People were brewing rice beer 10,000 years ago in Neolithic China: Study

Neolithic humans domesticated rice and then fermented it to brew beer 10,000 years ago in China, a new study has claimed.

The researchers conducted a variety of experiments on pottery sherds to conclude that people residing at the Shangshan site in Zhejiang province, knew how to ferment rice with yeast and fungus and transform it into beer.

The discovery provides new insights into the history of alcohol brewing in east Asia, as per the study.

How did they do it?

The team analysed 12 pottery sherds from the early phase of the Shangshan site in Pujiang County, Zhejiang Province (10,000-9,000 years old).

These sherds were associated with various vessel types, including those for fermentation, serving, storage, cooking, and processing, according to Jiang Leping from the Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology (ICRA), which carried out the research with Stanford University and the Institute of Geology and Geophysics (IGG) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The experts focused on identifying phytoliths, starch granules, and fungi from residues identified on the inner surfaces of the pottery as well as the pottery clay and surrounding cultural layer sediments.

Phytoliths are microscopic amorphous silica structures that are produced within and between plant cells by precipitation and polymerisation of silica.

The team found a significant presence of domesticated rice phytoliths in the residues and pottery clay. This, according to them, indicates that rice was a staple plant resource for the Shangshan people.

It was further revealed that rice leaves and husk were used by the Shangshan people to make pottery, demonstrating the plant’s integral role in their culture.

There was more.

A variety of starch granules were found in the pottery residues, including rice, Job’s tears, barnyard grass, Triticeae, acorns, and lilies. Many of these exhibited signs of enzymatic degradation and gelatinisation, characteristic of fermentation processes.

Lastly, Monascus molds and yeast cells were discovered. Some of them displayed developmental stages typical of fermentation.

The Shangshan people used globular jars, rather than cooking pots or processing basins to ferment rice and make alcohol, according to the researchers. This, they said, was due to the discovery of higher concentrations of Monascus and yeast on globular jars.

These ancient people could achieve this level of sophistication at brewing beer due to the favourable conditions of the time, according to the team.

Domesticated rice provided a stable resource for fermentation, while favourable climatic conditions supported the development of fermentation technology, which relied on the growth of filamentous fungi, the researchers noted.

“These alcoholic beverages likely played a pivotal role in ceremonial feasting, highlighting their ritual importance as a potential driving force behind the intensified utilisation and widespread cultivation of rice in Neolithic China,” LIU Li from Stanford University, the first author of the paper as well as a co-corresponding author, observed.

Identification of 10,000-year-old rice beer at Shangshan in the Lower Yangzi River valley of China was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on December 9, 2024.