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A new look at old bread: ancient Egyptian baking

November 1999
Archaeology International 3

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CC BY 4.0

Authors:

St Mary's University Twickenham London

Despite abundant archaeological, pictorial and textual evidence of ancient Egyptian life and death, we have little detailed information about the staple diet of most of the population. Now experimental work by a postdoctoral Wellcome Research Fellow in Bioarchaeology at the Institute is revealing how the ancient Egyptians made their daily bread.

Available via license: CC BY 4.0

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

A new look at old bread:

ancient Egyptian baking

Delwen Samuel



 



        

        



T   



   

    

  



     

 



 

     





  

     

 





   

    



     







   

   

   

    

   

     



 

    

     





     







 















 

 

 





      



 







     



    

















     

      























     





  

  



      

     

      

     



 

 







  

       





 1   





   

2       

  

 



DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5334/ai.0310

3  

 

 







      



      

    







      



















 

    



      



    





    



  



   

     

   



      



     

 



       







   

   

     



 



 



     





     









    



 

 

  

   



 



    

      



 



   

      

     

    



  

     





      



   

   

      





  









      

     

 





    







  

    



    

      







     





      









       

     



   

    





    







 5   

 





     



     

    



 





  

     





    

  

    





  

  



 6 



 

     

 

    





 

 

     



  



     

      







    





    









     

     





 7  

     



   

  

  

     

  

 

   













   



    

      



      





     

     

   







     

   



      



    







 

   

  



     









 



     



   

   

     



   





    







    

     



     



   

     



     











   

      









      

  





   

    



    

 



 

        

    









 





V, 



 





 



 

 











  

















 

  



Transformation of cereal grains: Botanical and chemical analysis of food residues encrusted on pottery from the Funnel Beaker settlement of Oldenburg LA 77, northern Germany

Article

Full-text available

Jan 2024
PLOS ONE

An integrated botanical and chemical approach is used to study surface residues on Funnel Beaker ceramics from the site of Oldenburg LA 77, in northern Germany. Organic residues were discovered adhering to fragments of thick-walled, undecorated ceramic vessels (n = 19) and ceramic discs (n = 2). The surface residues were studied using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), to examine remains of cereals and other plant tissues that survived food preparation and cooking, and using attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR–FTIR) and direct time-resolved mass spectrometry (DTMS), to chemically identify specific food components. The SEM results show a reoccurring presence of cereal grain (emmer and barley) and one case of co-occurrence of emmer and fat-hen seeds. The SEM evidence for the use of sprouted emmer grain and milk-ripe barley from the Oldenburg residues greatly enhances our understanding of Neolithic foodways in northwestern Europe. The ATR-FTIR results showed that roughly a third of the surface residues contain traces of the original foods prepared or processed and DTMS results confirm that most of the residues primarily contain polysaccharides and a minimal amount of plant protein and that they lack lipids. Only one residue presents minor indications for a (partly) animal origin. The ceramic vessels were thus used almost exclusively for the processing or cooking of cereal grains. This study offers an intimate view of the cuisine and cooking practices (and in some cases their seasonal timing) in an early agricultural village located in a marginal farming region on the south coast of the Baltic Sea.

Contribution à l’histoire de la boulangerie romaine : étude de « pains/galettes » découverts en Gaule

Article

Mar 2022

Parmi les mobiliers archéologiques figurent régulièrement des fragments de matière organique carbonisée (MOC), fréquemment assimilables à des produits végétaux transformés. Les plus grands d’entre eux laissent encore deviner leur forme d’origine, et ils peuvent être identifiés comme des artéfacts. Dans les cas où l’analyse les désigne comme des mets élaborés, le potentiel informatif de ces éléments paniformes (EPF) – potentiellement des pâtes, pains, pains plats, galettes, gâteaux, biscuits, etc. – est considérable, même si leurs composantes ne sont plus visibles macroscopiquement. Ils sont en effet le reflet direct de pratiques alimentaires en contexte domestique, ou ils participent de rites en contexte cultuel. Encore sous-exploités dans la démarche archéologique, ces EPF représentent en réalité des produits complexes, témoignant de savoir-faire culinaires dans un environnement culturel précis. Plusieurs démarches analytiques permettent d’identifier la composition de ces préparations alimentaires et de préciser certaines étapes de leur apprêt. Les grains moulus de céréales sont identifiés par l’histologie du son, en observant notamment la morphologie de certaines couches de cellules. Les pratiques boulangères sont approchées par microtomographie aux rayons X, de manière non intrusive, en observant l’aspect des pâtes, révélateur de leur façonnage (pétrissage, levée, pliage, formation d’une croûte, cuisson dans un moule, etc.). Par observation au microscope électronique à balayage, on relève aussi la présence d’impuretés ou l’adjonction d’ingrédients. L’étude des farines et des modes de préparation permet de voir en quoi les standards de qualité évoluent sur le temps long, en relation avec les caractéristiques des céréales. À titre d’illustration, les résultats des analyses de six préparations alimentaires à base de céréales, datées entre le iie s. av. J.-C. et le vie s. apr. J.-C., sont présentés dans cet article.

