Researchers in China recently uncovered a large bottle containing an ancient cereal-based alcoholic beverage buried for more than 2,200 years. The ancient alcohol was found sealed in a bronze vessel in a Qin tomb at the Shanjiabao cemetery in China’s Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.

The Discovery

The tomb dates to the Warring States period (475-221 B.C.), a turbulent era of rival kingdoms before China’s first unification. The preserved liquid was determined to be an ancient fermented grain drink, sometimes loosely described as ‘beer.’ The researchers were surprised when they encountered the liquid, said Ruru Chen, a researcher at Northwest University’s School of Cultural Heritage in Xi’an, China.

The bronze bottle with a ‘garlic-shaped mouth’ was commonly used by the Qin people to hold alcoholic beverages. By combining evidence from organic chemistry, metabolomics, starch grain analysis, yeast remains, and other microscopic analyses, the researchers can directly identify the type of beverage once stored inside the vessel and even reconstruct how it was brewed.

Analysis and Significance

Based on starch grain analysis, the beverage was brewed primarily from broomcorn millet, with a smaller contribution from wheat and/or barley. The researchers identified high concentrations of lactic and oxalic acids, along with dozens of other organic compounds consistent with an ancient cereal-based alcoholic beverage. This discovery represents one of the largest volumes of alcoholic beverage residue ever recovered from a Warring States-period archaeological sample, making it an exceptionally rare find.

Original reporting: Fox News (HLL/CB) — read the source article.