FermenteaWhere food goes to change
Built structures · Place · Pits and cavities
At Hemudu in Yuyao, Zhejiang, later Neolithic pits held stored acorns. Archaeologists describe profiles from straight-sided to bell-shaped, while cautioning that excavated outlines may be truncated.
Hemudu lies in Yuyao, Zhejiang, in the Lower Yangtze region. Fuller, Qin and Harvey distinguish the site's main village occupation, dated to about 5000–4600 BCE, from later nut-storage pits in layer 3B, dated to about 4400–4000 BCE. These dates describe site layers and groups of features; they do not give an individual date for every pit.
The site is known for preserved plant remains, which allow archaeobotanical study of stored foods. The evidence discussed here is archaeological storage evidence. It does not show that these pits were fermentation vessels.
The published account describes a number of excavated pits as straight-sided to bell-shaped. It cautions that their profiles were probably truncated, so the surviving sections may not preserve their original upper edges or full depth. No standard measurements, soil lining, cover or closure system is established by the source.
A figure in the same study shows acorns concentrated at the base of pit H27. The image documents an excavated deposit, not a complete reconstruction of H27's original shape. Other pits contained different remains, so the figure should not be read as a universal plan.
Large stores of acorns were identified in several features. The authors report foxnuts and peach stones in one case. This variation is consistent with storage of gathered plant foods, but the available account does not specify a single filling sequence, container, lining material, or method of sealing.
The evidence supports describing these as nut-storage pits. It does not support fermentation, a moisture-control system, or a complete practical recipe for rebuilding them. Tools and construction steps are not recorded in the sources used here.
Fuller, Qin and Harvey date the main Hemudu occupation to about 5000–4600 BCE and later layer 3B nut-storage pits to about 4400–4000 BCE. They describe excavated pits as straight-sided to bell-shaped and caution that the profiles may have been truncated. Several contained large stores of acorns; one case also had foxnuts and peach stones. A figure shows acorns concentrated at the base of pit H27, crediting Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Archaeology 2003. The evidence supports storage, not fermentation, standard dimensions, lining, closure or a uniform use for every pit.
A build is made where it stands: moving it means building it again.
Yuyao is the locality named by the government source; the dated range refers to later pit use and not the full Hemudu culture.
A sixth-century Chinese agricultural text describes a seasonal earthen pit for keeping fresh vegetables through winter, with vegetable kinds separated by alternating rows of produce and soil under a thick straw cover.
Fixed rectangular brick-lined fermentation pools at the Liu Ling Zui distillery in Xushui, Hebei. Heritage accounts disagree on their date and total number.
A below-floor, mud-lined fermentation chamber used in Chinese strong-aroma baijiu production. Its grain mash ferments in contact with the chamber’s microbial pit mud; shape and pit ecology vary among cellars.
The Arbroath “barrel” is a hardwood-fired smoking pit with triangular rails and a cover. Its documented form belongs to the traditional hot-smoking of haddock around Arbroath and Auchmithie, Scotland.
Crisp battered white fish in warm corn tortillas with shredded cabbage, lime and fresh salsa. This home version draws on the Ensenada style without claiming to be a definitive historic formula.
Baked milk is an Eastern European preparation of milk held at high heat for hours until it turns cream-coloured with a cooked, mildly sweet flavour, without any fermentation.
A coarse South African farmhouse sausage of beef with pork or mutton fat, defined by its coriander seasoning and cooked fresh over coals rather than preserved.
A flood-season pit store described for Omagua communities along the Amazon: manioc tubers were buried before inundation and recovered as waters receded. Its shape and lining are not recorded.
A temporary, in-place earthen oven used to cook camas with heat retained by fire-heated stones. The dimensions described here belong to one Kalispel-supervised reconstruction, not a universal form.
Chuño negro is a source-documented Andean potato-preservation practice. This entry records producer tradition; it is not a validated household process for making potentially toxic bitter potatoes safe.
Cinavu is a Paiwan leaf-wrapped parcel built around millet or taro, meat and locally gathered leaves. It belongs to a food culture of harvest, hospitality and shared work, with village recipes differing in both filling and cooking time.
At North Abydos in Egypt, a fixed early Dynastic brewery comprised parallel semi-subterranean installations with rows of ceramic mash vats; excavation reports revise their number, scale and estimated batch capacity.
Ají amarillo is the orange-yellow Peruvian chilli cultivar group of Capsicum baccatum, used to colour and season huancaína sauce and ají de gallina. Published heat estimates do not establish one range for the named cultivar.
Toasted almonds are whole sweet almond kernels dry-roasted until golden to brown. Heat replaces their marzipan note with a roasted, nutty one; they thicken and flavour romesco.
Kodiak salmon, halibut and cod cut as seg'aq and hung on an initaq rack to become tamuuq, with kac'amaasaq and kupcuunaq named as different results.
Aniseed is the dried ripe fruit of Pimpinella anisum, an aromatic Apiaceae spice commonly called a seed. It adds a sweet, warm aroma to breads such as Moroccan krachel and South African mosbolletjies, and is distinct from star anise.
A fixed Late Chalcolithic installation in Areni-1 cave combined a shallow clay pressing basin with a large jar set into the cave floor and storage vessels nearby.
Ripe avocado flesh is the soft, buttery, fat-rich pulp of Persea americana, eaten raw. It is low in acid, so it is a fresh ingredient that needs care in chilled dishes.
A portable dome and pan used over a hearth, with embers on the lid and heat from below. Regional peka and saç forms share this principle while differing in materials, pan shape and how the food is cooked.
No community contributions have been published for this entry yet.
Sign in to contribute. Published comments and photos are free to read.
Dorian Q. Fuller, Ling Qin and Emma Harvey; University College London repository; chapter published by RoutledgeForm · Chronology · Contents · Use
Evidence for a late onset of agriculture in the Lower Yangtze region and challenges for an archaeobotany of riceMain Hemudu occupation approximately 5000–4600 BCE; later layer 3B nut-storage pits approximately 4400–4000 BCE.
A number of pits are described as straight-sided to bell-shaped and may have been truncated.
Large stores of acorns occurred in several pits; one case had foxnuts and peach stones.
Figure 14 documents acorns at the base of pit H27, credited to Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Archaeology 2003.
Storage is supported; fermentation, standard dimensions, lining and closure are not established.
Cited in: Later pits at Hemudu; A range of surviving profiles; Contents and limits
Beijing Municipal People's GovernmentGeography · History
Special Archaeological Exhibition Commemorating 50th Anniversary of Hemudu Culture Discovery Opens at National Museum of ChinaHemudu Site is located in Yuyao, Zhejiang Province; Hemudu culture is described as dating from 7000 to 5000 years ago.
Cited in: Later pits at Hemudu