Scientists have found out what the inhabitants of ancient Mesopotamia actually ate

The study was conducted on the territory of the ancient city of Abu-Tbeir in the south of modern Iraq. Scientists studied the tooth enamel of people who lived about 4,500 years ago. It is enamel that best preserves chemical traces of food and allows to restore the diet even where other organic materials have long been destroyed.

The results show that the diet was based on cereals, primarily barley and wheat. Pork was apparently used as the main source of animal protein. There is almost no evidence of fish consumption, which seems unexpected, given the proximity of the settlement to water bodies.

This conclusion is especially interesting against the background of written sources of that epoch. Cuneiform texts often mention fish and beer, but such records tend to reflect the lives of the elite rather than the everyday lives of ordinary people. The new data show that the actual diet was much more modest and monotonous.

Details

Additionally, the study allowed to clarify some aspects of the life of the ancient population. In particular, scientists concluded that babies were breast-fed until about six months of age, after which animal milk was gradually introduced into the diet. There were also no noticeable differences in diet between men and women.

Why it matters

Overall, the work shows that modern scientific methods provide new insights into the lives of ancient societies. Analysing tooth enamel gives the opportunity to see not only the official picture reflected in the sources, but also the daily habits of people who were rarely recorded in written history.

Source

The study was conducted by scientists from the University of Sapienza (Italy). The results were published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.