No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the authors.
Can Noodles Be Made From Millet? An Experimental Investigation of Noodle Manufacture Together With Starch Grain Analyses
Abstract
The earliest noodles have been dated to 4000 years ago, based on the discovery of remains at Lajia in north western China. The Lajia noodles were described as having been made by repeatedly stretching dough composed of millet flour with husks. In order to try to understand this manufacturing technique we carried out simulation experiments in noodle-making and documented morphological changes in noodle starches caused by cooking. Our research demonstrates that it is impossible to stretch pure millet dough into noodles. We conclude that the husk phytoliths and starch-like granules said to be from the Lajia noodle remains may actually not have been part of the noodles themselves.
... Haslam (2006) studied potential misidentification during starch analysis caused by fungal conidia on archaeological tool residues. Some scholars have noticed the morphological similarities between mineral spherulites and starch granules (Loy 1994;Ge et al. 2011), but there is a lack of targeted studies in this area and no efficient way to address this issue. The present study reports the investigation of mineral granules found in residues from a Neolithic grinding stone in north-east China. ...
... This study improved our understanding of one kind of mineral granule that has optical properties similar to those of starch. Although experienced researchers should be able to distinguish true starch granules from minerals, on the basis of their images under an optical microscope, as discussed previously (e.g., Loy 2006;Ge et al. 2011), in such cases there is no clear evidence to support identification of the minerals. Even if the previous recognition of minerals in ancient starch analysis cannot be said to be subjective, it is at least lacking in strong evidence. ...
... In most cases, an optical microscope with polarized light system is enough for the recognition of ancient starch, if the granules show clear morphological characteristics of starch, such as hilums, lamella, facets and so on. The method introduced here is particularly useful when it is difficult to confirm the starch granules by conventional means, especially in cases of controversial identification (see, e.g., Lu et al. 2005;Ge et al. 2011). By this means, the samples in question could be tested again if they are still available. ...
To clarify issues involved in problematic identification of ancient starch granules, we investigated suspected granules found in residues from a Neolithic grinding stone in north-east China. The chemical compositions of suspected granules and modern starch granules were tested via SEM–EDS. The results show that the elemental composition of the suspected granules mainly comprises O, S and Ca, which is similar to the composition of calcium sulphate, but quite different from that of real starch granules, which show high levels of C and O, with very low level of other elements. The findings in this study act as a warning that tiny mineral granules may be misidentified as starch, and also indicate that the method of SEM–EDS can be useful to confirm the nature of suspected granules in ancient starch analysis.
... Full gelatinization, whereby the starch grain has irreversibly swollen and therefore structurally collapsed, occurs once a species-specific temperature and degree of moisture has been reached (Crowther 2012 (Henry et al. 2009). Additional tests have been made on rice, bread wheat, barley, foxtail millet (Setaria italica) and broomcorn millet, Job's tears (Coix lacrymajobi), and green bristlegrass (Ge et al. 2011;Li et al. 2020;Ma et al. 2019). ...
... A difference between einkorn and barley, and perhaps as a result of being processed dry vs. wet, was the greater shape modification, and this latter point is especially evident in the development of protrusions, as seen on einkorn starch grains. With regards to wheat, we found similar damages to those reported by Ge et al. (2011): incomplete or broken grains, irregular outlines or edges, and wider arms on the extinction cross. When we consider the legumes, we found that similar types of mechanical forces (crushing and grinding) led to comparable modifications to the edges of the starch grains and the retaining of the very diagnostic lamellar structure. ...
... Full gelatinization, whereby the starch grain has irreversibly swollen and therefore structurally collapsed, occurs once a species-specific temperature and degree of moisture has been reached (Crowther 2012 (Henry et al. 2009). Additional tests have been made on rice, bread wheat, barley, foxtail millet (Setaria italica) and broomcorn millet, Job's tears (Coix lacrymajobi), and green bristlegrass (Ge et al. 2011;Li et al. 2020;Ma et al. 2019). ...
... A difference between einkorn and barley, and perhaps as a result of being processed dry vs. wet, was the greater shape modification, and this latter point is especially evident in the development of protrusions, as seen on einkorn starch grains. With regards to wheat, we found similar damages to those reported by Ge et al. (2011): incomplete or broken grains, irregular outlines or edges, and wider arms on the extinction cross. When we consider the legumes, we found that similar types of mechanical forces (crushing and grinding) led to comparable modifications to the edges of the starch grains and the retaining of the very diagnostic lamellar structure. ...
... Starch damage features associated with grinding have been investigated in experiments using several types of cereals, such as wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum L.) and maize (Zea mays L.) (del Babot 2003;Ge et al. 2011;Mickleburgh and Pagán-Jiménez 2012). However, it has been difficult to compare different damage patterns on starch grains from different plant species associated with grinding because the parameters amongst those studies were not always consistent. ...
... Our experiments demonstrated that birefringence and extinction crosses of starch grains became invisible after dry-grinding. Moreover, other minerals and organic particles (e.g., fungi and cellulose) also show birefringence and produce optical features similar to extinction crosses (Haslam 2004;Ge et al. 2011). It is thus likely that damaged irregular starch aggregates from rice could have easily been overlooked in the archaeological samples. ...
China is a major centre for rice domestication, where starch grain analysis has been widely applied to archaeological grinding tools to gain information about plant use by ancient Chinese societies. However, few rice starch grains have been identified to date. To understand this apparent scarcity of starch grains from rice, we carried out dry‐ and wet‐grinding experiments with stone tools on four types of cereals: rice (Oryza sativa L.), foxtail millet (Setaria italica), Job's tears (Coix lacryma‐jobi L.), and barley (Hordeum vulgare L.). The results reveal that dry‐grinding produces significant damage to starches to the point where they may be undetected in archaeological samples, while wet‐grinding causes only slight morphological changes to the starch grains. Moreover, rice starch grains have the most substantial alterations from dry‐grinding, possibly impeding their identification. These findings provide a possible means to explain the relative scarcity of rice starch grains recovered from archaeological grinding tools, which we now suggest was caused from the use of the dry‐grinding technique. We therefore suggest that rice starch grains have been likely underrepresented in the archaeological record, and previous interpretations of starch analyses need to be reconsidered.
... Tests with a variety of flours and starch grain analyses were conducted, nevertheless, to see if lajia noodles could indeed be made from millet. The results demonstrated that noodles could not be made from a puremillet dough [55]. ...
Climate change, water scarcity, escalating food bills, population growth, and other social implications are probable to substantially endanger agricultural and global food security in the twenty-first century, particularly for the world's poorest residents who live in deserts and partitions. Scientists and nutritionists are challenged by these effects to look into the production, processing, and consumption of alternative food sources in order to eradicate eagerness and poverty. The world's main food supply and a large portion of the diet of the ordinary human are cereal grains. Millet, which is also a significant source of carbs and proteins for the locals, is a drought-resistant crop in Africa and Asia's semi-arid tropical areas. Furthermore, millet grain is gaining popularity among technologists, food scientists, and nutritionists due to its important impact on national food availability and potential medical benefits. To assess the possible health benefits and nutritional worth of millet grains, this report reviewed recent advancements in the research that had been conducted up to that point. As well as the difficulties, constraints, and prospects for promoting millet use as food for a vast and expanding population, processing technologies used to enhance the millet's edible and nutritional qualities are examined. Bhatt, et.al, 2023 Agricultural Mechanization in Asia 12574 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial 4.0 International License.
