Traces of Exotic Foods Detected on Bronze Age Teeth

MUNICH, GERMANY—Courthouse News Service reports that an analysis of the proteins obtained from the dental calculus on 16 Bronze Age skeletons in northern Israel suggests that spices, fruits, and oils might have been imported from South and East Asia centuries earlier than had been previously thought. Traces of turmeric and soy were detected in the ancient dental plaque on a resident of the Canaanite city of Megiddo, while at Tel Erani, a Nagada Egyptian trading post, traces of banana were found on the teeth of another individual. Philipp Stockhammer of Ludwig-Maximilians University said it is possible that these two individuals may have lived in South Asia at some time in their lives and ate the local diet before they traveled to the Levant. On the other hand, Stockhammer and his colleagues think the goods may have passed through trade centers in Egypt and Mesopotamia for wider distribution across the eastern Mediterranean. Analysis of dental calculus could therefore help scientists track the spread of bananas, he explained, which are thought to have been first domesticated in Southeast Asia in the fifth millennium B.C. The researchers also found evidence of wheat and other cereals, dates, and sesame on the ancient teeth. To read about the sudden end of the Bronze Age site of Tel Kabri, go to "Around the World: Israel."