Re: Food and drink in European prehistory


"Peter Alaca" <P.Alac@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:437ccc21$0$46972$dbd41001@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> 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°
>

Opium in ancient Greek = mekon
Mushroom in ancient Greek = mukes.

Beer/wine made by adding certain fungus to wet grain/grapes.

Fire struck using tinder fungus.
Ancient Greek mukter = fire-breathing bull of Aeetes


.

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