... Tests with a variety of flours and starch grain analyses were conducted, nevertheless, to see if lajia noodles could indeed be made from millet. The results demonstrated that noodles could not be made from a puremillet dough [55]. ...
Climate change, water scarcity, escalating food bills, population growth,and other social implications are probable to substantially endangeragricultural and global food security in the twenty-first century,particularly for the world's poorest residents who live in deserts andpartitions. Scientists and nutritionists are challenged by these effects tolook into the production, processing, and consumption of alternativefood sources in order to eradicate eagerness and poverty. The world'smain food supply and a large portion of the diet of the ordinary humanare cereal grains. Millet, which is also a significant source of carbs andproteins for the locals, is a drought-resistant crop in Africa and Asia'ssemi-arid tropical areas. Furthermore, millet grain is gaining popularity among technologists, food scientists, and nutritionists due to itsimportant impact on national food availability and potential medicalbenefits. To assess the possible health benefits and nutritional worth ofmillet grains, this report reviewed recent advancements in the researchthat had been conducted up to that point. As well as the difficulties,constraints, and prospects for promoting millet use as food for a vast andexpanding population, processing technologies used to enhance themillet's edible and nutritional qualities are examined
... Tests with a variety of flours and starch grain analyses were conducted, nevertheless, to see if lajia noodles could indeed be made from millet. The results demonstrated that noodles could not be made from a puremillet dough [55]. ...
Climate change, water scarcity, escalating food bills, population growth, and other social implications are probable to substantially endanger agricultural and global food security in the twenty-first century, particularly for the world's poorest residents who live in deserts and partitions. Scientists and nutritionists are challenged by these effects to look into the production, processing, and consumption of alternative food sources in order to eradicate eagerness and poverty. The world's main food supply and a large portion of the diet of the ordinary human are cereal grains. Millet, which is also a significant source of carbs and proteins for the locals, is a drought-resistant crop in Africa and Asia's semi-arid tropical areas. Furthermore, millet grain is gaining popularity among technologists, food scientists, and nutritionists due to its important impact on national food availability and potential medical benefits. To assess the possible health benefits and nutritional worth of millet grains, this report reviewed recent advancements in the research that had been conducted up to that point. As well as the difficulties, constraints, and prospects for promoting millet use as food for a vast and expanding population, processing technologies used to enhance the millet's edible and nutritional qualities are examined. Bhatt, et.al, 2023 Agricultural Mechanization in Asia 12574 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial 4.0 International License.
... Starch granules are affected by grinding and such a damage is noticeable in both the extinction cross and morphology as a fractured surface or irregular outline (Ge et al., 2011 Nonthermal techniques in Millets F I G U R E 1 Current research on non-thermal processing of millets protein and crude fiber contents of fine versus coarse flours on grinding were 7.72 versus 6.02 g per 100 g and 3.70 versus 5.84 g per 100 g, respectively. Fine flour was nutritionally superior to coarse flour except for the contents of crude fiber. ...
Millets are tiny‐seeded grains that play a crucial part in the mitigation of malnutrition and food insecurity due to global warming, accelerated growth in population, and an economic slowdown. Millets are indigenous climate‐resilient food crops that are processed to achieve enhanced shelf‐stable products along with preservation of their nutritional value. Non‐thermal processing is preferred in this aspect, owing to its minimal undesirable effects. Non‐thermal processing has many advantages over traditional techniques. Food ingredients that are sensitive to heat and chemical treatments can be subjected to non‐thermal processing for microbial disinfection, enzyme inactivation, protein modification, etc. It offers a new generation of value‐added foods with intact bioactive ingredients. This paper presents the recent advances in non‐thermal processing methods used in sorghum, foxtail, kodo, proso, little, pearl, and finger millets. This review consolidates the studies on the effects of mechanical grinding, germination, fermentation, high hydrostatic pressure, ultrasonication, irradiation, pulsed light, light emitting diodes, and cold plasma in the nutritive quality and storage characteristics of millets. Germination, fermentation, high pressure, ultrasonication, irradiation, pulsed‐light, and cold plasma improved the nutritional attributes, free radicals scavenging activity, and sensory characteristics of millets; however, extreme dehulling, milling, and polishing affected the contents of micronutrients, polyphenols, and dietary fiber. The processing methods also reduced the bulk density of millet products in the preparation of weaning and geriatric foods.
Practical Applications
Non‐thermal techniques are advantageous in terms of in‐package decontamination of raw materials or finished products of millets. This is particularly beneficial for ready‐to‐eat foods as it mitigates recontamination. Understanding the variations in the nutritive quality of millets when subjected to processing can aid the researchers, consumers, and food industries in the selection of a suitable technique to enhance nutrition, improve its bioavailability, and combat nutrition and food insecurity.
... The noodles were thin (about 0.3 cm in diameter), delicate, and more than 50 cm in length (Lu et al., 2005). Experimental work has shown that they were made with a hele-type noodle press that allowed shaping noodles by extruding gelatinised flour gel, probably formed from sticky millet variety and potentially with additional wheat flour (Ge, Liu, Chen, & Jin, 2010;Lü et al., 2014). Despite some questions about the archaeological context of this evidence, the Lajia noodle can be seen as one of the oldest example of "fusion cuisine," hybridising the Western grinding tradition and Eastern boiling technique, and potentially utilising grains originating in East and West Asia, respectively. ...
It is commonly recognised that farming activities initiated independently in different parts of the world between approximately 12,000 and 8,000 years ago. Two of such agricultural centres is situated in modern-day China, where systems based on the cultivation of plants and animal husbandry has developed. Recent investigations have shown that between 5000 and 1500 cal. bce , the Eurasian and African landmass underpinned a continental-scale process of food “globalisation of staple crops. In the narrative of food domestication and global food dispersal processes, China has played a particularly important role, contributing key staple food domesticates such as rice, broomcorn, and foxtail millet. The millets dispersed from China across Eurasia during the Bronze Age, becoming an essential food for many ancient communities. In counterpoise, southwest Asian crops, such as wheat or barley, found new habitats among the ancient populations of China, dramatically changing the course of its development. The processes of plant domestication and prehistoric agriculture in China have been a topic of extensive research, review, and discussion by many scholars around the world, and there is a great deal of literature on these topics. One of the consequences of these discoveries concerning the origins of agriculture in China has been to undermine the notion of a single centre of origin for civilisation, agriculture, and urbanism, which was a popular and widespread narrative in the past. It has become clear that agricultural centres of development in China were concurrent with, rather than after, the Fertile Crescent.
... The production of millet flour, by contrast, seems unlikely at this stage. Although Lu et al. (2005) have argued that noodles found in northwest China dated to around 4000 years ago were made from millets, experimental work by Ge et al. (2011) has questioned this conclusion. Ceramic steamers like those found in China are not known from the Neolithic of the Russian Far East and cultivated millet was probably boiled. ...
