Mijiaya, or Going Retro
On the outskirts of Xi'an, the Chan River flows. It eventually meets the Wei River, which flows into the Yellow river. On a dusty terrace above the river is a site called Mijiaya , where excavations in the 2000s uncovered pottery dating from 3400 BCE to 2000 BCE. Some of the earliest potter, from 3400 BCE to 2900 BCE, the late Yangshao period , includes parts of an amphora, an urn and a funnel. This May, some archaeologists at Stanford published an analysis of residue on the pottery: http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2016/05/18/1601465113 It's malted barley, along with millet, something called Job's tears, and some other starches. I think this is awesome! We know that alcohol production in China predates writing. The Records of the Grand Historian ( 史記 ) from 50 BCE discusses King Zhou, the last king of the Shang dynasty, who reigned 1075–1046 BCE: [He] made a pond of wine, hung the trees with meat, made men and women chase each other about quite naked, and h