The Club PUBlication 03/06/2023

IRAQ SITE HOLDS 5,000-YEAR-OLD TAVERN
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By DAVE KINDY Washington Post

Archaeologists excavated what may be the world's oldest bar in the ancient Sumerian city of Lagash.

​You walk into your local bar and order a beer. Your server brings your order, along with a few snacks to nibble on while sipping your brew: dates and some dried fish.

This was likely the experience for patrons at what might be the world's oldest-known bar.

​Archaeologists recently excavated a site in Iraq dating to around 2700 B.C. in the ancient Sumerian city-state of Lagash that they think could contain the oldest tavern ever discovered.

"We found the remains of a public eatery, the earliest that we are aware of in one of the first cities of southern Mesopotamia," said Holly Pittman, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania and project director of the excavation.

A team of researchers from Penn and the University of Pisa announced the discovery in February . The site was uncovered in the fall at Tell al Hiba, located in southeastern Iraq, about 150 miles from the modern port city of Basra.

Archaeologists found a seven-room structure featuring an open courtyard with benches and a large open cooking area with a 10-footwide mud-brick oven. They also discovered a primitive refrigerator, known as a zeer in Arabic. The device consisted of two bottomless clay jars that used evaporation to help cool perishable items.

In another room, the team discovered many c onical bowls that held food and jars that the archaeologists think contained beer.

"We're trying to find out now through lipid analysis what was in the bowls or the jars," said Pittman . "But it looks like this was kind of a McDonald's with prepared food for fast service."

Lagash was once a bustling community with a thriving commercial district in southern Mesopotamia, known today as the "cradle of civilization." Located near the confluence of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, Lagash was one of the oldest cities of the early dynastic period, about 2900- 2350 B.C.

Some 5,000 years ago, the ancient city was situated on the Persian Gulf, which is about 150 miles away today.

Before digging at Tell al Hiba, the Penn and Pisa archaeologists used drone photography, thermal imaging, magnetometry and microstratigraphic sampling to see what was under the surface. Using these tools, the team detected evidence of manmade objects .

" Our field director, Sara Pizzimenti, was really excited when she told me, 'We have a tavern!' " Pittman recalled. "She trained on Roman tavernas, so she recognized immediately what we had."

Archaeologists don't know for certain what was in the numerous jars at the tavern. However, the vast number of clay stoppers with seals featuring government markings — the ancient Sumerians kept track of goods for tax and quality purposes — indicates that at least some of them contained alcoholic beverages.

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