▲Yuanqu North White Goose Cemetery copper pot and liquid residue
wine
Common nowadays,
But the cider of more than two thousand years ago,
Do you know what the taste is?
recently
Shanxi Provincial Archaeological Research Institute released to the outside world,
Remains of the White Goose Cemetery unearthed in the north of Yuanqu
There are also the latest research results.
Researchers in the excavated copper pot,
More volatile organic compounds such as ethanol and acetic acid were found,
It is confirmed that it is indeed a remnant of ancient fruit wine,
For the first time, the gap in the research of pre-Qin fruit wine is filled from a physical point of view.
▲Subsoil sample
From April to December 2020, the Shanxi Provincial Archaeological Research Institute and others conducted rescue excavations of the Yuanqu North White Goose Cemetery, found nine high-grade tombs in the two weeks, and preliminarily identified the cemetery as a Caiyi public cemetery in the Eastern Zhou Wang Qi of the Zhao family Taibao (Yan Zhong).
It is particularly fortunate that more liquid residues were found in the copper pot excavated from Tomb No. 1, which may be the remains of ancient wine. In order to confirm the composition of the liquid residue in the copper pot, the Shanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology and the team of Professor Yang Yimin of the Department of Archaeology and Anthropology of the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences took samples of the liquid residue, the subsoil sample of the vessel and the subsoil sample of the copper pot in Tomb No. 2 and Tomb No. 5, and quickly carried out relevant scientific analysis.
▲Extraction of organic residues
The results of the study showed that more volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as ethanol, acetic acid and ethyl acetate were found in the residues of the copper pot in the white goose cemetery in Yuanqu North, and there were more wine-related tartaric acids, peric acid, fumaric acid, malic acid, succinic acid, oxalic acid, lactic acid and some esters, alcohols, alcohols and sugars with large molecular weight, which confirmed that they were indeed ancient wine remains. However, more pernicnic acid from mallow pigment was commonly found in the residues and soil samples of the copper jug liquor, indicating that it was a fruit wine remain.
Wine culture is an important part of China's traditional culture and occupies an important position in the development of China's ancient society. The history of the development of Chinese civilization for thousands of years has left a large number of wine-related material remains, and archaeological excavations often find a large number of wine vessels in ancient remains, as well as a small amount of liquid or solid suspected wine residues. Due to the volatile nature of the liquor, the samples of the excavated liquor are very limited, and only exist in a small number of containers with good sealing, which is extremely precious.
At present, China's pre-Qin ancient wine is generally considered to belong to the grain wine system, and the brewing of fruit wine is believed to have originated after the introduction of grapes from the western region in the Han Dynasty. The remains of fruit wine excavated from the White Goose Cemetery in Yuanqu North filled the gap in the study of pre-Qin fruit wine for the first time from the perspective of physical objects, and provided important information for the study of the politics, etiquette, culture, burial customs and winemaking technology of the society at that time. At the same time, it also provides important scientific data for the study of the development process of China's winemaking technology and the development of the winemaking industry.
▲Scientific analysis
Records and legends of cider
China's wine culture has a long history, and there are records in the Yellow Emperor's Inner Classics that the Yellow Emperor and Qi Bo discussed the use of grains such as millet, millet, rice, wheat, and shu to make wine. In the pre-Qin classics, there are also many records of wine, such as "If you make wine liquor, Erwei Qu Tiller" and "秬鬯一卣" and so on.
Wine, i.e. "a beverage containing ethanol made from fermentation of sorghum, rice, wheat or grapes". According to the raw materials, wine can be divided into three categories: grain wine (sorghum wine, glutinous rice wine, etc.), fruit wine (wine, cider, etc.) and grain substitute wine (sweet potato wine, tapioca wine, etc.). Some people have said that from the perspective of the history of human social development, fruit wine may be the earliest wine invented by human beings.
As early as the Paleolithic Age, humans made a living from gathering and hunting, and fruits were naturally one of the staple foods. Under the action of microorganisms in nature, fruits are easily fermented naturally to produce fragrant, delicious and delicious fruit wine.
