The Asian spice turmeric as well as soy and probably banana chips enriched as early as the second millennium BC. The menu of the inhabitants of today’s Israel. This emerges from the analysis of the tartar from people who lived in the Bronze Age settlements of Megiddo and Tel Erani. It is the earliest direct evidence of this food outside of South and East Asia. The results thus make it clear how surprisingly early long-distance trade in food linked societies living far away, say the scientists.
From coconuts to vanilla pods – spices and food from all parts of the world fill the shelves of our supermarkets these days. The long-distance trade that brings them to Europe and the Mediterranean region has deep roots, as is already known from tradition and finds. But the current study pushes the evidence even further into the past. The focus is on an early center of cultural development and trade: the southern Levant, which was an important bridge between the Mediterranean, Egypt and the cultures of the East. Excavations there in the remains of the Bronze Age settlements Megiddo and Tel Erani have already provided interesting insights into the culture of the people of the second millennium BC. Delivered.
Searching for traces in tartar
As part of the current study, the researchers led by Philipp Stockhammer from the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich have now investigated the question of what people ate there back then. To do this, they didn’t evaluate remains in amphorae or rubbish heaps – they looked for traces in a substance that we nowadays fight with brush and paste: tartar. Tiny protein fragments, fat molecules and other substances are deposited in this material which, thanks to the latest analysis methods, can be assigned to certain foods. “Anyone who does not practice dental hygiene will tell us archaeologists even after thousands of years what they have been living on,” says Stockhammer.
The analyzes of the tartar from a total of 16 skeletal finds from Megiddo and Tel Erani showed that regional products such as grain and dates were among the staple foods of the people in the region at that time. The researchers also found sesame proteins in both the samples from Megiddo and Tel Erani. “This suggests that sesame was found until the 2nd millennium BC. B.C. had become a staple food in the Levant, ”said Stockhammer. On the other hand, some much more exotic finds caused a special surprise: In one individual from Megiddo, the researchers found traces of the spice turmeric and soy in the tartar, and in a Bronze Age resident of Tel Erani proteins that come from bananas.
Long-distance trading surprisingly early
These are foods whose production can clearly be found in distant regions of Asia. The scientists cannot rule out that the respective individuals spent part of their life there and thus consumed the food in the regions of origin. According to them, however, it appears much more likely that the three foods reached the Levant via long-distance trade from Asia.
According to this, in the second millennium BC there was apparently already extensive food transport, which presumably went through South Asia and Mesopotamia or Egypt, say the scientists. “I think it’s spectacular at what early time in history food was exchanged over long distances,” says Stockhammer. “It is now the earliest direct detection of turmeric, banana and soy outside of South and East Asia. These exotic products from Asia reached the Mediterranean region a few centuries, sometimes even thousands of years earlier than expected, ”the scientist emphasizes.
The reference to the consumption of bananas is particularly noteworthy. Although today we mostly associate bananas with Africa, the fruit originally comes from Southeast Asia, where it has been growing since the 5th millennium BC. Was used. “Our analyzes now provide crucial information on the spread of the banana. No archaeological or written source had previously suggested such an early spread into the Mediterranean, ”says Stockhammer. According to the researchers, the perishable fruits were probably traded and consumed in a dried form – similar to the banana chips that are still available today.
“Our stone results reflect how early Mediterranean cuisine was shaped by intercultural exchange,” says Stockhammer in conclusion.
Source: Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich, specialist article: PNAS, doi: 10.1073 / pnas.2014956117