... The production of millet flour, by contrast, seems unlikely at this stage. Although Lu et al. (2005) have argued that noodles found in northwest China dated to around 4000 years ago were made from millets, experimental work by Ge et al. (2011) has questioned this conclusion. Ceramic steamers like those found in China are not known from the Neolithic of the Russian Far East and cultivated millet was probably boiled. ...
Broomcorn and foxtail millets were being cultivated in the West Liao River basin in Northeast China by at least the sixth millennium BCE. However, when and how millet agriculture spread from there to the north and east remains poorly understood. Here, we trace the dispersal of millet agriculture from Northeast China to the Russian Far East and weigh demic against cultural diffusion as mechanisms for that dispersal. We compare two routes for the spread of millet into the Russian Far East discussed in previous research—an inland route across Manchuria, and a coastal/inland route initially following the Liaodong Peninsula and Yalu River—using an archaeological dataset including millet remains, pottery, stone tools, spindle whorls, jade and figurines. We then integrate the archaeological evidence with linguistic and genetic findings in an approach we term ‘triangulation’. We conclude that an expansion of agricultural societies in Northeast China during the Middle to Late Hongshan (4000e3000 BCE) coincided with the arrival of millet cultivation in eastern Heilongjiang and the Primorye province of the Russian Far East. Our findings support the inland, Manchuria route for the dispersal of millet to the Primorye and suggest that, as well as long-distance cultural exchange, demic diffusion was also involved. Our results are broadly compatible with the farming/language dispersal hypothesis and consistent with a link be- tween the spread of millet farming and proto-Tungusic, the language ancestral to the contemporary Tungusic languages, in late Neolithic Northeast Asia.
... Experiments on various plant taxa have demonstrated that starch grain morphology and properties of the extinction cross are affected by milling. Ge et al. (2011) observed damage to modern reference samples of millets and Triticeae (wheat) from northern China, including radiating fissures and an altered extinction cross with wider arms and a central dark circle on Triticeae starch grains and fissures and rough surfaces on millet starch grains (p. 196). ...
A non-destructive method is used to recover starch from kecaopen grooved vessel sherds from the early Bronze Age site of Yanshi Shangcheng (“Shang city at Yanshi”), located in the Yellow River valley of northern China (Shang Dynsaty/Erligang period). A taxonomic method using morphological and morphometric characteristics identifies extracted starch as millets, Job's tears, snakegourd root, and Triticeae grasses, such as wheat and barley. A few starch grains identified as acorn and tuber (such as lily or yam) were also identified. Damaged starch grains from the ancient starch assemblage share similarities with ground modern reference samples. This suggests that grooved vessels were used to mill plant elements and grind foodstuffs, perhaps to dehusk seeds and make flour from dried roots and acorns in the same way that grinding-stones were used in preceding periods. This hypothesis is supported by the form of the kecaopen vessel, the texture of its inner surface, and modern-use analogy. Plant taxa identified from kecaopen scrapings at Yanshi Shangcheng are similar to economically important taxa identified from scrapings of grinding-stones from preceding periods. This suggests a long continuity in plant processing methods and a long tradition of food preparation based on grinding plant elements, such as seeds, roots, tubers, and acorns.
... Millet is also grown in the south west region of Jazan in Saudi Arabia and is consumed by locals as fermented bread locally called as loloh (Osman, 2011). Several other studies reported that millet is used as puffed breakfast cereal, noodles, and porridges (Ge et al., 2011). ...
Millet flour (water washed or alkali washed) was replaced with wheat flour (WF) at 0, 25, 50, 75, and 100% levels. Objectives of the research were to characterize the flour blends for their technical properties and to produce cookies with less or no gluten contents. All types of flour blends were evaluated for their pasting properties. The cookies were baked and evaluated for their textural and physical attributes. Inclusion of millet flour (both types) in wheat flour resulted in significant reduction in peak and final viscosities while setback viscosities were affected non-significantly. Pasting temperature was increased from 65 ℃ (100% wheat flour) to 91 ℃ (100% millet flour). The hardness of cookies was reduced in the presence of millet flour. Fracturability values of cookies with higher millet flour were higher as compared to control cookies (prepared from 100% wheat flour). Cookies prepared from blends having more that 50% millet flour were not much liked by sensory panelists. The phenolic contents of cookies containing higher levels of either water washed or alkali washed millet flour were found to be higher when compared to cookies prepared from plain WF (1.90 ± 0.14 mg gallic acid/g sample). The 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl activity (%) of cookies ranged from 16.39 ± 0.34 (100% water washed millet flour) to 10.39 ± 0.26 (100% WF; control). The study will help the non-coeliac people to consume low gluten (≈1.6–6.5%) or gluten intolerant people to consume gluten-free cookies (0%) from millet flour having abundant of antioxidants and health-promoting polyphenols.
... When a starch did not have a qualified number (six) of diagnostic and/or distinctive features that matched our reference collection and published sources, the term "cf." was employed, categorizing that starch as an unsecure but probable identification. Damage patterns observable on the starches were compared to published food processing and other related starch damage experiments (Babot, 2003(Babot, , 2006Ge et al., 2011;Henry et al., 2009;Liu et al., 2018;Mickleburgh and Pagán-Jiménez, 2012;Pagán-Jiménez, 2015b;Pagán-Jiménez et al., 2017). Considering that 87% of the recovered individual starches were damaged, this was an integral part of the analysis and interpretations of the starch recoveries. ...
Determining culinary practices is critical for understanding phytocultural complexes, transported landscapes, and human niche constructions. Starch analysis is an exemplary method for reconstructing human‐plant dependencies. However, certain types of artifacts from the Greater Caribbean region, such as flaked lithics, lithic griddles, coral artifacts, and shells have not been extensively analyzed for starch remains. Moreover, there has been no comparison of culinary practices between the Bahama archipelago and the Greater Antilles (the presumed origin of foodways transported to the Bahama archipelago). We investigated 60 bivalve shell artifacts for starch remains, which were recovered from three archaeological sites: El Flaco and La Luperona (Dominican Republic), and Palmetto Junction (Turks & Caicos Islands). In contrast to ethnohistorical narratives that characterize shell tools exclusively as manioc peelers, the starch remains recovered in this study suggest a broader suite of plants and functions. Our results provide evidence that a diversity of plants (Dioscorea spp., Dioscorea trifida L., Fabaceae, Ipomoea batatas L., Manihot esculenta Crantz, cf. Zea mays L., cf. Acrocomia media O.F. Cook, and Zingiberales) were prepared with these shells. This new evidence contributes to ongoing discussions regarding culinary practices in the Caribbean and other related late precolonial (c. 800‐1500 CE) foodways.
... Our results from the analyses on these particular cultivars and varieties of millets are consistent with previous work in China 17,23 . When compared with starch data collected on millets from the United States, India and Africa, the basic shapes of the millet starch grains are consistent, however, the sizes of millet starch grains in this experiment are large [24][25][26] . ...
