FermenteaWhere food goes to change
Equipment · Historical object · Jars, pots and crocks
A small-mouth globular pottery jar from early Shangshan, ca. 10,000–9,000 cal BP. Residue study supports its possible use in rice-beverage fermentation, while leaving individual vessel functions uncertain.
The globular jar is a rounded pottery vessel with a restricted mouth and short neck. It belongs to the diverse ceramic assemblage of early Shangshan, where large basins were common and smaller forms included globular jars, cups, plates and bowls. These shapes should not be collapsed into one generic fermenting pot: the jar is a distinct form, and a cup or ring-foot bowl could serve a different role.
A 2024 study examined twelve sherds from the early deposits at Shangshan, representing eight globular jars as well as a cup, ring-foot bowl, large basin and cooking pot. The figure pairs selected sherds with comparative complete vessel forms; the globular jar is the first vessel in that comparison. It is an illustration of the form, not a claim that each complete jar is a one-to-one reconstruction of a sampled sherd.
All the analyzed sherds were plant-tempered, although one cooking-pot sherd also had visible sand temper. Shangshan ceramic fabrics used plant material such as grasses, leaves and rice chaff mixed with clay. Plant inclusions are part of the documented material context; the study does not give a single standardized recipe for every jar, nor a firing schedule, wall thickness, lid, capacity or dimensions for this class.
Researchers examined microscopic plant remains, starch and fungi preserved on vessel interiors and compared pottery with soil controls. Their results support rice-based fermented beverages in the early Shangshan assemblage. The globular jars were categorized as potential fermentation vessels, while the study treats the other forms separately as serving, processing or cooking vessels. That functional grouping is an archaeological interpretation grounded in residue patterns, not an instruction to use every globular jar in the same way.
The early deposits studied at Shangshan are dated to about 10,000–9,000 calibrated years before present. The authors interpret rice as a principal ingredient in a qu-based beverage, with molds and yeasts and other starchy plants also implicated. The sherds preserve evidence of activity; they do not provide a complete recipe, a measured batch size or instructions for preparing a vessel.
The site lies in the Lower Yangzi region of present-day Zhejiang, China; the institutional research summary identifies the sampled assemblage with Shangshan in Pujiang County. This is a historical archaeological attestation, not evidence that the same production practice continues there today. No source examined documents these jars buried underground, so the illustration presents one freestanding comparative form rather than an unsupported cellar cutaway.
No measured capacity, dimensions, wall thickness, firing schedule, closure or documented burial arrangement is supplied for the analyzed globular jars.
Source →Residue evidence and vessel-form comparison support a fermentation interpretation, but do not establish that every globular jar, or every analyzed vessel shape, was used to ferment beer.
Source →The 2024 study sampled early deposits at the Shangshan site; CAS identifies the site as being in Pujiang County, Zhejiang. No coordinates are asserted.
The study situates the archaeological record in the Lower Yangzi River valley; this regional label does not imply every jar originated at one settlement.
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Proceedings of the National Academy of SciencesArchaeological history · Form · Materials · Residue analysis
Identification of 10,000-year-old rice beer at Shangshan in the Lower Yangzi River valley of ChinaEarly Shangshan deposits dated ca. 10,000–9,000 calibrated years BP.
Twelve sherds represented eight globular jars, a cup, ring-foot bowl, large basin and cooking pot.
All analyzed sherds were plant-tempered; one cooking-vessel sherd also contained visible sand temper.
The authors classify globular jars as potential fermentation vessels, distinguishing them from other vessel functions.
Figure 1 pairs sherds with comparative complete forms; the first complete vessel is a globular jar.
Microfossil evidence supports rice-based fermented beverages, with limitations on vessel-by-vessel functional certainty.
Cited in: A small-mouth jar in early Shangshan; Pottery, plant temper and residues; What the evidence says about use
Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of SciencesArchaeological context · Geography · Residue analysis
PNAS: 中国东部上山遗址发现距今一万年的稻米酒The sampled Shangshan site assemblage is located in Pujiang County, Zhejiang Province.
The study analyzes residues from pottery sherds representing different vessel uses.
The summary describes sherds and corresponding complete vessel forms and identifies the globular form as a small-mouth jar.
Cited in: What the evidence says about use