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Burke Museum Curator Peter Lape (left) and Daud Tanudirjo (right), digging a layer at the site with the oldest known culinary use of nutmeg. Credit: Andrew Lawless
Pumpkin spices arrive in grocery aisles and restaurant menus, new study published in newspaper Asian Perspectives describes the oldest known use of nutmeg as a food ingredient.
Discovery at an archaeological site in Pulau Ay, a small island in the Banda Islands, central Maluku, Indonesia, the nutmeg was found as residue on ceramic shards. It would be 3,500 years old, about 2,000 years older than the known use of the spice.
Peter Lape, professor of anthropology at the University of Washington and Curator of Archeology at the Burke Museum, led the study and two excavations carried out in 2007 and 2009, in collaboration with colleagues from the University of Washington. 39 Universitas Gadjah Mada in Indonesia, from the University of New South Wales to Australia and others.
The archaeological site of Pulau Ay was occupied between 2300 and 3500 years ago. Animal bones, terracotta pottery, stone tools and pole molds were found. The variety of artifacts found reflects changes in the way people have used marine food resources, pottery and pets over time.
During the first 500 years on the site, people switched from mainly fish-based diets to mostly domesticated pigs. In addition, the pottery was originally a thin-walled vase suitable for storing liquids that could allow people to survive on this water-poor island. A few hundred years later, thicker-walled pottery, better adapted to cooking, and pork bones appear.
An artefact of pottery discovered on the Ayarchaeological site of Pulau. It was one of many pieces of pottery containing traces of food, including the oldest known use of nutmeg. Credit: Peter Lape / University of Washington
"This site shows us how people have adapted in stages to life on these small tropical islands, whether they are used occasionally as fishing camps or permanently occupied," Lape said. "It's also fascinating to see such early use of nutmeg, a spice that changed the world a few thousand years later."
It's about pottery that Lape's co-authors, Judith Field and Adelle Coster, have found not only the nutmeg, but also the residues of six other plants, including sago and purple yam. These plants may have been harvested from wild or possibly cultivated plants.
Pulau Ay is a small island devoid of both native terrestrial mammals and surface water. This would probably not have fueled a permanent human population not benefiting from the technological advantages of domestic animals and water storage.
However, while exploring other archaeological sites, the study's authors suggest that the island has been regularly visited by people targeting its rich marine reef resources for several thousand years prior to that more permanent populations are established at the beginning of the Neolithic, at the end of the Stone Age. The most likely homeland for these visitors is the nearest large island, Seram, 100 kilometers to the east. Those with sufficient knowledge of Pulau Ay and navigation skills to regularly fly back and forth would also appear to be potential candidates for early Neolithic settlers.
Benteng (Fort) Nassau was built in 1609 and was the first Dutch fort built on the island of Banda Naira, the main island of the Banda Islands, part of Maluku, Indonesia. It was built to control the nutmeg trade, which was then available only in the Banda Islands. Credit: Andrew Lawless
About 2,300 years ago, the site was largely or totally abandoned, and no other site in the Banda Islands has yet been discovered until that date, between 2,300 and 1,500 years. Future work aims to determine why these isolated islands, which attracted highly connected residents before and after this period, would have been abandoned for 800 years.
Studies at sites such as this one can help illuminate complex cultural processes at work in Neolithic times, which have seen the introduction of many new plants, animals and technologies into the islands of the world. ;South East Asia. The results of this site show that these changes did not occur at the same time, but were gradually adopted and adapted to allow populations to use these tropical island seascapes in innovative ways.
As far as nutmeg is concerned, understanding its earliest origins in human use links the points to future international trades. In the 14th century (and perhaps earlier), long distance traders went to Banda for nutmeg; this precious spice brought the international renown of the Banda Islands at the beginning of the modern era.
The discovery offers a new perspective on a key ingredient that is still a valuable commodity, particularly in a multi-billion dollar food and beverage industry.
Explore further:
The hidden power of nutmeg: helping the liver
More information:
Peter Lape et al., New data from a Neolithic open pit site in eastern Indonesia, Asian Perspectives (2018). DOI: 10.1353 / asi.2018.0015
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