A Potential Oxygen Isotope Signature of Maize Beer Consumption: An Experimental Pilot Study

The consumption of alcohol in the past is a much-studied subject, largely because alcoholic beverages play an important role in numerous sociopolitical institutions. While alcoholic beverages have been widely acknowledged to be an important component of society, the ability to recognize alcohol intake in ancient contexts has proven difficult. As a result, many authors investigating ancient alcohol have used indirect indicators to reconstruct consumption patterns. In an attempt to produce a direct method, the authors conducted a series of stable isotope analyses in order to establish whether this approach can be used to indicate the existence of maize based alcohol. This paper describes the results of this pilot study, and reveals a potential oxygen isotope signature for maize beer. Our data indicate that the light oxygen isotope is preferentially represented in the CO2 formed during fermentation. Thus, the resulting beverage is more δ18O enriched than the local water source. These results replicate and support similar findings from other maize beer researchers.