2,000-Year-Old Wine Reportedly Found in China

ZHENGZHOU, CHINA—According to a Xinhua report, nearly a gallon of liquid believed to be rice wine was discovered in a bronze pot in a large Western Han Dynasty tomb in central China. Shi Jiazhen of the Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology in Luoyang said the transparent yellow liquid still smells like wine, but will be chemically analyzed to determine its ingredients. During the Western Han period, from 202 B.C. to A.D. 8, alcoholic beverages were made from rice or sorghum, and were stored in elaborate bronze containers for use in ceremonies and rituals. The vessel containing the liquid was one of two large bronze items in the tomb. The other is a lamp shaped like a wild goose. For more on alcoholic beverages in the archaeological record, go to “French Wine, Italian Vine.”