8 July 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

Beer remains that are 9,000 years old have been discovered in China’s unique Hu pots

Archaeologists in southeast China have discovered evidence of beer consumption in ceramic vessels at the burial site called Qiaotou.

The researchers discovered ancient crud—starches, fossilized plant waste, and fungal remains—in those pots, indicating that some of those containers carried alcohol. The team’s findings were published in PLOS One last month.

The researchers write in their study that alcoholic drinks played a significant part in ancient societies’ rituals, and they discovered the earliest evidence of beer consumption in the context of burial rites in southern China during the early Holocene epoch.

Several long-necked hu pots found in excavations at the site contained starches, fossilized plant residue, mold, and yeast remnants, indicating that they originally carried a fermented alcoholic beverage. In later periods, these Hu pots were used to drink alcoholic beverages.

Co-author Jiajing Wang, assistant professor of anthropology at Dartmouth, said in a statement, “Through an analysis of pots from Qiaotou, our results revealed that the pottery residue vessels were used to hold beer, in its most general sense—a fermented beverage made of rice ( Oryza sp.), a grain called Job’s tears (Coix lacryma-jobi), and unidentified tubers. This ancient beer though would not have been like the IPA that we have today. Instead, it was likely a slightly fermented and sweet beverage, which was probably cloudy in color” he said.

Long-necked Hu vessel
Long-necked Hu vessel. Photo: Leping Jiang.

The results also revealed that phytoliths from rice husks and other plants were found in the pots. They might have been used as a fermentation agent in the beer.

Given their location, the ancient people of Qiaotou utilizing rice in their beer is not unexpected; that area of southern China remains a major rice grower. Rice was still in its early days of domestication when the site at Qiaotou was inhabited.

Although the Yangtze River Valley in southern China is now recognized as the country’s rice heartland, rice domestication developed gradually between 10,000 and 6,000 years ago, thus rice was still in its early stages of domestication 9,000 years ago.

Given the laborious nature of rice harvesting and processing, the beer at Qiaotou was most likely a ritually significant drink/beverage, according to the researchers.

Some of the ancient pottery found in the mound at Qiaotou.Photo: Wang et al., PLOS One 2021
Some of the ancient pottery found in the mound at Qiaotou.Photo: Wang et al., PLOS One 2021

“We don’t know how people made the mold 9,000 years ago, as fermentation can happen naturally,” Wang says in the statement. “If people had some leftover rice and the grains became moldy, they may have noticed that the grains became sweeter and alcoholic with age. While people may not have known the biochemistry associated with grains that became moldy, they probably observed the fermentation process and leveraged it through trial and error.”

The beer at Qiaotou isn’t the earliest beer ever discovered—evidence of beer has been discovered at sites in Israel and Turkey dating back over 10,000 years—Earlier examples in the Mediterranean region, date to 13,000 years ago but its circumstances illustrate the importance of such alcoholic beverages in ancient cultural events.

The hu pots themselves, as well as other containers, were another unique item at the site. According to the study, they are among the world’s oldest known instances of painted ceramics. Some have abstract patterns on them. According to the experts, no additional pottery of the same type has been discovered at other locations during the same period.

Cover Photo: Some of the vessels contained residue from an alcoholic brew. (Jiajing Wang)

Related Articles

Mysterious Rods Found in 5,500-year-old Tomb identified to Be Earliest Drinking Straws

19 January 2022

19 January 2022

Russian archaeologists argue that the rods unearthed in an early bronze age tomb in the Caucasus are the oldest known...

490-Million-Year-Old Trilobites Could Solve Ancient Geography Puzzle

22 November 2023

22 November 2023

The humble trilobites may be extinct, but even as fossils, they can teach us much about our planet’s history. Indeed,...

The Mountain of Shemharus, King of the Ginn: Toubkal

14 August 2022

14 August 2022

Towering over the Atlas Mountains, Mount Toubkal is the highest peak in Morocco. Toubkal, the highest mountain in all of...

An 8,500-year-old trepanned skull discovered in Çatalhöyük

23 December 2023

23 December 2023

Traces of trepanation (skull drilling operation) were found on a skull found in the 9,000-year-old Çatalhöyük, near the modern city...

Venice of the Pacific: The mysterious Micronesian ruins of Nan Madol

12 July 2022

12 July 2022

Sometimes art and architecture challenge our perceptions of what was formerly thought to be feasible and what our forefathers were...

Runic Alphabet Symbols in the Tombs Found in the Excavations in Istanbul

23 May 2021

23 May 2021

In the excavations carried out by the Istanbul Archeology Museums in the area where the metro station will be built...

Centuries-old burials discovered near Antandros Ancient City in Turkey

10 January 2022

10 January 2022

Ancient tombs were discovered during a foundation excavation at a building site near the ancient city of Antandros, which is...

Rare Gold Coin from Reign of Byzantine Emperor Justin II Unearthed at Tuida Fortress in Sliven, Bulgaria

25 June 2025

25 June 2025

A rare gold coin dating back to the reign of Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Emperor Justin II (r. 565–578 CE) has...

A Life-Size Funerary High Relief Discovered in Pompeii’s Porta Sarno Necropolis

3 April 2025

3 April 2025

A research project titled “Investigating the Archaeology of Death in Pompeii,” developed by the Universitat de València in collaboration with...

İnkaya Cave excavations in Türkiye’s western uncovers 86,000-year-old traces of human life

22 August 2023

22 August 2023

In the excavations carried out in the İnkaya Cave in Çanakkale, located in the northwestern part of Türkiye, in addition...

A small temple discovered in the ancient city of Selinunte, one of the largest and most important ancient Greek cities in southern Italy

9 August 2024

9 August 2024

Recent excavations in the ancient Magna Graecia city of Selinunte in southwestern Sicily have revealed the presence of a new...

Celtiberian Inscription Found at La Peña del Castro: One of the Earliest Examples of Alphabetic Writing in Northern Iberia

26 February 2025

26 February 2025

La Ercina, León, Spain – Archaeological research at the La Peña del Castro site has unveiled an important discovery that...

Unique semi-mummified body tomb discovered in Pompeii

17 August 2021

17 August 2021

A semi-mummified skeleton was discovered in the Porta Sarno necropolis, which is located east of Pompeii’s city center and is...

Archaeologists have found a previously unknown Roman city with buildings of monumental proportions in Spain’s Aragon Region

17 July 2022

17 July 2022

Archaeologists from the University of Zaragoza in Spain have discovered a previously unknown Roman city with buildings of monumental proportions....

Marmore, the Highest and Oldest Artificial Waterfall in Europe, Created by the Romans

4 March 2024

4 March 2024

Approximately eight kilometers away from the town of Terni in Umbria, Italy, there is a waterfall that is one of...