Research on the manufacture, use, and use-wear of grinding stones (including slabs and mullers) can provide a wealth of information on ancient subsistence strategy and plant food utilization. Ancient residues extracted from stone tools frequently exhibit damage from processing methods, and modern experiments can replicate these morphological changes so that they can be better understood. Here, experiments have been undertaken to dehusk and grind grass grain using stone artifacts. To replicate ancient activities in northern China, we used modern stone tools to dehusk and grind twelve cultivars of foxtail millet (Setaria italica), two cultivars of broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum) and three varieties of green bristlegrass (Setaira viridis). The residues from both used and unused facets of the stone tools were then extracted, and the starch grains studied for morphological features and changes from the native states. The results show that (1) Dehusking did not significantly change the size and morphology of millet starch grains; (2) After grinding, the size of millet starch grains increases up to 1.2 times larger than native grains, and a quarter of the ground millet starch grains bore surface damage and also exhibited distortion of the extinction cross. This indicator will be of significance in improving the application of starch grains to research in the functional inference of grinding stone tools, but we are unable to yet distinguish dehusked forms from native.
... The researchers concluded that the noodles were made from this millet. The suitability of millet to make noodles has been questioned (Ge, Liu, Chen, & Jin, 2011). A mixture of millet and wheat flour results in good quality noodles but no wheat starch or phytoliths were recovered from the bowl. ...
... The researchers concluded that the noodles were made from this millet. The suitability of millet to make noodles has been questioned (Ge, Liu, Chen, & Jin, 2011). A mixture of millet and wheat flour results in good quality noodles but no wheat starch or phytoliths were recovered from the bowl. ...
... Two of these taxa, Typha latifolia L. (cattail) and Cyperus esculentus L. (yellow nutsedge), are also found in Southwest Asia (Davis 1965;Migahid 1988). Finally, a few Southwest Asian taxa are discussed in experimental archaeological publications where researchers examine how food-processing activities affect starch grain morphology and how these changes can be detected archaeologically ( Ge et al. 2010;Henry et al. 2009). ...
Starch grain analysis is a rapidly growing field of archaeological research in Southwest Asia. However, much work still remains regarding which taxa produce starch grains that can be identified in the archaeological record. In this paper, I centralize what is known about starch production patterns within regional flora and analyze 64 previously unstudied taxa from 22 families. The results of this study demonstrate that descriptions of starch grains from Southwest Asian taxa are scattered between archaeological and plant and food science publications. Ten of the species examined in this study, most of whom are grasses, produced starch grains that can be identified at varying taxonomic levels.
... There is no need to use any analytical methods [such as scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS)] to infer whether or not grains are minerals. Some scholars consider that both ''gypsum sphaerocrystal''and ''fungal spores'' have cruciform extinction [43]; in fact, gypsum crystals are monoclinic and cannot form sphaerocrystal. Out of all the minerals found naturally, these can be grouped into three major crystal categories, seven major crystal systems and 32 crystal types; none of these can form sphaerocrystal. ...
Noodles are a global food, but the periods when and places where they were made and originated, as well as their ingredients and the cooking methods used to manufacture them, have remained contentious. In the 2005 edition of the journal Nature, we wrote a summary of the millet noodle specimens found in the Late Neolithic Qijia cultural stratum of the Lajia archaeological site in Qinghai Province, China. However, how the ancient people made millet noodles remains controversial. This paper provides a systematic analysis of the remains of noodles found within an earthenware bowl at the Lajia ''noodle house'' in terms of their plant composition including phytoliths, starch and biomarkers. It provides evidence of how people used millet 4,000 years ago and, most specifically, of the principal methods used for producing millet-based noodles. Further, we show how we used traditional hele tools to make hele millet noodles, with especial reference to the gelatinized hydrogel-forming method, to simulate morphology consistent with the composition and form of the unearthed millet noodles. The results of this study provide new evidence and new insights into the cultural characteristics of the prehistoric human diet.
... There is no need to use any analytical methods [such as scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS)] to infer whether or not grains are minerals. Some scholars consider that both ''gypsum sphaerocrystal''and ''fungal spores'' have cruciform extinction [43]; in fact, gypsum crystals are monoclinic and cannot form sphaerocrystal. Out of all the minerals found naturally, these can be grouped into three major crystal categories, seven major crystal systems and 32 crystal types; none of these can form sphaerocrystal. ...
Noodles are a global food, but the periods when and places where they were made and originated, as well as their ingredients and the cooking methods used to manufacture them, have remained contentious. In the 2005 edition of the journal Nature, we wrote a summary of the millet noodle specimens found in the Late Neolithic Qijia cultural stratum of the Lajia archaeological site in Qinghai Province, China. However, how the ancient people made millet noodles remains controversial. This paper provides a systematic analysis of the remains of noodles found within an earthenware bowl at the Lajia ‘‘noodle house’’ in terms of their plant composition including phytoliths, starch and biomarkers. It provides evidence of how people used millet 4,000 years ago and, most specifically, of the principal methods used for producing millet-based noodles. Further, we show how we used traditional hele tools to make hele millet noodles, with especial reference to the gelatinized hydrogel-forming method, to simulate morphology consistent with the composition and form of the unearthed millet noodles. The results of this study provide new evidence and new insights into the cultural characteristics of the prehistoric human diet.
... However, in order to test the proposition that the lajia noodles can be made from millet , noodle-manufacturing experiments using different flours and starch grains analysis were performed. The results demonstrated that it was not possible to stretch pure-millet dough into noodles (Ge and others 2011). Conversion of millet grains to fura, a common millet food in the West African region and one of the major sources of nutrients in the region, has been studied with respect to its nutrient and flavanol contents and its storage properties. ...
In the 21st century, climate changes, water scarcity, increasing world population, rising food prices, and other socioeconomic impacts are expected to generate a great threat to agriculture and food security worldwide, especially for the poorest people who live in arid and subarid regions. These impacts present a challenge to scientists and nutritionists to investigate the possibilities of producing, processing, and utilizing other potential food sources to end hunger and poverty. Cereal grains are the most important source of the world's food and have a significant role in the human diet throughout the world. As one of the most important drought-resistant crops, millet is widely grown in the semiarid tropics of Africa and Asia and constitutes a major source of carbohydrates and proteins for people living in these areas. In addition, because of their important contribution to national food security and potential health benefits, millet grain is now receiving increasing interest from food scientists, technologists, and nutritionists. The aim of this work was to review the recent advances in research carried out to date for purposes of evaluation of nutritional quality and potential health benefits of millet grains. Processing technologies used for improving the edible and nutritional characteristics of millet as well as challenges, limitations, and future perspectives to promote millet utilization as food for a large and growing population are also discussed.
... Type V starches may be derived from several genera of Triticeae, including, but not limited to, the genera of Agropyron and Elymus. Some granules also show traces of damage consistent with those from ground wheat, as seen in experimental studies (Ge et al., 2011: fig 3). These include broken edges, deep fissures, and pronounced lamellae (SI Figure 2.19, 23, 24). ...
