Pottery vessels containing traces of alcohol from a Bronze Age cemetery in northwestern China indicate that people at the time consumed beverages made using a fermentation starter of rice and a red mould.
Archaeologists said the drink, similar to red rice wine, played a key role in their mortuary rituals, and its presence at the Mogou cemetery suggested a tradition that probably served to strengthen the bond between the living and the dead.
Researchers from Northwest University in Xian, the Gansu Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, and Stanford University in California published their findings in the peer-reviewed Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports in October.
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The site, which was in use for 600 years between 1700 and 1100 BC, is in the northwestern province of Gansu and on the northeastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau. The cemetery, where 5,000 people were buried, was excavated between 2008 and 2012.
It is the largest cemetery in the upper Tao River valley, the second largest tributary in the upper reaches of the Yellow River valley. It is also a significant step along a key route linking Central Asia and Central China and a prime location for cultural exchanges over the centuries.
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The researchers described an alcohol fermentation method that used a starter – known in Chinese as qu – made up of cereals, moulds and yeasts.