ASSOCIATED PRESS - AP CLIENTS ONLY

Jerusalem - 22 May 2019

1. Various of jars from which the yeast was extracted

2. Screen from press conference reading (English) "A pint from the past"

3. Pan from cameramen to Aren Maeir from Bar-Ilan University's Department of Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology

4. SOUNDBITE (English) Aren Maeir, Department of Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology, Bar-Ilan University

"Well there are several things that are very important. One is the very fact that we can identify the specific microorganisms that were used in the production of a food - and in this case beer - and the very fact that these microorganisms survived so long, which nobody believed that possible. Second of all, it opens up a whole new field of the possibility that perhaps other microorganisms survived as well and then you can identify foods such as cheese, wine, pickles, you know all kinds of other things that are there and then we can understand more about the behaviour of past cultures and then also, this opens up another thing which is fantastic, of actually tasting, tasting the past which is something that we really don't have the ability."

5. Screen from press conference showing yeast as seen via microscope

6. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Michael Klutstein, Microbiologist, School of Dental Medicine, Hebrew University of Jerusalem:

"So what we discovered was that the yeast can actually survive for a very, very long time without food - a parallel phenomenon to what was discovered many years ago in bacteria."

7. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Michael Klutstein, Microbiologist, School of Dental Medicine, Hebrew University of Jerusalem: ++OVERLAID BY SCREEN++

"Today we are able to salvage all these living organisms that live inside these nanopores, and to revive them and study their properties and that's basically what we are seeing here. A new tool in archaeo-biology, being able to study the traits, the characteristics of something ancient because it is surviving."

8. Various of Shmuel Naky, craft brewer from the Jerusalem Beer Center, Biratenu, pouring beer made from ancient yeast

9. SOUNDBITE (English) Shmuel Naky, craft brewer, Jerusalem Beer Center, Biratenu

"It's the first time we take such an ancient strain of yeast and we try to recreate some of the old flavours that people in this area were consuming hundreds, thousands of years ago and it has a very crucial impact on flavour. So if you try this beer, it's delicious and it's very spicy and it's somewhat fruity and it's very complex in flavour and all of this complexity comes from this strain of yeast, which is a living organism and much like us, it eats and it interacts with its surroundings and in this case making our beer alcoholic, carbonated as we can see and flavourful."

10. Naky showing beer and mead made of ancient yeast

LEADIN

Ever wondered what beer tasted like 2000 years ago? Well now you can find out.

Researchers have extracted yeast from archaeological finds, and a craft brewer has made modern day beer from it.

These might look like typical pots from any archaeological dig. But in fact they carry clues to the taste of ancient beverages.

Israeli researchers raised a glass in Jerusalem to celebrate a long-brewing project of making beer and mead using yeasts extracted from ancient clay vessels - some over 5,000 years old.

Archaeologists and microbiologists from the Israel Antiquities Authority and four Israeli universities teamed up to study yeast colonies found in microscopic pores in pottery fragments found at archaeological sites spanning from 3000 BC to the 4th century BC.

The scientists say the brews made from "resurrected" yeasts are an important step in "experimental archaeology, a field that seeks to reconstruct the past" and better understand the flavour of the ancient world.

"Well there are several things that are very important," explains Aren Maeir from the Department of Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology, at Bar-Ilan University.

"One is the very fact that we can identify the specific microorganisms that were used in the production of a food - and in this case beer - and the very fact that these microorganisms survived so long, which nobody believed that possible," he says.

"Second of all, it opens up a whole new field of the possibility that perhaps other microorganisms survived as well and you can identify foods such as cheese, wine, pickles, you know all kinds of other things that are there and then we can understand more about the behaviour of past cultures and then also, this opens up another thing which is fantastic, I'm actually tasting, tasting the past which is something that we really don't have the ability."

Hebrew University microbiologist Michael Klutstein explains:

"What we discovered was that the yeast can actually survive for a very, very long time without food - a parallel phenomenon to what was discovered many years ago in bacteria... Today we are able to salvage all these living organisms that live inside these nanopores, and to revive them and study their properties."

The yeast samples came from nearly two dozen ceramic vessels gleaned in excavations around the country.

While other researchers of ancient beers have concocted drinks based on ancient recipes and residue analysis of ceramics, the Israeli scientists say it's the first time fermented drinks have been made from revived ancient yeasts.

By brewing with these ancient strains, they have recaptured the microorganisms responsible for producing the flavour of beer consumed by people in antiquity.

For this initial experiment, the team paired up with a Jerusalem craft brewer to make a basic modern style ale using yeast extracted from the pots (differing from its ancient Levantine forebears in its use of hops).

The mead was made using yeast extracted from a vessel found in the ruins of a palace near Jerusalem that contained honey wine roughly 2,400 years ago.

"We tried to recreate some of the old flavours that people in this area were consuming hundreds and thousands of years ago," says Shmuel Naky, a craft brewer from the Jerusalem Beer Centre, Biratenu, who helped produce the beer and mead.

Yeasts, he adds, "have a very crucial impact on flavour."

Naky describes the beer as "spicy, and somewhat fruity, and it's very complex in flavour," all attributes produced by the ancient yeast.

Genome sequencing of the yeast colonies extracted from the pots showed that the ancient strain of yeast was different from the conventional yeast used in beer-making today, but similar to those still used to make traditional Zimbabwean beer and Ethiopian tej, a type of honey wine.

The researchers say their next aim is to pair the resurrected yeasts with ancient beer recipes to better reproduce drinks from antiquity.

===========================================================

Clients are reminded:

(i) to check the terms of their licence agreements for use of content outside news programming and that further advice and assistance can be obtained from the AP Archive on: Tel +44 (0) 20 7482 7482 Email: info@aparchive.com

(ii) they should check with the applicable collecting society in their Territory regarding the clearance of any sound recording or performance included within the AP Television News service

(iii) they have editorial responsibility for the use of all and any content included within the AP Television News service and for libel, privacy, compliance and third party rights applicable to their Territory.