China is one of the few centers in the world where plant domestication evolved independently, but its developmental trajectory is poorly understood. This is because there is considerably less data from the terminal Pleistocene and early Holocene documented in China than in other regions, such as the Near East and Mesoamerica, and previous studies on Paleolithic subsistence in China have largely focused on animal hunting rather than plant gathering. To resolve these problems the current research investigated the range of plants used by late Paleolithic hunter–gatherers in the middle Yellow River region where some of the earliest farmers emerged. We employed usewear and starch analyses on grinding stones to recover evidence for plant use in a hunting–gathering population at a late Paleolithic site, Shizitan Locality 9 in Jixian, Shanxi (ca. 13,800–8500 cal. BP). The usewear analysis shows that all artifacts preserved a range of usewear patterns best matching multiple tasks and indicating multi-functional use. Starch remains recovered from these tools indicate that the Shizitan people collected and processed many types of grass seeds (Panicoideae and Pooideae subfamilies), acorns (Quercus sp.), beans (Phaseoleae tribe) and yams (Dioscorea sp.). The Shizitan people represented some of the last hunter–gatherers in the middle Yellow River region. Their broad spectrum subsistence strategy was apparently carried on by the first Neolithic farmers in the same region, who collected similar wild plants and eventually domesticated millets. The trajectory from intensified collection of a wide range of wild plants to domestication of a small number of species was a very long process in north China. This parallels the transition from the “broad spectrum revolution” to agriculture in the Near East.
This Element provides an overview of food and foodways in Ancient China, from the earliest humans (~500k BP) up to its historical beginnings: the foundation of the Zhou dynasty (at the start of the 1st millennium BCE). While textual data provides insights on food and diet during China's historical periods, archaeological data is the main source for studying the deep past and reconstructing what people ate, how they ate and with whom they ate it. This Element introduces the plants and animals that formed the building blocks of ancient diets and cuisines, as well as how they created localized lifeways and unifying constructs across ancient China. Foodways, how food was grown, prepared and consumed, was central in the development of differing social, economic and political realities, as it shaped ritual and burial practices, differentiated ethnic groups, solidified community ties and deepened or assuaged social inequalities.
Millets and pseudo-cereals are one of the most important underutilized food crops, traditionally grown on marginal land and poor agroclimatic conditions. They are highly nutritious having excellent functional food properties owing to the presence of high amounts of nutrients for example, protein, essential fatty acids, dietary fibre, B-complex vitamins and minerals such as calcium, iron, zinc, potassium and magnesium. The presence of high-quality dietary fibres and phenolic compounds makes these grains an important food for health-conscious society. Despite the presence of high nutritional and nutraceuticals components, these crops are still considered a food of poor people. The demand for these underutilized food grains in different parts of the world is increasing steadily as these prevent deterioration of human health such as lowering blood pressure and risk of heart disease, prevention of cancer, cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Other health benefits are increasing the time span of gastric emptying by providing the roughage to digestive system. Therefore, to overcome metabolic disorders and life-style diseases, food variety from these grains is the only answer. To drive the maximum nutritional and health benefits, optimized processing and development of value-added products is need of the hour. Lack of processing technologies besides, government policy of hindrances towards these underutilized grains is responsible not to give them a suitable importance in the farming system. Therefore, reorientation of the efforts to generate more demand through value addition through diversification of processing technologies, nutritional evaluation and creation of awareness among the people is required at government, research institutions and food processing industry level. This chapter deals with the experimental studies on the nutritional, functional and health benefits of these underutilized cereals and pseudo-cereals in India and elsewhere. This also reviews the processing techniques and value addition alternatives of various traditional and convenience foods including ready-to-eat food products. Processing technologies used for improving the edible and nutritional characteristics of these grains along with challenges, limitations and future perspectives to promote utilization as functional food for future generations are discussed. It is expected that the availability of the literature on earlier R&D efforts at one place will definitely highlight their significance and shall create more awareness among the researchers, students and the consumers, which ultimately will ensure that these highly nutritious and functional food crops are popularized worldwide.
Agriculture and subsistence practices are believed to play an important role in the development of social complexity in Mesopotamia. However, very little palaeoethnobotanical research has been conducted to test this assumption. This dissertation examines comparative plant materials from Southwest Asia and archaeological materials from the 2008–2010 excavations of the Ubaid period regional center of Tell Zeidan, Syria to provide the first microbotanical insights into subsistence practices during the formative stages of social complexity in northern Mesopotamia. This dissertation is composed of four separate, but related, research projects. The first two examine phytolith and starch grain production patterns in taxa common to Southwest Asia (181 non-grass taxa for phytoliths and 64 taxa for starch grains). Knowledge of these patterns is important to understand the range of identifiable plants and their parts that may have been used by the people of Tell Zeidan. The results of these first two projects demonstrate that a small number of taxa produce plant microfossils that are either diagnostic of their plant part or at the genus level. The third study examines phytoliths from sixteen sediment samples from Ubaid period domestic contexts of Tell Zeidan to reveal use areas and assess fuel use. The burning of wild grass husks and leaf/stem tissues found in hearth waste suggests that crop byproducts were used as a fuel source. In the fourth study, six dental calculus samples from five individuals from the Halaf/Ubaid transition, Ubaid, and Late Chalcolithic 2 period were analyzed to explore the potential for dental calculus research at Zeidan. Recovery of phytoliths, calcium spherulites, pollen, charcoal, and fungi from the calculus reveals the complex nature of dental calculus formation and potential insights into diet and/or dental hygiene practices during the Halaf/Ubaid transition. The overall results of this dissertation provide the first ever phytolith analyses of Ubaid period materials and lay the foundation for future plant microfossil research into the complex relationship between emerging social complexity and subsistence in northern Mesopotamia.
Because the grasses are common plants, often ecologically dominant and with nutritious seeds, it is not surprising that they were harvested and later domesticated by the earliest agriculturalists. Archaeological evidence shows that wild grasses were used well before agriculture began (Bettinger et al. 2010; Kislev et al. 1992; Purugganan and Fuller 2009), and only gradually did early hunter-gatherer groups shift to farming. Fuller (2007) suggests a model, modified from Harris (1989), that describes gathering of wild food and cultivation of domesticated plants as end-points of a continuum, with intermediate stages of “semi-domestication” that spread over various lengths of time in various crops (e.g., Tanno and Willcox 2006). In general, this model shows that domestication was a long slow process, occurring over hundreds to thousands of years. As population genetic data have been applied more extensively to the question of domestication, and as more archaeological sites have been investigated, it has also become clear that many domesticated species were domesticated more than once (Weiss et al. 2006). The best studied of the cereals are the so-called Big Three – wheat, rice, and maize – plus barley, all of which have an appreciable archaeological record. However, additional data are accumulating on many other species that are somewhat less important for modern agriculture, but that have been important historically and regionally; these data permit some generalizations about the domestication process as well as the effects of selection on genes and genomes.
This volume is the outcome of a modern phylogenetic analysis of the grass family based on multiple sources of data, in particular molecular systematic studies resulting from a concerted effort by researchers worldwide, including the author. In the classification given here grasses are subdivided into 12 subfamilies with 29 tribes and over 700 genera. The keys and descriptions for the taxa above the rank of genus are hierarchical, i.e. they concentrate upon characters which are deemed to be synapomorphic for the lineages and may be applicable only to their early-diverging taxa. Beyond the treatment of phylogeny and formal taxonomy, the author presents a wide range of information on topics such as the structural characters of grasses, their related functional aspects and particularly corresponding findings from the field of developmental genetics with inclusion of genes and gene products instrumental in the shaping of morphological traits (in which this volume appears unique within this book series); further topics addressed include the contentious time of origin of the family, the emigration of the originally shade-loving grasses out of the forest to form vast grasslands accompanied by the switch of many members to C4 photosynthesis, the impact of herbivores on the silica cycle housed in the grass phytoliths, the reproductive biology of grasses, the domestication of major cereal crops and the affinities of grasses within the newly circumscribed order Poales. This volume provides a comprehensive overview of existing knowledge on the Poaceae (Gramineae), with major implications in terms of key scientific challenges awaiting future research. It certainly will be of interest both for the grass specialist and also the generalist seeking state-of-the-art information on the diversity of grasses, the most ecologically and economically important of the families of flowering plants.