In ancient literature, there are also many records about fruit wine: the Song Dynasty carefully recorded in the "Miscellaneous Knowledge of Decoction" that the mountain pear was stored in clay pots and turned into a fragrant pear wine. Yuan Haowen of the Yuan Dynasty also recorded in the preface to the "Pu Peach Wine Endowment" that a certain mountain people took refuge in the mountain, and the peaches piled up in the jar also became fragrant and mellow wine. According to the Ming Dynasty's "Penghui Night Talk", "Huangshan is rubbed by many apes, and in spring and summer, miscellaneous flowers and fruits are brewed into wine in dried stone depressions, and the aroma is overflowing, and the smell is hundreds of steps." The Qing Dynasty's "YueXi Even" also records: "Guangdong West Pingle and other provinces, there are many apes in the mountains, good at picking hundreds of flowers to make wine." The mountain of the woodcutters, the one who gets its nest, its wine is as much as hundreds, and it is drunk, and the fragrance is abnormal, and the name ape wine. ”
▲The scene of Yu Hong's tomb painting wine brewing on the stone bed of the enclosure
In 1999, Wang Guo Village in Jinyuan District, Taiyuan was excavated
Collection of Shanxi Museum
There is also a legend about the origin of cider.
Legend has it that more than 2,000 years ago, after Qin Shi Huang annexed the Six Kingdoms, in order to maintain the long-term peace and stability of the dynasty and his own immortality, he sent the alchemist Xu Fu out to sea to find the elixir of immortality. Because of the years of war and chaos at that time, the people had no fixed place to live for a long time, their physique was weak, and those who went to sea demanded that the virgin boys and virgins who were strong and able to resist various diseases could not be found for a while, so Xu Fu traveled around, and when he passed through Rao'anyi (now Qiantong Town, Yanshan), the land of the old Qi country, he saw that the people here were all strong and strong, and they did not have a hundred diseases. Originally, Rao An Yi produced red dates, and the Qi people ate dates and drank date wine, so the history of jujube wine was at least 2,000 years. Xu Fu recruited three thousand boys and girls here, and ordered people to build a winery to brew jujube wine to ward off the cold and drive away the tide. The vast fleet of ships entered the sea and crossed to the east, and in today's Japan, the technology of making sake has been widely spread ever since.
During the Han Dynasty, the winemaking industry developed rapidly. In the fifth year of Han Gaozu, in Rao'an Jianqiantong County, the Han oriental Shuo used red dates and herbs to refine again, resulting in a thick and sticky wine, sweet taste, drinking all over the house, and its aroma did not stop for decades.
Resources:
"Long Talk about Chinese Fruit Wine", Liu Xiaoqin, China Rural Science and Technology, 2014.5
The remains of alcohol found in the archaeological history of our country
Many remains of alcohol that have been scientifically analyzed and confirmed have also been unearthed in China.
01
Pottery excavated from the Wuyang JiaHu site in Henan province found residues of honey, grapes or a mixture of hawthorn and glutinous rice.
The Jiahu Lake site, an important site in the early Neolithic period of China, dates back about 7500-9000 years, and is rated as one of the 100 major archaeological discoveries in China in the 20th century.
During the excavation of the JiaHu site, experts found from the large number of pottery residues excavated that around 9,000 years ago, the Jiahu people may have mastered the world's oldest winemaking method, which contains rice, hawthorn, beeswax and other components, and wild grape grains are also found in pottery containing tartaric acid.
02
Pottery excavated from the ruins of two towns in Rizhao, Shandong Province, found residues of mixed wine such as rice, honey and grapes.
The ruins of the two towns in Rizhao, Shandong, are estimated to be about one million square meters, and are the largest Longshan cultural sites seen in the Haidai area.
Archaeologists have found remains of fruits such as grapes and plums here. By examining the residue on the excavated pottery pieces, the composition of the wine was found. At that time, the main fermentation of sake was rice, honey and fruit, and the wine was mainly made from rice. Experts also found high levels of tartaric acid or tartaric acid in specimens, indicating that the ancestors of the time had used wild grapes as a fermentation of wine.
▲ Pottery excavated from the ruins of the two towns
03
Pottery excavated from the Mijiaya site in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, found remnants of Gu Bud wine.
The site of Mijiaya in Xi'an, Shaanxi Is located on the west bank of the Xunhe River in the eastern suburbs of Xi'an. From 2004 to 2006, the Shaanxi Archaeological Research Institute conducted rescue excavations of the site.
Through the comprehensive analysis of starch grains, phytosilicates, and chemical residues on the pottery of Xi'an Mijiaya site, archaeologists show that the raw materials for Mijiaya winemaking include millet, barley, barley and some root crops, indicating that in the late Yangshao culture, which dates back to about 5,000 years ago, the Central Plains region has developed a more mature grain bud wine brewing technology.
