Re: Food and drink in European prehistory
- From: Philip Deitiker <Nopdeitik@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: 17 Nov 2005 16:12:34 GMT
In sci.archaeology, Peter Alaca created a message ID
news:437c5304$1$61860$dbd4b001@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx:
> Jacqui Wood (2000)
> Food and drink in European prehistory
> European Journal of Archaeology Vol. 3(1): 89-111
> www.ffzg.hr/arheo/ska/tekstovi/food_and_drink.pdf
> (318 kb, 23pp)
>
> Abstract:
> There is a wealth of archaeological evidence, from
> bones excavated in prehistoric middens, piles of
> fruit stones and sea shells, that give us concrete
> indications of food consumed at various prehistoric
> sites around Europe. In addition to this information,
> we have pollen analysis from settlement sites and
> charred plant macrofossils. Wetland archaeology
> informs us in much more detail about not only the
> types of foods that were being eaten in prehistory
> but also, in some cases, their cooking techniques.
> This paper will explore whether or not a popular
> misconception about the daily diet in prehistory has
> its roots in the analysis of stomach contents of
> various bog bodies found in Europe.
The connection be Irish/English/Scandinavian paleo culture is
interesting. The technique described has merit particularly if
large castironwear is not available. By stewing meats and
'souping' bones one extracts nutrition from both that
digestible and indigestable (connective tissue) of the meat.
This makes it more, also, suitible for the digestion of
children. For this specific group of people the introduction
of Triticaea could have selected this cooking ritual over
others.
"
Although burnt mounds are widespread in Ireland, it is
interesting to observe the absence of Fulachta Fliadh in
Counties Galway, Limerick and Clare. This is probably due to
the prevalence of limestone bedrock (O'Kelly 1954:144), since
limestone, on contact with heat and water, would turn to
calcium hydroxide. So although this is an ef®cient way to
cook meat, it probably did not merit the carrying of stones
long distances for cooking; suitable rocks in the local
geology could in¯uence the distribution of the use of this
method of cooking. "
Although calcium hydroxide is not a preferential way of
dealing with meats, it is relatively effective way of removing
the cuticle from grains, in fact, this is what is used to
prepare masa from corn. Removing the cuticle makes certain
hard corns amicable for soups are as additives to breads.
As a matter of fact I use CaOH, and the cooking process
requires about 2 hours, after which the pourous kernals are
washed and rewashed. This takes corn which is loaded with
sugars and simple starches and turns it into a slow release of
carbohydrates, suitable for working outdoors in the
mesoamerican heat.
The other advantage of using calcium hydroxide in the
preparation of tricicaea is the it aids it the dilution and
removal of alpha gliadins but may also aid in the conversion
of glutamine to glutamate, and while partially converted
glutamine is more dangerous than uncoverted, fully converting
glutamine gets rid of tTG targets and prevents gliadin induced
toxicity in DQ2.5 bearers. Ergo, their preference to lesser
triticaea (triticaea dicoccum), wild quadriploid wheat, may
have been a reason why the transition to highly glutinuous
baking wheat was delayed.
This would have, almost neccesarily, afixed them to a
pastoral or H/G tendencies, since emmer's and einkorn wheat
are simply not as productive as bakers and other modern
wheats. The benefit for example in devoting land to barley
production is that it can be stored dry for long periods, and
then malted. Malted barley is good in many ways.
1. It has much of the problem proteins converted.
2. It converst starch to sugar.
3. It can be fermented, even partial fermentation makes malted
barley more suitable.
4. And it can be used to make beer. :^).
"
It is not unrealistic to assume that someone made an attempt
to preserve this sprouting grain by drying it in a kiln. Once
baked, the grain sprouts would have changed to malt ± a
completely different food with a pleasant odour. This malted
grain could have been ground to a ¯our on a quern and added
to water to make an enjoyable malt drink. It may also have
become an important food, since more vitamins and minerals
are contained in the malted grain than in its un-sprouted
state.
"
According to a recent report serving bakers wheat to young
children is bad, and can induce disease, but delaying also can
produce problems and particularly vulnerable in this regard
are the northern europeans. The flipside is that barley malts
that are the partially roasted ground, even partially
fermented serve the same function as wheat but are more
suitable for small children. And may be suitable for proper
'immunological education'.
Nice report, caught the discussion of then 'bog bodies' (not
bog people) and the midden contents. One area that I think was
deficient was the discussion of the celtic bean.
.
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