In this chapter, relying on the results of an experimental archaeology project, the author proposes that the lian sickle and dao knife had crop-specific harvesting functions during the Longshan period occupation of Liangchengzhen. Large-scale excavations at Liangchengzhen were conducted by a cooperative team involving Shandong University, Yale University, and The Field Museum from 1998 to 2001. The screening and flotation strategies had a significant, positive impact on the collected sample of stone tools and production debris. A large proportion of the stone tools and debitage was not recognizable by eye during excavation. The tools were associated with eight major phases of occupation at the site. For the purposes of stone tool analyses, these eight phases were condensed into four phases representing the major periods of house construction. Use-wear analysis conducted on tools from Liangchengzhen indicates that the ancient dao knives and lian sickles were frequently used for harvesting tasks.
In this study, rice bran (RB) replaced wheat flour in order to enrich the nutritional properties without affecting technological properties of eriste. For this purpose, RB was used in eriste up to 25% level. Crude ash, mineral contents, colour values, cooking and sensory properties of eriste samples were determined. Crude ash, calcium, potassium, magnesium, phosphorus, manganese, iron and zinc contents of eriste samples increased with RB addition level. As a result, utilisation of RB in eriste improved nutritional content of the eriste. RB addition increased weight increase and volume increase values of the eriste samples compared to control eriste sample, and also the highest weight and volume increase values were obtained with 25% RB addition. The cooking loss value of eriste sample with 5% RB substitution level was statistically similar to the control. According to wheat flour, the dark colour of the RB affected the sensory score of eriste negatively especially high addition level, but stickiness values affected positively by RB addition significantly (P<0.05) compared to control sample. The sensorial test results indicate that the eriste with an enrichment level of 10% RB was well accepted by the panellist after control sample.
Visible food remains can provide evidence regarding ancient food processing, the spread of cereals and cultural communication. Some desiccated food remains were discovered in the Yanghai Tombs, Turpan district, in Xinjiang, China (2600–2900 bp). These food remains were analysed by Fourier transform infrared (FT–IR) spectroscopy combined with plant microfossils, including starch grains and cross cells of pericarp from the cereal bran fragments. The results showed that these food remains were cooked dough food made from wheat (Triticum aestivum) and barley (Hordeum spp.). The cross-sections of these remains look very dense, not porous under a microscope, which suggests that no fermentation had happened, so these foodstuffs may be some kind of flatbread. Although wheat and barley had been introduced into China by at least the third millennium bc, these remains are still the earliest known direct evidence that wheat and barley were ground into flour and then processed as foodstuffs in north-western China.
Cooking makes foods more palatable and digestible, less toxic and suitable for longer-term storage. Starch granules usually undergo gelatinisation during cooking, resulting in the loss of native structure and morphology. Once fully gelatinised, starch is very difficult to recognise microscopically and to classify taxonomically, impeding identification of cooked starch in archaeological food residues. Gelatinisation involves a complex interplay between temperature, moisture content and the presence of solutes, lipids and proteins, as well as species-specific starch physicochemical properties. Understanding the influence of these factors, particularly moisture, on the degree and extent of starch conversion during heat treatment enables predictive models of native starch survival in archaeological samples based on cooking method and food type. The findings of this review indicate that differential native starch survival may significantly influence archaeobotanical reconstructions and interpretations of artefact function.
Current knowledge of processes affecting the structure, morphology and ra te of survival of starch grains in archaeological contexts is limited . Furthermore, our knowledge of how ancient cultural practices can alter these particles is even less understood. In this paper the focus is on starch grain injury and modifications that may be caused by food -processing activities such as air dehydration, roasting, charring, freezing, desaponification and milling by analysing experimentally obtained and home-rna de Andean food products. Results demonstrate that particles having sorne starch features, but that are typically counted as dubious or non-starch, could and should be identified as damaged starch grains resulting fron food processing. Additionally, it seems possible to link the different patterns of damage observed in granules to different procedures. This information could be used to acquire details about cultural behaviour based on the damage to starch recovered from archaeological tools.
Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) was used to study gelatinization phenomena of corn, potato, acid-modified corn and smooth pea, and various legume starches. Two endothermic transitions were observed for starches heated in the presence of limited amounts of water (starch/water = 46–48% w/w). The effect of starch concentration on the shape of these two endotherms was studied for three legume starches. Considering the starch granule as a spherulite, the experimental data were treated thermodynamically by applying equations describing phase transitions of semi-crystalline polymers. Experimental evidence suggested that a solvation-assisted melting of starch crystallites took place during gelatinization and that the process was facilitated by the presence of the amorphous parts of the granule. The enthalpy change, ΔH, associated with the gelatinization varied among these starches within a range of 2.6–4.4 Cal/g. A comparison between DSC transition temperatures and characteristic gelatinization temperatures obtained by other methods was also made.
Prehistoric groundstone tools including slabs (metate, mo-pan) and mullers (mano, mo-bang) are often considered to be tools that were used to process cereals in ancient China. Most archaeologists believe that groundstone
tools are indicators of an agrarian economy. This study employed starch grain analysis to examine a slab and a muller excavated
from the Shangzhai Site (7500–7000 cal a BP), Beijing. Identifiable starch grains recovered from the stone tools were classified
into 9 genera and 12 species, most of which were from acorns and foxtail millets. Remains from the oak species Q. mongolicus, Q. acuttssima, and Q. dentate were identified as well as a few starch grains from broomcorn (Panicum miliaseum) and bean (Vigna sp.). Other starch grains were from unidentifiable roots and grasses. A variety of starch grains indicates that the grinding
stone tools were used to process not only cereals, but also other seeds or roots that had to be ground or husked, thus bringing
into question the aforementioned cereal hypothesis. Because the numbers of starch grains from nuts and millets were so large,
both gathering and cultivation might have been important economic patterns before 7000 years ago in Beijing area. Moreover,
the starch remains are derived from plants that indicate that the paleoclimate of Beijing was wetter and warmer than today’s.
The wheat gluten proteins correspond to the major storage proteins that are deposited in the starchy endosperm cells of the developing grain. These form a continuous proteinaceous matrix in the cells of the mature dry grain and are brought together to form a continuous viscoelastic network when flour is mixed with water to form dough. These viscoelastic properties underpin the utilization of wheat to give bread and other processed foods. One group of gluten proteins, the HMM subunits of glutenin, is particularly important in conferring high levels of elasticity (i.e. dough strength). These proteins are present in HMM polymers that are stabilized by disulphide bonds and are considered to form the 'elastic backbone' of gluten. However, the glutamine-rich repetitive sequences that comprise the central parts of the HMM subunits also form extensive arrays of interchain hydrogen bonds that may contribute to the elastic properties via a 'loop and train' mechanism. Genetic engineering can be used to manipulate the amount and composition of the HMM subunits, leading to either increased dough strength or to more drastic changes in gluten structure and properties.
