Characterization of liquor remains in Beibaie site, central China during the 8th century BCE

The analysis of solid residues and absorbed residues from archaeological contexts have developed rapidly, while the study of liquid residues is rarely reported. Liquid residues are often linked to liquor (alcohol beverage) in China, but most of them have not been scientifically confirmed. Liquor has a nonnegligible influence on the history of human society, so it is important to characterize the liquor residue from the archaeological context. Moreover, it is generally believed that grain liquor has been mainly produced in East Asia for a long time, but grape wine did not appear until the Han Dynasty (202 BCE-CE 220). In this study, a comprehensive analysis process of liquor residues with GC-MS and HPLC-MS/MS was designed and applied to liquid and silts unearthed at the Beibaie Cemetery (around 8th century BCE) in central China. The presence of volatile organic matters, organic acids, alcohols, esters and sugars shows that these samples should be liquor remains. Then, this study discussed the limitations of organic acid criteria to judge the liquor type and emphasized the indicative signif-icance of syringic acid to identify fruit wine. Thus, the general detection of syringic acid in the residues from Beibaie Cemetery indicates that they are the earliest known fruit wine remains in East Asia up to now, which advances the history of China's fruit wine-making by at least 500 years.

Automated summary

The study of liquid residues in archaeological contexts has been rarely reported, but it is important for understanding the history of liquor making. In this study, a comprehensive analysis process was applied to liquid and silts from Beibaie Cemetery, revealing them to be the earliest fruit wine remains in East Asia and advancing the history of fruit wine-making in China by at least 500 years.