Re: Food and drink in European prehistory

Philip Deitiker wrote:
Peter Alaca wrote: 

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 efiecient way to
cook meat, it probably did not merit the carrying of stones
long distances for cooking; suitable rocks in the local
geology could inluence the distribution of the use of this
method of cooking. "


The point here is of course that in limestone
areas cooking with stones is not possible.

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)


That is in the name of the exibition.

and the midden contents. One area that I think was
deficient was the discussion of the celtic bean. 

What do you think of this?:

   Another possible crop is opium poppy (Papaver
   somniferum ssp. setigerum), although its status as
   a cultivated crop is the subject of some debate.
   Some see this plant as a field weed only, and large
   concentrations of seeds which may confirm an
   economic importance for this plant are lacking.
   However, two facts set the plant apart from others
   weeds.

   The first is that the seeds were used as temper in a
   small pot found in a nearby site in Belgium. As the
   oily seeds are not an obviously suitable addition to
   clay before firing -- they tend to explode -- there
   must have been another reason for inclusion. The
   reason may have been ritual.Opium poppy had
   always a special place in society.

   The second reason is that the wild ancestor of
   domestic opium poppy does not belong to the
   classic, near eastern, series of ancestors of our
   common ancient crop plant, but grows around the
   Western Mediterranean.
   Whether a weed or crop, the plant must have
   originated in that region, which poses a problem as
   all other evidence points to cultural connections
   between the Linearbandkeramik Culture and east
   and southeast Europe, and, ultimately, to the near
   East. Other direct or indirect evidence of
   connections with southern France have not been
   found, and opium poppies are still only found in the
   Western part of the Linearbandkeramik world.

Source: Corrie Bakels (2000)
"The Neolithization of the Netherlands: two ways, one result"
In: A.S. Fairbairn (ed), "Plants in Neolithic Britain
and beyond." Neolithic Studies Group Seminar
Papers 5. Oxbow Books, Oxford. 101-106
(quote from pp 101, 104)

--
º°º°º°º < Peter Alaca > º°º°º°º°º°º°º°º°º°º°º°º°º°º°º°º°º°º°



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