Noodles have been a popular staple food in many parts of the world for at least 2,000 years, although it is debatable whether the Chinese, the Italians or the Arabs invented them first. Here we analyse a prehistoric sample of noodles contained in a well preserved, sealed earthenware bowl discovered in the Late Neolithic archaeological site of Lajia in northwestern China. We identify millet as the source of the abundant seed-husk phytoliths and starch grains present in the vessel. This shows that the conversion of ground millet flour into dough that could be repeatedly stretched into long, thin strands for the preparation of boiled noodles was already established in this region 4,000 years ago.
As plant foods comprise a major part of the human diet, it is perhaps not surprising that the residues from the preparation of meals are preserved in sediments and on artifacts recovered from archaeological sites. Starch has become a major archaeological research tool in recent years, as the potential for identifying genus and species from the morphology (size, shape, and surface features) of starch granules has been realized. The seminal work of E. T. Reichert in 1913 involved a comprehensive microscopic study of a range of starch-producing species. But only in the last 10. years or so have these principles been systematically applied to the interpretation of use-related residues in the archaeological record.
Evidence for cultivated wheat at 4650 cal. yr BP, as part of a broadening agricultural-based society (4650—4300 cal. yr BP), is presented from Xishanping in northwest China. This was established from archaeobotanical evidence and radiocarbon dating. Crops from SW Asia had therefore been adopted in China about 2500 years earlier than previously thought, and long before the `Silk Road' route was known to be used. The data show that the early infiltration and blending of agriculture involving rice, buckwheat, barley, millet and wheat occurred in this region. This raises questions as to why crops from China do not appear further westward at this time and how the blending of agricultural practices contributed to the development of Chinese civilization.
Effect of ball-mill treatment on physical properties and molecular change of maize starch granule was investigated. Ball-mill treatment was done by rotary type mill, and species of maize starch are normal, waxy and high amylose (amylo). Running time of the treatment is 0–320 h. Starch granules loss smoothness on surface and became rough, even though their changing speed was different among the three species. But, they retained whole figure and size after 320 h treatment in the all cases. Amylase susceptivity and water absorption activity were measured. Structural change of starch components was compared among the three species with X-ray diffraction, DSC and GPC. High Performance An-ion Exchange Chromatography (HPAEC) pattern of debranched sample treated with ball-mill for 320 h showed that formation of very short chain in amylopectin is little. 13C solid-NMR spectra suggest that disruption of molecules of amylopectin and amylose with ball-mill might occur at their glycosidic linkage. However, very slight radical was observed by Electron Spin Resonance spectroscopy (ESR) in the case of 320 h sample.
Scanning electron photomicrographs of starch isolated from white bread, sugar cookies, pie crust, angel food cake, cake doughnuts and cinnamon rolls revealed that the proportion of folded and deformed granules, an indication of the extent of gelatinization and pasting, varied from relatively few granules in sugar cookies to virtually all granules in angel food cake. Starch isolated from angel food cake had no birefringence and was about 97% gelatinized as measured enzymatically, while that from sugar cookies was approximately 91% birefringent and was 4% gelatinized. Starches from other baked products studied had residual birefringence and percent gelatinization intermediate to the values for angel food cake and sugar cookies. Thus starch in the baked products studied ranged from essentially completely gelatinized to that which had undergone very little change.
Noodles in various contents, formulations, and shapes have been the staple foods for many Asian countries since ancient time. They can be made from wheat, rice, buckwheat, and starches derived from potato, sweet potato, and pulses. Noodles based on wheat are prepared mainly from three basic ingredients; flour, water, and salt. There exist two distinct types of wheat flour noodles based on the presence and absence of alkaline salts, regular salted noodles, and alkaline noodles. The basic process of dough mixing, sheet forming, compounding, sheeting/reduction, and cutting are essentially constant for all machine-made noodles. Noodle strands coming out of cutting rolls can be further processed to produce different types of noodles. This article analyzed all the major processes involved from raw material to finished products in relation to noodle processing properties and cooked noodle texture. Different ingredients and their functionality in noodle processing were discussed as well. Guidelines were provided to select the right ingredients to produce high quality noodle products. Processing properties, appearance, and colour of noodles are the three key criteria used to judge a process and raw material quality. High quality noodles should be bright in colour with very slow discoloration, have an adequate shelf life without visible microbiological deterioration or oxidative rancidity, and have appropriate flavour and textural characteristics which will vary according to the noodle type and region. Flour plays a key role in all aspects of noodle quality. Protein content is positively correlated with noodle firmness and sometimes negatively correlated with elasticity. Therefore, a correct range of protein content is important for textural characteristics. Adequate gluten strength and extensibility is required in all noodle flours. Noodle dough must be strong enough to withstand sheeting, but not so strong as to cause tearing or difficulty in sheet reduction. A good level of dough extensibility ensures that dough sheets do not shrink back during successive roll passes. The importance of the pasting properties of starch to the texture of cooked noodles has been well-documented. The required soft, smooth, and elastic textural properties of certain types of white salted noodles can be best obtained from wheats with high starch paste viscosity and high swelling starch properties. Alkaline noodles do not have the same requirement for high starch swelling properties. Noodles made from flour with high swelling starches have softer texture than those with low swelling starch. Noodles should be bright and slow in discoloration with time after manufacturing. For white salted noodles, a white or creamy white colour is desirable. The level of natural yellow pigment levels (xanthophylls) in flour is highly correlated with noodle colour, and this is wheat variety dependent. For yellow alkaline noodles, a bright yellow colour is required, although the preference for the degree of colour development is regionally based. Noodle darkening increases with the increases of flour extraction rate. This is due to the action of polyphenol oxidase (PPO) enzymes which are largely located in the bran layer. Low flour extraction and ash levels are preferred for the manufacture of noodles with a clean and bright appearance. A relatively fine flour particle size enables even hydration during mixing and optimum, uniform gluten development during sheeting. Increased starch damage, however, is associated with poor noodle colour and undesirable high cooking loss and excessive surface swelling.
Phytoliths are minerals of amorphous silicon dioxide forming in cell lumina and intercellular spaces of living plants. Because of their morphological specificity and their stability in soils phytoliths have been widely used in paleoenvironmental reconstructions. However, the mechanisms of phytolith displacement in soil are not well understood, which causes uncertainties in the interpretation of phytolith data. The objectives of the present study were (1) to determine phytolith transport in sandy sediment under different rainfall, and (2) to assess the long-term phytolith displacement with moving water by modeling. Phytoliths extracted from Phragmites australis were added to the upper 1-cm layer of columns packed with medium sand. Two rainfall regimes 1) low-frequency irrigation (40 mm × 2 times per month), and 2) high-frequency irrigation (40 mm × 8 times per month) were simulated over a period of 5 months. At the end of this period, the distribution of phytoliths was examined in the columns. The weighted mean travel distance of phytoliths was 2.7 ± 1.6 mm and 3.7 ± 0.2 mm at the low-frequency and high-frequency treatments, respectively. Under the high-frequency irrigation 22% of the applied phytoliths were leached from the application layer.
