A pioneering archaeobotanical study of burnt food residues on the surface of ceramic vessels has shown how varied meals were in present-day northern Germany 5,000 years ago. The study, published in PLOS ONE by scientists at the University of Kiel, shows that both cereals and wild plants played an important role.
The ceramic vessels analyzed come from one of the oldest villages in Schleswig-Holstein, the Neolithic settlement Oldenburg LA 77 in Ostholstein. Using scanning electron microscopy and chemical analysis, a sophisticated preparation of foods of plant origin was identified.
“The ‘food crusts’ contained tissue remains of spelled and barley grains, as well as seeds of white goosefoot, a wild plant that grows as a weed and ruderal plant and produces many starchy seeds,” the study explains in a statement. Professor Wiebke Kirleis, director of the study at the Collaborative Research Center (CRC) 1266 of the University of Kiel.
“The charred grains and straw of spelled and barley, as well as the seeds of white goose’s foot, have already been documented through archaeobotanical analyzes of soil samples from this Neolithic settlement,” adds Dr. Dragana Filipovic, associate researcher at CRC 1266. .
The new findings show that cereals did indeed play an important dietary role and that wild plants enriched the dietary spectrum of early northern farmers. The barley was harvested in a milky state and prepared in a similar way to the green spelled traditionally produced in Baden-Württemberg. The spelled was processed in a sprouted state, which gave the porridge a sweet taste.
Therefore, food in the Neolithic was not at all bland, but rather varied. People had a very differentiated sense of taste and attached great importance to good taste.
Until now, chemical analyzes of pottery have shown that the vessels contained dairy products. A look at the burnt crusts in the pot now shows that cereals and dairy products were probably processed in the same containers into porridge for daily use and formed a balanced dietary base.
“While animal fats are absorbed into the ceramic and leave a mark there, plant components can only be detected in the burnt food crust,” says Dr. Lucy Kubiak-Martens, partner at BIAX Consult (Netherlands) and first author of the study.
This shows how important a multi-method approach is to reconstructing Neolithic recipes created from a variety of ingredients. These discoveries expand our understanding of the long and complex process of transformation of plants into food during the period following the introduction of the agricultural way of life and cultivated plants in north-central Europe.
