Reconstruction of the eating habits of the Japonesians by proteomics

Abstract

The study of ancient civilisations enables us to establish an understanding of how societies have changed over thousands of years and helps provide useful context for present-day civilisations, as well as highlighting similarities between past and present civilisations. The large-scale study of proteins – proteomics – is one way that scientists can discover the foodstuffs that ancient civilisations grew and ate and gain interesting insights into what life was like back then. This is done through the identification of proteins in materials found during excavations and is at the heart of the work of Associate Professor Takumi Nishiuchi, Advanced Science Research Center, Kanazawa University, Japan. Through the analysis of ancient proteins, Nishiuchi and his team are stimulating ancient food and using archeological data to envisage the lifestyles of ancient civilisations. The researchers are working at ruins in China and South Korea, as well as at two Japanese ruins in Fukuoka prefecture, with a view to better understanding the propagation of rice food culture and, in the process, providing context to Asia's ongoing food culture. In innovative work involving Orbitrap mass spectrometry, the team has performed protein analysis in plant remains and food crusts found at various sites, which is something that has not been done many times before. The researchers hope their work will lay the foundations for similar studies at sites across the globe, providing insights into other civilisations.