Where Did Caveman Put His Beer Before the Refrigerator Was Invent...?

Modern conveniences have become so accepted and even taken for granted that some very important questions are never answered. One of these questions could be, "Where did caveman put his beer before refrigerators were invented?" Hopefully no one is losing sleep over this one, but there is an answer of sorts.

When people talk of cavemen, they are usually referring to the Cro-Magnon man. He's pretty famous, depicted in many advertisements and cartoons. He is also modern man's earliest relative who walked the Earth, perhaps not fully upright, some 40,000 years ago.

They may not have had modern refrigerators, but Cro-Magnon men had all types of other amenities. They slept in tents or huts, proving they knew how to build shelter. They also had a host of tools and weapons, ranging from knives to spears. They used natural substances to paint pictures and scenes. Even their culture was not without art.

No beer cans were ever found around Cro-Magnon camps, dispelling the idea that he even had beer to drink. He did, however, know about alcohol. Cro-Magnons knew how to ferment substances to get an alcoholic drink, although it is not clear what they may have used.

Later settlers used water mixed with honey, barley or animal milk. The barley may have been somewhat similar to what we know as beer, although there is still no evidence of hops or aluminum cans. Prehistoric alcohol use was not an occasion to paint the town red, mainly because there were no towns, either. Alcohol in those times was mainly used in ceremonies and rituals.

Natural refrigeration was surely a possibility in Cro-Magnon days. Deep holes in the ground may have been one option, covered with a damp cloth to hold in the cooler air. Cro-Magnons also could have wrapped the item they wanted to keep cool in a damp cloth or skin. Other early methods of refrigeration include using two clay pots, placing a smaller one inside a larger one that is filled with damp sand. All holes were sealed up and the pots and damp sand served as a cooling chamber for whatever was inside.