A remarkable discovery in Shandong Province, east China, has revealed liquid in an ancient piece of bronzeware to be distilled liquor, pushing the origins of China's distilled alcohol production back to more than 3,000 years ago.

The liquid was in a bronze utensil unearthed in 2010 at the Daxinzhuang Ruins in Jinan City, the capital of Shandong, dating back to the late Shang Dynasty (1600 BC-1046 BC). It took archaeologists years to open the utensil, which was sealed by rust.

A sample of the liquid was sent to the Joint International Research Laboratory of Environmental and Social Archaeology at Shandong University for testing, which confirmed that it contained ethanol.

According to Wu Meng, associate researcher with the lab who led the research, fruit wine and rice wine made through fermentation without distillation contain sugar and protein in addition to ethanol. But sugar and protein were not found in the sample this time, meaning that the newly found liquid was distilled wine.

"The origin of China's distilled wine has always been an important topic in the study of the country's science and technology history and wine culture," said Wu.

Archaeologists have already discovered distilling paraphernalia from the Han Dynasty (202 BC-220 AD) at multiple sites, as well as distilled liquor from the same period. The new findings suggested that the history of China's distilled liquor production could date back 1,000 years earlier than previously thought.