Transformations of Food in the Eastern Mediterranean Late Bronze Age

Project Information

FoodTransforms

Grant agreement ID: 678901

DOI

10.3030/678901

Project closed

EC signature date 22 April 2016

Start date 1 July 2016

End date 31 December 2021

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC)

Total cost

€ 1 499 125,00

EU contribution

€ 1 499 125,00

Coordinated by

LUDWIG-MAXIMILIANS-UNIVERSITAET MUENCHEN
Germany

Periodic Reporting for period 4 - FoodTransforms (Transformations of Food in the Eastern Mediterranean Late Bronze Age)

Reporting period: 2021-01-01 to 2021-12-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Mediterranean cuisine has long been perceived as a timeless constant. The geographic frame was considered to be essential, whereas intercultural entanglements as transformative factors were neglected. Nowadays, Mediterranean diet is not only defined as intangible heritage of humankind by the UNESCO, but also perceived as endangered by present-day globalization. We argue and also demonstrate with our deep historical perspective that Mediterranean cuisine has never been a static entity, but has been shaped by intercultural encounter and long-distance exchange since prehistory.
FoodTransforms integrated archaeological, textual and scientific research in order to trace this early genesis of the Mediterranean diet which will help present-day people to understand the origins and transformations of their food cultures. In our project, we analysed food traces in human dental calculus and pottery vessels from selected sites between the Aegean and Egypt from the 18th to the 11th cent. BC to trace spatial and temporal dynamics. We studied proteins, lipids and micro remains in dental calculus which were trapped in the individual’s calculus during her/his life time. This enabled us to gain unique insight into individual consumption of different plant and animal foods, which goes far beyond what has been achieved to date. Organic residue analyses of pottery with contents labelled on them enabled us to link Egyptian food names to actual contents. We aimed to unravel the importance of long-distance transport of food in the context of and as an important part of early globalization.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

FoodTransforms started with collecting dental calculus from 2nd millennium BCE individuals from Greece (Tiryns, Chania), Turkey (Alalakh), Lebanon (Kamid el-Loz), Israel (Megiddo, Tel Erani) and Egypt (Tell el-Amarna, Ramesseum). The lipids and biomarkers in calculus were studied with Thermal Desorption/Pyrolysis–Gas Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry, the phytoliths with polarizing microscopy and the proteins with Tandem–Mass Spectrometry. The organic residue analysis in the pottery were conducted with the help of Gas Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry.
Overall, we analysed calculus from 150 human individuals and more than 300 ceramic vessels for organic residues. We were able to cross-check the results of one approach with those of the other, e.g. by tracing both, wheat-related proteins as well as wheat-related phytoliths in the dental calculus of the same individual. Our main results can be differentiated in three different topics: 1) methodology, 2) food remains in dental calculus, 3) combustion markers in dental calculus, 4) food residues in Egyptian vessels.
With regard to methodology, we were able to bring protein analysis in dental calculus on a new level by optimising lab protocols and data analyses. Moreover, we pushed forward the metagenomic analysis of food-related aDNA in calculus and developed terminologies that enable a more reflected approach with cultural and biological terminology.
With regard to food remains, we traced the first consumption of turmeric, soy and banana in the Eastern Mediterranean during the 2nd millennium - dating back their appearance for hundreds (turmeric, banana) and thousands (soy) of years. These results now force us to completely rethink Indo-Mediterranean trade during the 2nd millennium BCE and acknowledge the importance of food in early global networks.
With regard to combustion markers (i.e. microscopic and chemical markers of the fuel burnt in fires and ovens from which individuals inhaled the smoke which traces again got embedded into the calculus), we have been able to find the first evidence for the use of lignite/brown coal as a fuel in 14th to 12th century BCE Mycenaean Greece which now finally enables us to explain the functioning of the extensive proto-industrial production of pottery and metal object - both based on fuel-intensive pyrotechnologies which would not have been able without sufficient fuel.
We have intensively worked together with the press and broadcast to communicate our results to the broad audience. Especially our study on food proteins demonstrating the consumption of banana, soy and turmeric during the Bronze Age found enormous impact - from news reports all around the world up to the fan blog of Lady Gaga, where her fans discussed what this earliest evidence of banana in the Mediterranean meant for their own perception of the fruit. Our organic residue analyses on pottery from Tell el-Amarna found the interest of Terra X - Germany’s most popular series of documentaries and became part of a documentary about Tut-anch-Amun, watched by ca. 3.5 Mio. viewers on television.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

FoodTransforms opened up new ways of thinking about past food cultures. We brought together archaeologists and scientists from different disciplines in a very productive dialogue and created mutual awareness of the challenges of each discipline’s methods and terminologies.
We were successful in producing ground-breaking new insights into past Mediterranean diet. Via proteins and phytoliths, we have been able to trace the consumption of turmeric, soy and banana already in the 2nd millennium BCE Levant - i.e. hundreds or thousands of years earlier than it has hitherto been expected. These results - published by us in PNAS - now force us to rethink the role of food in early globalized societies. FoodTransforms has provided clear evidence that from early onwards humans were interested in exotic tastes and transported food over thousands of kilometers.
Another key result was the evidence for the inhalation of combustion markers from the burning of lignite/brown coal in Southern Greece and Crete in the 14th to 12th centuries BCE. Based on the distinctness of the chemical markers, we were even able to identify the lignite resources on the Peloponnese and on Crete where the lignite was collected. Our study has not only provided the earliest evidence for the systematic use of lignite as fuel ca. 1000 years earlier than hitherto assumed, but also allowed us to finally explain how Mycenaean Greece was able to produce pottery and metal objects for export on an almost industrial scale without having sufficient wooden resources.
Finally, Organic Residue Analysis of ceramic vessels with Egyptian content label enabled us to trace the contents named on the respective labels (e.g. wine, animal fat), but also showed that these storage vessels were used multiple times and for multiple contents whereby the label only refers to one state in the biography of usage of the vessel.

Robert Power, Microscopy

Mediterranean Food