is often called the “cradle of civilization” because it was said to be the birthplace of writing, the wheel, agriculture, the arch, the plow, irrigation, and possibly beer. Sumer occupied the southern section of the rich plain between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers and the areas west of the Shatt al-Arab Waterway in what today is known as Iraq. This was the region where hunter-gatherers first decided to settle down and cultivate crops. Dr Solomon Katz of the University of Pennsylvania has theorized that the primary motivation for settlement was a need to grow grain to make beer. “My argument is that the initial discovery of a stable way to produce alcohol provided enormous motivation for continuing to go out and collect these seeds and try to get them to do better, “ Katz has said. By about 5000 bc, the Sumerians were practicing year-round agriculture with irrigation and a specialized labor force. The Sumerians produced far more food than they needed, allowing them to reap profit from agriculture and eventually to develop writing to keep track of their production. Some of the earliest evidence of beer brewing was uncovered in Sumer. Archaeologists discovered a cuneiform text in the ancient Sumerian city of Ur that included a recipe for beer. It was contained in the “Hymn to Ninkasi,” the goddess of brewing. The recipe employed a twice-baked bread called bappir that was fermented and flavored with honey and dates. The beer was served in a large urn. Sumerian beer lovers sat around the urn in communal fashion and drew the beguiling liquid through straws. Ur is believed to be the birthplace of the Hebrew prophet Abraham, although the palace at Ur was at one time adjudged to be an unfit place to live—because of the absence of both beer and bread.

See also history of beer, ninkasi, and porridge beers.