Study finds new information on food culture in world’s first cities

Fresh evidence on the types of food people ate in the world's first urban settlements has been revealed in a new study.

Mesopotamia, which is modern-day Iraq, saw the beginnings of cities which developed some 5,500 years ago.

No other artefact type is more symbolic of this development than the so-called Beveled rim bowl (BRB), the first mass produced ceramic bowl.

BRB'S function and what food(s) these bowls contained has been the subject of debate for more than a century.

In a paper, published in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports yesterday, new evidence showed that these bowls contained a variety of foods, but especially meatbased meals, most likely bone marrow flavoured stews or broths.

Chemical compounds and stable isotope signatures of animal fats were discovered in BRBS from the Late Chalcolithic site of Shakhi Kora, located in the upper Diyala/ Sirwan river valley of northeastern Iraq.

An international team led by Professor Claudia Glatz, of the University of Glasgow, has been carrying out excavations at Shakhi Kora since 2019.

Her work is part of the ongoing Sirwan Regional Project, whichhasbeensetuptoexplore the archaeological landscapes in and around the river known in Kurdish as the Sirwan and in

Arabicasthediyalainthekurdish region of Iraq.

This new information changesthetraditionalinterpretation that these bowls were containers of cereal-based rations and bread moulds.

Inherently taxable and storable,cerealgrainssuchaswheat, emmer, and barley, have long been considered the economic backbone and main source of wealthandpowerforearlystate institutions and their elites.

But the new paper said: "Our analytical results challenge traditional interpretations that see BRBS as containers of cereals and bread moulds.

"The presence of meat and potentially also dairy-based foodsintheshakhikoravessels lendssupporttomulti-purpose explanationsandpointstolocal processes of appropriation of vessel meaning and function.

BRBS are mass-produced, thick-walled, conical vessels foundintheirthousandsatlate Chalcolithic sites, often associated with monumental structures.