Thus, Enkidu has been transformed from a naked wild animal into a civilized living with other people.

Bread and wine are products of established society. They represent the power to control nature and create civilisation, converting the wild into domesticated, raw to cooking, and transformation cannot be easily made alone.

The act of transforming cruelty into civilization is a society that requires many people to work together.

Over the past few decades, the archaeological theory has shifted towards the idea that civilization rose to various regions around the world thanks to evolution of cooperation.

Archaeologists have found that consumption of food and drink in time and places known for rituals is one of the fundamental stones of social growth and cooperation throughout human history.

It is believed that Mesopotamian primitive cultures could have extracted beer from barley to 10,000 BC, but there is no record. The earliest evidence of beer drinking dates back to northern China 9,000 years ago.

This ancient beer was made using the fruit of the mares, wild Chinese grapes, rice and honey, and is the oldest known fermented drink in history even older than wine.

About 3150 BC, Egyptians used industrial brewery to supply workers who built Giza's pyramids.

Eventually, beer came from the Middle East to Europe, where an abundance of barley cultures offered many raw ingredients for bread.

Experts have now found evidence of beer in Greece during the Bronx Age.

Scholars believe that these prehistoric people enjoyed alcoholic beverages throughout the year, not only when the grapes were ripe. Not only was it considered nutritious it was also a safe alternative to drinking water.

It was in the Middle Ages that barley became the main source of fermented sugar, and beer became the drink we know today.

People build standards, rituals and taboos to organise their economic and political lives. Far from being the exotic and exotic customs of primitive people, the elaborate rules of behavior coded in the practices of the rich ritual are clever tools to organize a society that lacks force.

Ritual practices reward collaborators and punish frauds, so they promote a stable behavior of the group towards common goals and solve what is known as “collective action problem” in human social life. How do you get everybody to work together towards something that is in each of the long-term interest?

Gostivar is a key component of this kind of society and co-operation. The bread and wine of Enkidus are still important 5,000 years later.