The rusty copper vase from being buried underground for a long time contained a liquid including water, ethanol, and ethyl acetate, identified as distilled alcohol.
Bronze pots were excavated at the Daxinzhuang site in 2010. Photo: Jinan/Xinhua Archaeological Research Institute
The liquid in an ancient bronze flask has just been confirmed to be distilled wine dating back more than 3,000 years, according to the Jinan Archaeological Research Institute. The owl-shaped bronze vase dates back to the Shang Dynasty (circa 1600 – 1046 BC), excavated at the Daxinzhuang site, Jinan city, capital of Shandong province, in 2010.
Archaeologists discovered a small amount of liquid inside but did not open the jar immediately because it was covered by rust. Over 3,000 years, the bronze item rusted when buried underground. Rust causes the lid to stick tightly to the body, effectively preventing the evaporation of the liquid inside.
Recently, they opened the ancient vase being kept at the Jinan Archaeological Research Institute. A sample of the liquid was sent to Shandong University’s International Research Laboratory for Environmental and Social Archeology for testing.
The liquid, which was stored in a sealed, oxygen-free environment for a long time, was determined to contain only water, ethanol, ethyl acetate and some other ingredients, suggesting it was a distilled alcohol, according to Wu Meng , researcher at the lab.
Fang Qi, head of the Department of Archeology at Jilin University, commented that the new discovery is particularly important, helping to fill the gap in the production of distilled wine from the Shang to the Han Dynasty (from 206 BC to 220) in China, making it an important archaeological find.
China has a long history of wine making. Ancient Chinese used grains to make wine since the Neolithic period (circa 7000 – 1700 BC), but there are no records of ancient wine distillation in the country, Fang said. Research on the origin of Chinese distilled wine has always been an important topic in the history of science and research on wine culture.
With the continuous progress of archeology, scientists have unearthed a series of distillation tools from the Han Dynasty, including one from the Western Han period (from 206 BC to 25 AD) at the mausoleum. Emperor Liu Xia’s tomb in Jiangxi province and a tool at another tomb in Xi’an. These archaeological findings indicate that at least since the Western Han Dynasty, distillation techniques existed in China.