In addition, the researchers found artifacts related to wine making in two cellars in Mijiaya, including wide-mouth jars, funnels, small-mouth pointed bottom bottles and movable stoves.
▲ Funnel for making wine Xinhua News Agency
04
Bronze artifacts excavated from the Western Zhou Cemetery in Hengshui County, Shanxi Province, have also found grain and wine residues.
The Western Zhou cemetery in Hengshui County, Dai County, was discovered when it was stolen in 2004. From 2004 to 2007, the Shanxi Provincial Archaeological Research Institute, the Yuncheng Cultural Relics Workstation and the Daixian Cultural Relics Bureau formed a joint archaeological team to carry out rescue excavations of the cemetery.
Located about 800 meters north of Hengbei Village, Hengshui Town, Daixian County, Yuncheng City, Shanxi Province, the cemetery for the first time has seen a large number of burial objects, and more than 14,000 sets of various cultural relics such as bronzes, jades, lacquerware, and pottery have been unearthed, revealing the Western Zhou Kingdom that is not recorded in the historical records.
Among them, grain wine residues were found on excavated bronze vessels.
▲Bronze Zun
05
Copper chungs excavated from the Han Tomb in Zaoyuan, a northern suburb of Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, have found residues of glutinous rice and yellow wine.
In 2003, a tomb of a high-ranking Nobleman of the Han Dynasty was discovered at a construction site in the northern suburbs of Xi'an, Shaanxi Province. When archaeologists cleaned up a piece of bronze with a phoenix head in the early Western Han Dynasty, they found that there were 26 kilograms of ancient wine preserved inside. Experts believe that these Western Han wines, which are more than 2,000 years old, are the ancient wines with the largest stock known at present.
Later, it was identified by the National Liquor Testing Center of China Food Fermentation Industry Research Institute, and the alcohol content was 0.10%. After two thousand years, alcohol can also be detected, proving that the quality of the wine is pure and the deterioration range is small. This is a major discovery in the history of Chinese archaeology, winemaking and science and technology, and provides important physical materials for the study of the history of the Western Han Dynasty and the ancient Chinese winemaking technology and wine culture.
▲ A brass cone with ancient rice wine
06
Shaanxi Yulin Walking Ma Liang Han Tomb Bronze Ware found grain brewing fermented wine residues.
Walk ma liang han tomb group, for the tomb area of Guizi City. More than 200 tombs have been stolen since 1996. In the summer of 1999, the Yulin Municipal Office of Cultural Management rescued and cleaned up three ancient tombs, and unearthed bronze, iron, pottery and other cultural relics, many of which had the style of ethnic minorities in the western region.
Through the analysis of the residues in the three bronze vessels excavated from the tomb of Zouma Lianghan, it was confirmed that all of them were wine residues. These wines are fermented wines made from grain, and the types of grains that are brewed need to be further studied.
▲ Fish head copper flat pot Man
In 2000, the tomb of Yulin Zou Ma Liang Han was excavated
Collection of Yulin Institute of Cultural Relics Protection
@Little Yellow Diamond Pole blog
07
In 1977, during the excavation of the tomb of King Zhongshan in Sanji Township, Pingshan County, Hebei Province, a flat copper pot and a round copper pot were found, containing several kilograms of fine wine. Its rich and mellow fragrance amazes the world. The liquor in the round pot is only half a pot, dark green, weighing 3 kg; the liquor in the flat pot is more, about 70% or 80%, weighing 6.7 kg, light emerald green, clear and transparent.
According to the preliminary identification of Beijing Fermentation Industry Research Institute, it contains more than 96 kinds of ingredients such as ethanol, lactic acid, butyric acid, nitrogen, etc., so it is determined that it is wine. From the time of the burial of King Zhongshan, it can be seen that this wine was brewed around 310 BC, which provided a reliable basis for the study of the pre-Qin brewing process.
▲Warring States Wine Hebei Provincial Museum Collection
08
In 1974, in the Liao Dynasty tomb no. 7 Yemaotai Village, Faku County, Shenyang City, liquid was found in two white porcelain pots, and archaeologist Feng Yongqian tasted it in order to verify what it was, indicating that there was only a faint earthy smell. Later, after research, the liquid contained a trace amount of ethanol, which was a thousand-year-old wine of the Liao Dynasty.
▲Ancient wine found in the liao dynasty ancient tomb no. 7 Yemaotai Village, Faku County, Shenyang City
Source: Wenbo Shanxi
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