Cereal grinding technology in ancient Mesopotamia: evidence from dental microwear

Abstract

Dental microwear features in a sample of 10 human teeth from Tell Ashara and Tell Masaikh, two archaeological sites in the Middle Euphrates valley, Syria, were compared for possible evidence of a shift in grinding technology in Mesopotamia—parallel to the well-documented introduction of large rotary querns and watermills in the Graeco-Roman world. Two chronological subsets (Bronze Age, n = 4 and Late Roman/Islamic period, n = 6) differred substantially and features related to a more abrasive diet (broad lines, pits and punctures visible on SE micrographs) were significantly less frequent in the later subsample which may indicate that the shift in cereal grinding technology occured in Mesopotamia before the Late Roman period.