Serving red rice beer to the ancestors ca. 9000 years ago at Xiaohuangshan early Neolithic site in south China

Abstract

Microfossil analyses of three early Neolithic pottery vessels from Xiaohuangshan, a middle Shangshan culture site in Zhejiang (ca. 9000–8500 cal. BP), revealed the earliest evidence of red rice beer brewing in China. This fermentation method involved the preparation of qu starter with Monascus mold, rice, and probably herbs; the brewing ingredients may have included mainly rice, together with Job’s tears, acorn, and lily bulb; and globular jars were used as fermenters. The dregs of the red beer may have been used for cooking with solid foods and served with them on plates at feasts. The globular jar analyzed was a part of the grave goods assemblage, suggesting that alcoholic beverages were sacrificial offerings to the dead ancestors. This mortuary practice, which involved rice-based fermented beverages, emerged in the early stage of rice cultivation under the wet-warm climatic conditions during the early Holocene, shedding new light on the driving forces of the origin and dispersal of rice domestication in China.