Making beer with malted cereals and qu starter in the Neolithic Yangshao culture, China

Abstract

Alcohol production is one of the most significant inventions in human history, but archaeologists have encountered many challenges to their efforts at detecting the ancient fermentation technologies. Our non-destructive, multi-proxy approach (analyzing starch granules, phytoliths, yeasts and molds) shows great potential to identify different types of microfossils related to the fermentation process which are preserved in pottery residues. We examined nine Neolithic amphorae from a middle Yangshao culture site at Dingcun in Henan (ca. 6000–5100 cal. BP), and revealed the evidence of ancient beer as well as brewing techniques. The Yangshao people there used amphorae to make cereal-based fermented beverages with millet, rice, Job’s tears, wild Triticeae grass seeds and snake gourd roots. They employed two fermentation techniques, using malts and using qu starter. These two methods were carried out either independently or in combination, suggesting that prehistoric communities may have been experimenting various methods to find the best way for alcohol making, or brewing multiple types of alcohol for different purposes.