Deciphering ancient ‘recipes’ from charred cereal fragments: An integrated methodological approach using experimental, ethnographic and archaeological evidence

Abstract

This paper assesses a series of experimentally generated cereal fragments with the aim to develop criteria for interpreting archaeological remains of ground cereals. Modern grain of einkorn and barley was subjected to processing by means of grinding, boiling and malting and then charred under controlled laboratory conditions. Neolithic replica grinding stones, cooking pots and hearths were used for the production of modern reference material, informed by ethnographic observations. In this way a range of different types of cereal fragments were generated. Our results are based on observations on the fracture surfaces of these cereals, using stereomicroscopy and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). Diagnostic features for specific grain treatments have been identified that facilitate the interpretation of ancient foods using cereal fragments. Bulging of the fracture surface is the main criterion for the identification of fragments generated prior to charring as the result of ancient grinding. Parboiling of grain in a liquid towards the production of bulgur (boiled in water) or trachanas (boiled or soaked in milk/sour-milk etc) can be identified archaeologically and in certain cases, ground barley may be distinguished from ground malt. Charring ground grain during cooking in liquid or preparing wort for brewing is also potentially identifiable in archaeological material. Archaeological finds of ground wheat from Mesimeriani Toumba in northern Greece dated to the end of the 3rd millennium B.C. are interpreted as boiled grain, dried and ground, corresponding to some form of bulgur or trachanas. Our results contribute new information towards the identification of past culinary practices such as grinding, boiling and brewing with cereals.

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