One of the three main plant microfossils, starch grains are increasingly used as markers of diet, plant domestication, tool use and site organization, because their morphology and features provide a means to identify the plant that produced them. However, starch grains are susceptible to damage when they are exposed to heat in the presence of water, as in cooking. We documented the changes that occur in the starch grains of 10 domesticated plant species due to exposure to different cooking methods, in order to better understand how cooking alters the appearance of the grains, and if these cooking methods might be identifiable in the archaeological record. Our results show that some cooking methods produce unique, identifiable damage on some types of plant starches, but generally each plant species reacts uniquely to cooking. In order to record the changes for each plant species, we have created a database, available at (http://www.osresearch.net/∼hollyf/starchdb/index.cgi), to which registered users can add their own images of cooked starch grains.
Microscopic identification of organic residues in situ on the surface of archaeological artefacts is an established procedure. Where soil components morphologically similar to use-residue types exist within the soil, however, there remains the possibility that these components may be misidentified as authentic residues. The present study investigates common soil components known as conidia, fungal spores which may be mistaken for starch grains. Conidia may exhibit the rotating extinction cross under cross-polarised light commonly diagnostic of starch, and may be morphologically indistinguishable from small starch grains, particularly at the limits of microscope resolution. Conidia were observed on stone and ceramic archaeological artefacts from Honduras, Palau and New Caledonia, as well as experimental artefacts from Papua New Guinea. The findings act as a caution that in situ analysis of residues, and especially of those less than 5 mu m in size, may be subject to misidentification. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
The cornerstone of treatment of coeliac disease is a gluten-free diet devoid of proteins from wheat, rye, barley and related cereals. Oats are tolerated by most patients with coeliac disease but are not totally innocent. There are considerable differences between individual patients with respect to clinical and mucosal responses to gluten challenge. In vitro and in vivo testing has identified synthetic peptides that are toxic to the coeliac small intestinal mucosa. This toxicity overlaps at least partly to the known epitopes that are recognised by small intestinal T-cells. However, the clinical significance of several of these epitopes is unclear, as is the maximum level of gluten intake that can be recommended to be safe for patients with coeliac disease. Future efforts may lead to better understanding of the disease processes as well as possible new therapeutic options.
The differential analysis of starches, Botany series The structure and properties of gluten: an elastic protein from wheat grain
- J B Mcnair
- Il Shewry
- P R Halford
- N G Belton
- P S Tatham
McNair, J. B., 1930, The differential analysis of starches, Botany series, Chicago Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, IL. Shewry, P. R., Halford, N. G., Belton, P. S., and Tatham, A. S., 2002, The structure and properties of gluten: an elastic protein from wheat grain, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B Biological Sciences, 357, 133–42.
Terra Australis vol. 19, Phytolith and starch research in the Australian-Pacific-Asian regions: the state of the art
- M. d. P. Babot
Encyclopedia of archaeology
- J. Field
Preliminary soil micromorphological analysis in Lajia site, Qinghai province
- G Dong
- Z Xia
- D Liu
Dong, G., Xia, Z., and Liu, D., 2005, Preliminary soil micromorphological analysis in Lajia site, Qinghai province, Shuitu
Baochi Yanjiu (Research of Soil and Water Conservation), 12(4), 5-6.
Study and findings on early wheat remains in China
- Jin
Xining diqu shui ji yichun shirongye midu, feidian de ceding (Determination of density and boiling-point of water and alcohol solution in Xining region)
- Lei
Lei, F., Ma, X., and Yan, F., 1997, Xining diqu shui ji yichun shirongye midu, feidian de ceding (Determination of density
and boiling-point of water and alcohol solution in Xining region), Qinghai Xumu Shouyi Xueyuan Xuebao (Journal
of Qinghai Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine College), 1(1), 27-9.
The differential analysis of starches, Botany series
- J B Mcnair
McNair, J. B., 1930, The differential analysis of starches, Botany series, Chicago Field Museum of Natural History,
Chicago, IL.
Handbook of cereal science and technology
- C. M. McDonough
- L. W. Rooney
- S. O. Serna-Saldivar
in Zhonghua wenming tanyuan gongcheng wenji: shehui yu jingshen wenhuajuan
- M. Ye
Miantiao de nianling (Age of noodles)
- Wang
Wang, R., 2006, Miantiao de nianling (Age of noodles), Zhongguo Wenhua Yichan (Chinese Cultural Heritage), 1, 75-9.
Zhongguo Wenwubao (Chinese Cultural Relics News)
- Z. Zhao
- A G Henry
- H F Hudson
- D R Piperno
Henry, A. G., Hudson, H. F., and Piperno, D. R., 2008, Changes in starch grain morphologies from cooking, Journal of
Archaeological Science, 36, 915–22.
The millets, in Handbook of cereal science and technology
- C M Mcdonough
- L W Rooney
- S O Serna-Saldivar
McDonough, C. M., Rooney, L. W., and Serna-Saldivar, S. O., 2000, The millets, in Handbook of cereal science and
technology (eds. Karel Kulp and J. G. Ponte), 184, Marcel Dekker, Inc., New York.
Pojie qiannian miantiao zhimi (Decoding the secret of the thousand-year-old noodles)
- Ye
Ye, M., 2006, Pojie qiannian miantiao zhimi (Decoding the secret of the thousand-year-old noodles), Baike Zhishi
(Encyclopedic Knowledge), 4, 46-9.
The Lajia site and food civilization: Archaeological discovery of prehistoric food culture at the Lajia site in Qinghai), in Zhonghua wenming tanyuan gongcheng wenji: shehui yu jingshen wenhuajuan (The origins of Chinese civilization: social, spiritual and cultural
- M Ye
Ye, M., 2009, Lajia yizhi yu yinshi wenming: Qinghai Lajia yizhi shiqian yinshi wenhua de kaogu faxian (The Lajia site
and food civilization: Archaeological discovery of prehistoric food culture at the Lajia site in Qinghai), in Zhonghua
wenming tanyuan gongcheng wenji: shehui yu jingshen wenhuajuan (The origins of Chinese civilization: social,
spiritual and cultural), 1, 602-18, The Ministry of Science and Technology and the State Administration of Cultural
Heritage, Science Press, Beijing.
Qinghai Lajia yizhi shichangxing fuxuan de jieguo (Results from testing flotation at the Lajia site in Qinghai). Zhongguo Wenwubao (Chinese Cultural Relics News)
- Z Zhao
Zhao, Z., 2003, Qinghai Lajia yizhi shichangxing fuxuan de jieguo (Results from testing flotation at the Lajia site in
Qinghai). Zhongguo Wenwubao (Chinese Cultural Relics News). Beijing.
Preliminary soil micromorphological analysis in Lajia site, Qinghai province
- Dong
Qinghai Minhexian Lajia yizhi 2000 nian fajue jianbao (Excavation of the Lajia site in Minhe county, Qinghai province, in 2000)
- Ganqing Team of the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
Ganqing Team of the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and Qinghai Institute of
Cultural Relics, 2002, Qinghai Minhexian Lajia yizhi 2000 nian fajue jianbao (Excavation of the Lajia site in Minhe
county, Qinghai province, in 2000), Kaogu (Archaeology), 12, 12-28.
- Thomas
- McNair