Brewers at Mijiaya Use Barley, Millet, and Tubers

Between approximately 3400 and 2900 BCE, people at Mijiaya in northern China used pottery that researchers interpret as equipment for brewing a grain beverage. A study published in 2016 identified starch, phytolith, and chemical residues consistent with broomcorn millet, barley, Job's tears, and tubers. Together with the vessels and associated stoves, the findings support a reconstruction involving heating, mashing, fermentation, and filtration. Mijiaya provides evidence for a mixed-ingredient brewing process and an early use of barley in China. The researchers suggested that barley may have reached the region for brewing before becoming an important food crop. It is not the earliest evidence for brewing now reported from China: a study published in 2024 interpreted much older residues at Shangshan, approximately 8000–7000 BCE, as evidence of a rice-based fermented beverage. The two studies concern different sites, periods, ingredients, and archaeological assemblages.