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Fermented beverages of pre- and proto-historic China

McGovern, P.E.; Zhang, J.; Tang, J.; Zhang, Z.; Hall, G.R.; Moreau, R.A.; Nunez, R.; Butrym, E.D.; Richards, M.P.; Wang, C.; Cheng, G.; Zhao, Z.; Wang, C.

Authors

P.E. McGovern

J. Zhang

J. Tang

Z. Zhang

G.R. Hall

R.A. Moreau

R. Nunez

E.D. Butrym

M.P. Richards

C. Wang

G. Cheng

Z. Zhao

C. Wang



Abstract

Chemical analyses of ancient organics absorbed into pottery jars from the early Neolithic village of Jiahu in Henan province in China have revealed that a mixed fermented beverage of rice, honey, and fruit (hawthorn fruit and/or grape) was being produced as early as the seventh millennium before Christ (B.C.). This prehistoric drink paved the way for unique cereal beverages of the proto-historic second millennium B.C., remarkably preserved as liquids inside sealed bronze vessels of the Shang and Western Zhou Dynasties. These findings provide direct evidence for fermented beverages in ancient Chinese culture, which were of considerable social, religious, and medical significance, and help elucidate their earliest descriptions in the Shang Dynasty oracle inscriptions.

Citation

McGovern, P., Zhang, J., Tang, J., Zhang, Z., Hall, G., Moreau, R., …Wang, C. (2004). Fermented beverages of pre- and proto-historic China. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 101(51), 17593-17598. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0407921102

Journal Article Type Article
Publication Date Dec 1, 2004
Deposit Date Jul 14, 2009
Journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Print ISSN 0027-8424
Electronic ISSN 1091-6490
Publisher National Academy of Sciences
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 101
Issue 51
Pages 17593-17598
DOI https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0407921102

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