Abstract
Analysis of organic residues in pottery vessels has been successful in detecting a range of animal and plant products as indicators of food preparation and consumption in the past. However, the identification of plant remains, especially grain crops in pottery, has proved elusive. Extending the spectrum is highly desirable, not only to strengthen our understanding of the dispersal of crops from centres of domestication but also to determine modes of food processing, artefact function and the culinary significance of the crop. Here, we propose a new approach to identify millet in pottery vessels, a crop that spread throughout much of Eurasia during prehistory following its domestication, most likely in northern China. We report the successful identification of miliacin (olean-18-en-3β-ol methyl ether), a pentacyclic triterpene methyl ether that is enriched in grains of common/broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum), in Bronze Age pottery vessels from the Korean Peninsula and northern Europe. The presence of millet is supported by enriched carbon stable isotope values of bulk charred organic matter sampled from pottery vessel surfaces and extracted n-alkanoic acids, consistent with a C4 plant origin. These data represent the first identification of millet in archaeological ceramic vessels, providing a means to track the introduction, spread and consumption of this important crop.
Highlights
In Europe, considered to be found in much earlier contexts, has shown that they date to the second millennium BC or later[20]
We propose a new approach for studying millet utilisation in the past, through its identification in direct association with archaeological pottery vessels using a combination of bulk isotope analysis, compound-specific carbon isotope analysis and identification of the pentacyclic triterpene methyl ether (PTME), miliacin
To test whether miliacin is mobilised from millet during processing and absorbed into the ceramic matrix, an experiment was undertaken involving the prolonged cooking of four species of millet; broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum), finger millet (Eleusine coracana), barnyard millet (Echinochloa esculenta) and foxtail millet (Setaria italica) in replica ceramic vessels
Summary
In Europe, considered to be found in much earlier contexts, has shown that they date to the second millennium BC or later[20]. In contrast Boivin and co-workers[22] emphasize the social factors involved in the adoption of millet cultivation, noting that the perceived value of millet as an exotic crop may have been important in early exchange systems, well before the crop became established as a staple food Missing from this debate is any knowledge of how millet was prepared and consumed. We propose a new approach for studying millet utilisation in the past, through its identification in direct association with archaeological pottery vessels using a combination of bulk isotope analysis, compound-specific carbon isotope analysis and identification of the pentacyclic triterpene methyl ether (PTME), miliacin. Prehistoric Eurasian pottery has been studied by archaeologists for centuries and often benefits from well-established chronologies This approach provides a means of contextualizing millet within the spheres of culinary practice and artefact use, allowing further and more detailed insight into the cultural significance of the crop
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