HENAN PROVINCE, CHINA—According to a Phys.org report, archaeologist Xingtao Wei of Zhengzhou University and his colleagues analyzed residues preserved on three 8,000-year-old pottery tripods recovered from Xielaozhuang, a site in northern China belonging to the Peiligang culture. The researchers were examining the pottery with scanning electron microscopy to study how alcohol was made when they detected the crusty residues. Additional testing with Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, and analysis of starch granules revealed that the residues contained compounds and minerals typically found in bone. They also detected traces of wild plants, including acorns and adlay millet. Wei and his colleagues suggest that extracting nutrients from the bones of animals may have been a survival strategy employed by the members of the Peiligang culture during the transition from hunting and gathering to farming. To read about the Peiligang culture's practice of aquaculture, go to "China's Carp Catchers."
