- The Plate
5,000-Year-Old Microbrewery Found in China
Clay pottery found in northern China seems to be part of an early beer-making toolkit, complete with residues of barley and other grains.
China—a land renowned for delicious dumplings, the giant panda, an impressive wall, and … beer?
Earth’s most populous country currently holds the title of most prolific beer producer, and now artifacts from northern China suggest that the country can claim one of the oldest beer making facilities in the world.
The 5,000-year-old brewery also provides the earliest evidence of barley in China, suggesting that the thirst for suds may have spurred the initial movement of the crop to the area.
“This is the earliest direct evidence of beer in China to our knowledge,” says study leader Jiajing Wang, a doctoral student at Stanford University. “And the finding of barley was a surprise, because we really didn’t expect to find barley dated