Experimental Archaeology, Ethnoarchaeology, and the Application of Archaeological Data to the Study of Subsistence, Diet, and Nutrition

Chapter

Jan 2016

Karen Bescherer Metheny

Erratum to: A methodological approach to the study of archaeological cereal meals: a case study at Çatalhöyük East (Turkey)

Article

Full-text available

Jul 2017
VEG HIST ARCHAEOBOT

Environmental Sustainability in Ancient Egypt "I Have Never Stopped the Flow of Water"

Article

Jun 2022

May Farouk

Ancient Egyptians were blessed by the vast amount of natural resources and an amble climate which enabled them to establish their civilization. Nature was a major source in ancient Egyptian theology and art. It is often said that for thousands of years Egyptians lived in absolute harmony with their environment, using its resources for food, medicine, building and crafts. The present article aimed to research how far Egyptians were successful in managing their environment in a sustainable way that is in a manner which did not prevent contemporary or future generations from pursuing the same lifestyles.

Food and Feasting

Chapter

Jan 2023

الاستدامة البیئیة فی مصر القدیمة "أنا لم أوقف جریان النهر"

Article

Jun 2022

مى فاروق محمود

State of the (t)art. Analytical approaches in the investigation of components and production traits of archaeological bread-like objects, applied to two finds from the Neolithic lakeshore settlement Parkhaus Opéra (Zürich, Switzerland)

Article

Full-text available

Aug 2017
PLOS ONE

The site of Parkhaus Opéra is located on the north-eastern shore of Lake Zürich (Switzerland) and was documented during a rescue excavation in 2010 and 2011 by the Office for Urbanism, City of Zürich. Two charred bread-like objects were found in late Neolithic Layer 13 of the pile-dwelling, and are investigated using a novel set of analyses for cereal-based foodstuffs. Tissue remains of barley and wheat were identified, as well as a schizocarp of celery (cf. Apium graveolens), providing the first evidence for the use of bread condiments in the Neolithic. Cereal particle sizes were recorded and used to draw conclusions regarding milling and sieving of the raw material. Gas bubbles in the charred objects were measured in order to evaluate possible leavening of the dough. The outcomes of this research significantly advance the understanding of the production traits of cereal-based food during the Neolithic. The analytical techniques proposed by this study open up new possibilities for systematic and consistent investigations of cereal-based archaeological foodstuffs.

AS04 2023-06 - Scaglia

Article

Full-text available

Apr 2024

Sara Scaglia

This article aims to raise a new sensibility towards the macro morphological aspects of food remains recovered in archaeological contexts. Identifying such remains in early excavation phases is crucial. Studying foodstuffs in archaeological contexts allows not only to detect the ingredients selected in the past but also to deepen our understanding of cultural identity and traditions. As study cases, some bread remains were selected. By analysing the bread fragments from Valsgärde and Gnista (Uppsala County, Sweden), preliminary experiments were elaborated, and the results were used as reference material for archaeological bread. Three charring experiments were set outdoors to simulate possible carbonising environments: with oxygen, poor-oxygen, and oxygen-free. Only by familiarising ourselves with the appearance of these fragments would it be possible to do more detailed analyses.

History and Social Aspects of Sourdough

Chapter

Apr 2023

The history of sourdough and related baked goods follows the entire arc of the development of human civilization, from the beginning of agriculture to the present. Sourdough bread and other sourdough baked goods made from cereals are examples of foods that summarize different types of knowledge, from agricultural practices and technological processes through to cultural heritage. Bread is closely linked to human subsistence in temperate climates and intimately connected to tradition, the practices of civil society, and religion. Christian prayer says, “Give us this day our daily bread” and the Gospels report that Jesus, breaking bread at the Last Supper, gave it to the Apostles to eat, saying, “This is my body given as a sacrifice for you.” Many languages also retain expressions that recall the close bond between life and bread: “to earn his bread” and “remove bread from his mouth” are just some of the most common idioms, not to mention the etymology of words in current use. For example “companio,” a word first used in late Latin or early French, is derived from cum panis, which means someone with whom you share your bread. In turn, “companio” was used in 2020 to name a genus of lactobacilli, Companilactobacillus, which frequently occurs in sourdoughs [1]. The word “lord” is derived from the Old English vocabulary hlaford, which translates as guardian of the bread [2]. The symbolic assimilation between bread and life is not just a template that has its heritage in the collective unconscious, but it is probably a precipitate of the history of culture and traditions. Throughout development of human civilization, (sourdough) bread was preferred over unleavened cereal products, supporting the hypothesis of a precise symbolism between the idea of elaborate and stylish, and that of sourdough. The transformation of raw cereals by fermentation and leavening was likely necessary to allow human societies to transition from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle to agricultural societies [3] but also produced an artifact in the sense of “made art.” Besides symbolism, sourdough bread has acquired a central social position over time. Bread, and especially sourdough bread, has become central in the diet of peasant societies. This suggests that the rural population empirically perceived sensory and nutritional transformations, which are also implemented through sourdough fermentation. In other words, the eating of bread, and especially of sourdough bread, was often a choice of civilization.KeywordsBread qualityBread doughBread makingBread productionSourdough fermentation

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