Posted on 12/03/2024 6:57:59 AM PST by Red Badger
‘Focaccia’ seasoned with animal fat baked in an experimental replica husking tray. Credit: Sergio Taranto
Late Neolithic communities in the Fertile Crescent baked large, seasoned breads using grooved husking trays. Analysis of archaeological remains highlights a six-century culinary tradition involving cereal processing and communal meals.
A study led by researchers from the UAB and the University La Sapienza in Rome reveals that during the Late Neolithic, between 7000 and 5000 BCE, fully agricultural communities in the Fertile Crescent region of the Near East developed a complex culinary tradition. This tradition included baking large loaves of bread and “focaccias” with various flavors on specialized trays, known to archaeologists as husking trays.
The study was published in the journal Scientific Reports and also involved staff from the Milà i Fontanals Institution (IMF-CSIC) and the University of Lyon (France).
The husking trays were containers with a large oval base and low walls, made of coarse clay. They differed from common trays due to their internal surface, marked with rough impressions or incisions arranged repetitively and regularly. Previous experiments using replicas of these trays and cooking structures similar to those found at archaeological sites from the studied period had already allowed researchers to hypothesize their function.
These investigations suggested that large loaves made with water and flour might have been baked on these trays, placed in domed ovens for about 2 hours at an initial temperature of 420°C. The grooves on the internal surface would have facilitated the removal of the bread once baked. Moreover, the large size of the loaves, approximately 3 kg, suggested they were likely intended for communal consumption.
Analyzing Traces of Neolithic Breadmaking
The research team analyzed ceramic fragments of husking trays from between 6400 and 5900 BCE to identify their use as specialized containers for baking cereal-based doughs and whether these doughs could have been seasoned with products such as animal fat or vegetable oil. The analyzed remains come from the archaeological sites of Mezraa Teleilat, Akarçay Tepe, and Tell Sabi Abyad, located in the area between Syria and Turkey. The analyses were carried out at the Universities of Istanbul and the Koç (Turkey).
The study, based on various types of analyses from an integrated perspective, provides clear evidence regarding both the uses of these artifacts and the nature of the foods processed in them. In particular, the analysis of phytoliths (silica residues from plants) suggests that cereals such as wheat (Triticum sp.) or barley (Hordeum sp.), reduced to flour, were processed in these trays.
Focaccia With Animal Fat Replica
‘Focaccia’ with animal fat experimentally baked in a replica husking tray inside a domed oven. Credit: Sergio Taranto
Furthermore, the analysis of organic residues indicates that some of the trays were used to cook foods containing animal-derived ingredients, such as animal fat, and in one case, plant-based seasonings. The degradation state of the residues suggests that, in at least two cases, the trays reached temperatures compatible with those experimentally verified for baking dough in domed ovens. Finally, the use-alterations analysis of the ceramic surface allowed the identification of use-wear specifically associated with bread residues and others linked to seasoned focaccia residues.
“Our study offers a vivid picture of communities using the cereals they cultivated to prepare breads and ‘focaccias’ enriched with various ingredients and consumed in groups,” explains Sergio Taranto, lead author of the study, part of a doctoral thesis carried out at the UAB and La Sapienza. “The use of the husking trays we identified leads us to consider that this Late Neolithic culinary tradition developed over approximately six centuries and was practiced in a wide area of the Near East,” the researcher concludes.
Reference:
“Unveiling the culinary tradition of ‘focaccia’ in Late Neolithic Mesopotamia by way of the integration of use-wear, phytolith & organic-residue analyses”
by Sergio Taranto, Adrià Breu Barcons, Marta Portillo, Marie Le Miere, Anna Bach Gomèz, Miquel Molist and Cristina Lemorini, 5 November 2024, Scientific Reports.
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-78019-9
Researchers from the UAB’s Prehistoric Archaeology of the Near East Research Group (SAPPO), Adrià Breu, Anna Bach, and Miquel Molist, are also authors of the study.
:)
Maybe if you lived on Park avenue.
Yes. I bake my sourdough at 500F for 20 minutes covered and 30 minutes uncovered. Some recipes turn the temp down to 450 for the last 30 min. White sandwich bread is around 280F.
I figure they must have fired the oven to 780F, raked out the coals, and put the bread in after the oven cooled a bit.
I wonder how they timed the bake. “Hey Siri, set timer for two hours” probably didn’t work in those days.
Since they were obviously make bricks, the grooves may have fit together eliminating the need for mortar.
That would be a logical concept, but have you ever watched a loaf of bread bake? It first swells up and then just before it is done it shrinks a bit. These dimples would have cause it to shrink at different rates therefore kind of “pre-peeling it loose from bottom face surface contact.
So it is pretty much already loose before it is completely done. On a smooth surface it will stick easier because it expands and contracts at the same rate across that surface. An odd surface causes uneven expansion and contraction across the contact face breaking that uniform bond.
The fact that they figured out that reality so far back changes our assumptions about intelligence levels during the Neolithic period. It is pure genius science that we don’t even use now when baking... :)
Very cool.
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I’d like to know whether this Neolithic Focaccia was served with salsa.
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