Diets thousands of years ago were more varied than the archaeological record suggests, with new research finding people consumed numerous plant-based foods.
Chemical analysis of pottery from south-east Arabia in the Bronze Age used cutting-edge techniques to cast new light on an ancient peoples previously thought to have had a diet based almost entirely on meat and dairy.
Investigations had found animal-based products on such pottery, leading to the previous conclusion about diet, but a new inquiry has changed that perspective after it found evidence of plant-based products.
In the study published in PLOS One, researchers analysed the lipid fat, oil and wax content of 179 pottery items from eight inland and coastal sites in the UAE and Oman.
Among these were Hili 8 and Hili North Tomb A, part of a complex of Bronze Age sites in Al Ain.
What does the study show?
The first author of the new study, Dr Akshyeta Suryanarayan of the University of Cambridge, said one the most widely accepted components of Middle East culture 4,000 years ago was the growth of oasis agriculture and more sedentary lifestyles.
“Lipid residue analysis of early locally made pottery consistently shows fats derived from animal-based products, such as the meat of goats, sheep, cattle or wild deer and camels – and dairy products,” she told The National.
“This indicates that animal husbandry and pastoral practices formed a major part of everyday subsistence, even while agriculture was being adopted in the region.”
The study indicates that the consumption of animal products was far from the full story, however, as it suggests communities relied on a wide range of plants, too.
Plant-derived residues were found in fewer vessels but their presence is significant, according to Dr Suryanarayan.
“Due to their lower lipid content and the inherent difficulty in detecting such compounds using current analytical techniques, the recovery of plant markers – alongside those from cereals and date palm products – suggests a broader spectrum of plant use than previously assumed,” she said.
“This hints at more varied and complex dietary practices than are typically visible in the archaeological record.”
Changing perspectives
In the paper, the researchers suggested their lipid analysis indicates Bronze Age communities in the region were using types of plants that did not show up in the “macrobotanical record”, meaning they left no visible trace.
As a result, the work highlights the use of a wider range of plants than archaeologists would otherwise detect.
“It is plausible that the gathering of fruits, seeds, shoots, leaves and tubers from numerous wild species along with cereal consumption would have been a part of food practices,” the researchers wrote.
Previous work has shown that cereals, legumes and date palms were consumed in Middle Eastern settlements in the early Bronze Age.
Fats from cereals are rarely preserved and the researchers said they could not be confident of either their presence or absence from the vessels looked at in the current study.
The researchers said it was difficult to know if the pottery vessels were used as containers for substances traded with other societies, but their work does suggest the pottery may have been reused over extended periods.
Dr Suryanarayan said the study reaffirmed that pottery vessels “were fundamentally culinary tools and containers” used to store, transport, alter and prolong the life of perishable produce.
She added that archaeologists had been analysing lipid residues since the 1990s but this approach became more widely used in the past decade.
“Recent methodological advancements have significantly enhanced the ability to extract and identify highly degraded biomolecules from archaeological ceramics,” she said.
“These innovations now permit the successful analysis of residues even in regions with poor organic preservation due to harsh environmental conditions.”
Pottery production is first documented in the UAE and Oman from the early third millennium BCE. The latest study looked at locally made and imported pottery, including fine red Omani vessels and black-slipped jars – tall, pear-shaped vessels with a black coating – from the Indus Civilisation.
Titled Identifying pastoral and plant products in local and imported pottery in Early Bronze Age south-eastern Arabia, the paper was published last month and was co-written by researchers in the UAE, Oman, the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, France and Poland.
Thanks to funding from the Zayed National Museum, the research will continue, with the next phase set to look at material on pottery from coastal sites.
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