- Archaeologists from the United States have uncovered
an ancient brewery in the mountains of southern Peru.
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- The huge brewery was discovered by researchers at Cerro
Baul, a religious centre for the pre-Inca Wari empire.
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- It is believed to have been used to brew vast quantities
of a spicy, beer-like alcoholic drink called "chicha" and served
to hundreds at one sitting.
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- It is thought that the fermented drink, made today with
corn, was used for ritual intoxication by the Wari people.
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- The University of Florida says its archaeologists from
the Field Museum in Chicago have found at least 20 ceramic 38- to 57-litre
vats at the site of the brewery.
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- "You get the idea that this is massive production,
not just your basic household making beer to consume by itself," Susan
deFrance of the University of Florida says.
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- Ritual drinking
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- The brewery, some 2,440m up in the Peruvian Andes, could
produce as much as 1,000 litres of the drink a day.
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- Such quantities were needed to fuel alcohol-based gatherings
organised by the elite of the Wari empire which took place in purpose-built
drinking halls.
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- Each Wari noble would have consumed up to 10 litres of
"chicha" per ceremony.
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- The researchers also found fire pits fuelled with animal
dung apparently used to boil water and other ingredients including fruits,
grains and seeds used to make the drink.
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- The Wari civilization thrived from about AD700 to AD1000,
conquering all of what is now Peru before a mysterious and dramatic decline.
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- The Wari empire went out with a bang, researchers say.
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- "They knew they were pulling out and they had a
big bonfire," Field Museum spokesperson Greg Borzo says.
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- They destroyed the site in an elaborate closing rite,
setting fire to the entire brewery and throwing their ceramic drinking
vessels onto its burning embers.
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- © BBC MMIV http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3942507.stm
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