Brewers at Mijiaya Use Barley, Millet, and Tubers

Between approximately 3400 and 2900 BCE, people at Mijiaya in northern China used specialized pottery to brew a grain beverage. Starch, phytolith, and chemical residues indicate a recipe including broomcorn millet, barley, Job’s tears, and tubers, together with heating, mashing, fermentation, and filtration. The evidence is the earliest direct archaeological demonstration currently identified for in-place beer production in China. The presence of barley is especially notable because the grain appears in this brewing context before it became an important regional food crop.