[SunkenCiv]

[snip] To find out what people in the Levant were eating in ancient times, an international team analyzed plaque from the mouths of 16 skeletons. Some remains were excavated at Megiddo, an ancient city-state better known by its Biblical name, Armageddon. Megiddo thrived in the Bronze Age, a fact reflected in the elite burials sampled for the research, but it didn’t have the vast wealth and imperial reach of its larger neighbors. “It was rich and well-connected,” Stockhammer says, “but not a major player—nothing compared to Egypt, or Mesopotamia.” [/snip]

[note: Megiddo is the town name, Harmegiddo or Armageddon is the Battle of Megiddo; second note: remains from Megiddo are not Philistine]

Philistines had a taste for far-flung foods, fossilized tooth plaque reveals Andrew Curry National Geographic https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/philistines-taste-far-flung-foods-dental-plaque Illustration by Nikola Nevenov https://i.natgeofe.com/n/fec4cd53-d393-4df1-a786-2d6f0a72afd0/food_bronze-age-market--c--nikola-nevenov_16x9.jpg

[Jonty30]

I like bananas, I know that mangoes are sweet
I like papayas (PAPAYAS!), but nothing can beat
The sweet love of God

I was walking round in circles five miles an hour
Tryin’ to find my way back to the Heavenly Father
The world tasted sweet, but soon it turned sour
And then I asked Him in and received His power (1,2,3!)

You can search for the tropics to find a fruit that’s new
You can swim in the ocean, until your face turns blue
But look no further, I’ll tell you what to do
Just open your bible to Galatians 5:22

The fruit of the spirit, from love to self-control
If you plant it in your heart it’ll strengthen your soul
So guard your fruit for also we are told
That you fruit will rot if it’s left out in the cold (1,2,3!)

[Grimmy]

The dietary evidence indicates “a dynamic and complex exchange network connecting the Mediterranean with South Asia,” according to the report. Christina Warinner, a Harvard anthropologist and one of the lead investigators, said the imported fruit may have been dried, like modern-day banana chips.

***************

I think it’s pretty much a given that there was a crap ton more long-distance trade and seafaring going on back then than academia has wanted to accept for a long time. Although that refusal might be changing lately.

But, I find it more likely, re: bananas, that a batch of cuttings or small pot growths were planted on palace grounds or some such. Seems to me that even dried chips would mold up badly under the months and possibly years-long trips from Asian source to Med destination.

Seems much more likely that over centuries deals got made, small plantations got planted and it made its way west in small lots.

[Adder]

Which explains the puzzling verse in the Song of Solomon:”...Yes we have no bananas! We have no bananas today!”

[John Milner]

Makes sense, cut up and enjoyed on a nice bowl of Fruity Pebbles or Count Chocula.