[ad_1]
The experts reevaluate the oldest known use of vanilla after discovering three pitchers in an Israeli tomb dating back about 3,600 years, up to the Bronze Age. Prior to this discovery, it was thought that the use of vanilla originated in Mexico about 1,000 years ago.
According to archaeologist Vanessa Linares of Tel Aviv University In Israel, the pitchers contained traces of two chemical compounds contained in the vanilla natural extract – vanillin and 4-hydroxybenzaldehyde. Various chemical analyzes have also detected vegetable oil residues, including a compound present in olive oil.
"The people of the Bronze Age in Megiddo may have used vanillin oils as additives for foods and medicines, for ritual purposes or even during the embalming of the dead," he said. said Linares Scientific news.
Linares explained that the chemical profile of vanillin best matches the vanilla orchid species that are found today in East Africa, India and Indonesia. The trade routes used during the Bronze Age probably facilitated the movement of vanillin from India or from East Africa to the Middle East.
Linares described the results of the study at the annual meeting of the American Schools of Oriental Research November 16 in Denver.
In her presentation, she explained: "Until now, it was commonly accepted that vanilla was domesticated in the New World and then spread to other parts of the world."
"Once all the possibilities of contamination were removed, a post-organic analysis of the residues of different species of the plant kingdom from which these main compounds could have been exploited was conducted."
"These results shed new light on the first known exploitation of vanilla, its local uses, the importance of mortuary practices and the possible networks of long-distance trade in the ancient Near East during the second millennium BC. era."
–
By Chrissy Sexton, Earth.com Editor
[ad_2]
Source link
