Spicing up life in northwestern Europe: exotic food plant imports in the Roman and medieval world (original) (raw)
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The introduction and dispersal histories of eight common condiments in North-West Europe are explored: Apium graveolens (celery), Anethum graveolens (dill), Coriandrum sativum (coriander), Brassica nigra (black mustard), Foeniculum vulgare (fennel), Satureja hortensis (summer savory), Carum carvi (caraway) and Petroselinum crispum (parsley). The presence of these condiments in archaeobotanical reports from the study area was recorded, together with information on chronological phase, type of site, social status and mode of preservation. Analysis of the data suggests the presence of very distinct patterns of dispersal that highlight the socio-cultural significance of the food plants in question.
The PLANTCULT Project: identifying the plant food cultures of ancient Europe
Antiquity, 2017
Plant foods are closely connected to cultural, social and economic aspects of human societies, both past and present. Food-preparation techniques and the etiquette of consumption involve complex interactions of natural resources and human cultures. During European prehistory, these changes included the shift to sedentism, the cultivation and domestication of plants, food storage, the production and exchange of alcoholic beverages and luxury foodstuffs, and the continuous adaptation of established culinary practices to newcomers in fields and gardens.
According to the core-periphery model of economic geography, the Medieval and Early Modern Czech lands can be called a semi-periphery. They are located in a hilly part of central Europe, in the shadows of the world’s naval powers. Over the centuries this location has greatly influenced their domestic consumer society, in many ways lacking in self-sufficiency and often having to rely on the import of foreign and exotic goods through a global sales network; amongst these rare goods were different kinds of spices. These imported species, specifically assimilated, became not only an important part of the diet, but also a symbol of luxury. This paper presents the current state of research into exotic spices that have been discovered in archaeological contexts in today’s Czech Republic, and illustrates their importance for the interpretation of trade in exotic goods and the historical socio-cultural level of local consumers.
Trade and New Plant Foods in the Western Atlantic Coast: the Roman Port of Irun (Basque Country)
M.M. Urteaga Artigas, M.J. Noain Maura (eds): Mar Exterior. El Occidente Atlántico en época romana. Actas del Congreso Internacional. Pisa, 6-9 noviembre 2003. Escuela Española de Historia y Arqueología en Roma-CSIC, Roma, 2005, 169-177, 2005
The analysis of plant remains from Irun has provided an important assemblage of more than 6000 remains from which a large part is composed of economic species. The assemblage includes many fruits and nuts well documented also in the literary sources. Looking at the possible origin of the species, we put forward the following classification: Imported species: olives. Species likely to have been imported, although they may have been already introduced, and therefore, locally cultivated: plums, cherries, peaches, almonds and figs. Species cultivated from prehistoric times, but that could have been subjected to trade: wheat and grapes. Species gathered in the surroundings from wild stands of managed plants: sloes, walnuts, pine, hazelnuts, acorns, Rubus sp.
Using archaeobotanical data and examining them with a novel combination of density interpolation surfaces and social and spatial network analyses, this study has brought together exotic food plants in Roman London to outline the changing ‘face’ of its flavourscape, and contextualise it within the broader exotics commerce in Britannia. Consumption of a variety of exotics appeared to be widespread since the very first stages of London's establishment and their presence was maintained throughout although later on, as life in the town developed and its character changed, the focus of their distribution also changed. The emphasis shifted from the core of the city in its early days towards its outer zones, such as the upper Walbrook valley and Southwark in the Middle Roman, and the western and eastern sectors in the Late Roman phase. These changes appeared to largely reflect the changes in the overall commerce network of exotics in Britannia. In this network London starts as a mainly consumption place in the Early Roman phase to become the main redistribution centre in the Middle Roman and the necessary intermediate node in the transport system that had been established by the Late Roman phase, connecting the south to the north.
Journal of Lithic Studies, 2020
The transformation of food ingredients into meals corresponds to complex choices resulting from the interplay of environmental and cultural factors: available ingredients, technologies of transformation, cultural perceptions of food, as well as taste and food taboos. Project PLANTCULT (ERC Consolidator Grant, GA 682529) aims to investigate prehistoric culinary cultures from the Aegean to Central Europe by focusing on plant foods and associated food preparation technologies spanning the Neolithic through to the Iron Age. Our paper offers an overview of the lines of investigation pursued within the project to address plant food preparation and related stone tool technologies. The wide range of plant foods from the area under investigation (ground cereals, breads, beer, pressed grapes, split pulses, etc.) suggests great variability of culinary preparations. Yet, little is known of the transformation technologies involved (e.g., pounding, grinding, and boiling). Changes in size and shape of grinding stones over time have been associated with efficiency of grinding, specific culinary practices and socioeconomic organisation. Informed by ethnography and experimental data,
sites of the migration and the early Merovingian periods throw new light on agriculture and human diet of the Germanic tribe of the Alamanni in southwestern Germany from the 3rd to the 6th century A.D. Agriculture was based on the growing of a large variety of cereals: Hordeum, Triticum dicoccon, T. spelta, Secale cereale, T. monococcum, T. aestivum, Avena sativa and Panicum miliaceum. Hordeum was most frequent. It occurs as naked and as hulled barley. In a grave with wet preserved plant macrofossils dated to the 6th century in Trossingen, Hordeum distichon was also present. In addition, the Alamanni cultivated the oil and fibre plants Linum usitatissimum, Papaver somniferum, Cannabis sativa, Camelina and Brassica rapa, as well as the pulses Lens culinaris and Pisum sativum. More surprising were finds of vegetables and spices. Among them, Juniperus communis and Humulus lupulus could have been gathered in the wild, but Coriandrum sativum, Apium graveolens and Satureja montana must have been cultivated in gardens. In addition to wild gathered material Pyrus, Malus, Prunus avium and Ficus carica also occurred, which were most probably grown in orchards or were even imported. Therefore the Alamanni were not only farmers growing cereals and other field crops, but they also had gardens and orchards were they grew vegetables, spices and fruits. Most probably they learned horticulture from the Romans when they settled near the border of the Roman Empire. This investigation shows in an impressive way how much more information can be gathered when waterlogged plant material is available, especially concerning fruits and spices.