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Research Article

Revealing a 5,000-y-old beer recipe in China

Jiajing Wang, Li Liu, Terry Ball, Linjie Yu, Yuanqing Li, and Fulai Xing
  1. aStanford Archaeology Center, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305;
  2. bDepartment of East Asian Languages and Cultures, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305;
  3. cDepartment of Ancient Scripture, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602;
  4. dZhejiang Research Institute of Chemical Industry, 310006 Hangzhou, China;
  5. eDepartment of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305;
  6. fShaanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology, 710054 Xi’an, China

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PNAS June 7, 2016 113 (23) 6444-6448; first published May 23, 2016; https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1601465113
Jiajing Wang
aStanford Archaeology Center, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305;
bDepartment of East Asian Languages and Cultures, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305;
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  • For correspondence: jiajingw@stanford.edu
Li Liu
aStanford Archaeology Center, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305;
bDepartment of East Asian Languages and Cultures, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305;
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Terry Ball
cDepartment of Ancient Scripture, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602;
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Linjie Yu
dZhejiang Research Institute of Chemical Industry, 310006 Hangzhou, China;
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Yuanqing Li
eDepartment of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305;
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Fulai Xing
fShaanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology, 710054 Xi’an, China
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  1. Edited by Dolores R. Piperno, Smithsonian Institution, Fairfax, VA, and approved April 26, 2016 (received for review January 27, 2016)

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Significance

This research reveals a 5,000-y-old beer recipe in which broomcorn millet, barley, Job’s tears, and tubers were fermented together. To our knowledge, our data provide the earliest direct evidence of in situ beer production in China, showing that an advanced beer-brewing technique was established around 5,000 y ago. For the first time, to our knowledge, we are able to identify the presence of barley in archaeological materials from China by applying a recently developed method based on phytolith morphometrics, predating macrobotanical remains of barley by 1,000 y. Our method successfully distinguishes the phytoliths of barley from those of its relative species in China.

Abstract

The pottery vessels from the Mijiaya site reveal, to our knowledge, the first direct evidence of in situ beer making in China, based on the analyses of starch, phytolith, and chemical residues. Our data reveal a surprising beer recipe in which broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum), barley (Hordeum vulgare), Job’s tears (Coix lacryma-jobi), and tubers were fermented together. The results indicate that people in China established advanced beer-brewing technology by using specialized tools and creating favorable fermentation conditions around 5,000 y ago. Our findings imply that early beer making may have motivated the initial translocation of barley from the Western Eurasia into the Central Plain of China before the crop became a part of agricultural subsistence in the region 3,000 y later.

  • Yangshao period
  • alcohol
  • starch analysis
  • phytolith analysis
  • archaeological chemistry

Footnotes

  • ↵1To whom correspondence should be addressed. Email: jiajingw{at}stanford.edu.
  • Author contributions: J.W. and L.L. designed research; J.W., L.L., T.B., and F.X. performed research; J.W., L.L., T.B., L.Y., and Y.L. analyzed data; and J.W., L.L., and T.B. wrote the paper.

  • The authors declare no conflict of interest.

  • This article is a PNAS Direct Submission.

  • This article contains supporting information online at www.pnas.org/lookup/suppl/doi:10.1073/pnas.1601465113/-/DCSupplemental.

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Revealing a 5,000-y-old beer recipe in China
Jiajing Wang, Li Liu, Terry Ball, Linjie Yu, Yuanqing Li, Fulai Xing
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Jun 2016, 113 (23) 6444-6448; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1601465113

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Revealing a 5,000-y-old beer recipe in China
Jiajing Wang, Li Liu, Terry Ball, Linjie Yu, Yuanqing Li, Fulai Xing
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Jun 2016, 113 (23) 6444-6448; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1601465113
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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences: 113 (23)
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