The liquid is the best-preserved alcoholic sample from the Warring States period (475–221 BC) publicly reported to date. The discovery fills an important gap in the archaeological record of brewing practices in Ningxia during that era.
The vessel was excavated in 2024 from the Shanjiabao cemetery in Guyuan City, where a multidisciplinary research team later discovered that liquid had been preserved inside a garlic-shaped bronze flask. The site is the largest late Warring States burial ground associated with Qin culture to have been excavated in Ningxia.