CAIRO — Nearly a century since the world first learned about beer production in the days of the Egyptian pharaohs, a joint Egyptian-American archeological mission found what may be the oldest brewery in the world in the ancient city of Abydos. The mission, led by American researcher Mathew Adams from New York University and Deborah Fishak from Princeton University, made the discovery in south Egypt's Sohag governorate.

Ashraf Okasha, the head of antiquities for the Abydos archaeological site, told Al-Monitor that the discovery marked a breakthrough in understanding beer production in Pharaonic Egypt. The discovery follows over 100 years of excavations in the area — a British archeologist found evidence of beer production in the area in 1912 but did not locate the site.

The brewery most likely dates back to the days of King Narmer, 5,000 years ago. Head of the Supreme Council of Antiquities Mostafa Waziri was quoted as saying in a Feb. 13 Facebook post by the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities that each of eight large sections had contained rows of earthenware pots supported by clay rings.

​The news also included comment from Adams, the American researcher, who said the brewery could have produced 22,400 liters of beer at a time, and its location suggests that the facility supplied funerary rituals for the first kings of Egypt. Evidence was found for the use of beer in sacrificial rituals in engravings found at the site.