To understand how ancient beer was made, archaeologists recreated Wari drinking vessels from local Peruvian materials.
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'Beer diplomacy' practiced in ancient empire’s dying days, artifacts reveal
A study of drinking vessels smashed after a party almost 1,000 years ago show how Peru's Wari kingdom brought high-level festivities to the edges of their crumbling empire.
Around 1050 A.D., the elites living at Cerro Baúl held a party to end all parties in their brewery.
Cerro Baúl was a colonial outpost at the southernmost edge of the Wari empire, in what is now Peru. Its location—on top of a steep-sided plateau with no natural water source—was totally impractical, particularly as it was also a destination for lavish banquets and beer brewing.
For four centuries, the Wari leaders of Cerro Baúl would host gatherings with their rivals from the neighboring state of Tiwanaku, as well as the heads of local communities who lived in the shadow of these two major empires. They would feast on guinea pigs, llama, and fish while enjoying the view over the Moquegua
