The first farmers' cooking revealed by protein analysis in Çatalhöyük pottery

The knowledge of the diet of the inhabitants of the prehistoric colony of Çatalhöyük, nearly 8000 years ago, was amazingly supplemented by the detailed analysis of proteins by analyzing the proteins of their ceramic bowls and jars. Using this new approach, an international team of researchers has determined that the vessels at this first livestock site in Central Anatolia, now Turkey, contain cereals, pulses, dairy products and meat. sometimes reducing food to specific species.

An international team led by researchers from the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, the Freie Universität Berlin and the University of York, unveiled details on the diet of the first farmers of the Central Anatolian colony of Çatalhöyük. By analyzing the proteins contained in the old jars and jars recovered on the site, the researchers were able to find evidence of the presence of food consumed on site. Although previous studies have looked at pot residue from the site, it was the first to use proteins, which can be used to more specifically identify plants and animals, sometimes even at the species level.

One of the key early agricultural sites of the Old World

Çatalhöyük was a large inhabited colony between 7100 BC. J. – C. and 5600 av. BC by the first farmers, and is located in what is now the center of Turkey. The site presents a fascinating layout in which houses were built directly next to each other in all directions and stands out for its excellent conservation of discoveries. After more than 25 years of excavation and analysis, it is considered one of the best-documented early farming sites in the Old World.

For this study, researchers analyzed ship shards from the Çatalhöyük Western Mound, dating from 5900 to 5 800 BC. AD towards the end of the occupation of the site. The vessel shards analyzed came from open cuvettes and jars, as shown by the reconstructions, and showed calcified residues on the interior surfaces. In this region, limestone residues inside the pots are very common. The researchers used advanced protein analyzes on samples taken from various parts of the ceramic, including the tailings deposits, to determine the contents of the vessels.

Food proteins left in bowls and ceramic jars

The analysis revealed that the vessels contained grains, legumes, meat and dairy products. It has been shown that dairy products came mainly from sheep and goats, as well as from the cattle family. Although the bones of these animals are present throughout the site and previous lipid analyzes have identified the milk fat in the vessels, this is the first time that researchers have been able to identify the animals actually used for their milk. In accordance with found plant remains, cereals included barley and wheat, and legumes, peas and vetches. Non-dairy animal products, which could include meat and blood, came mainly from the family of goats and sheep and, in some cases, from cattle and deer. It is interesting to note that many jars contain evidence of the presence of several types of food in the same container, suggesting that residents were mixing food in their kitchen, potentially in the form of porridge or soup, or that some vessels were used sequentially for different foods, or both.

Early cheese making

However, one particular container, a jar, contained only evidence of dairy products, in the form of proteins present in the whey portion of milk. "This is particularly interesting because it suggests that residents may have been using dairy production methods that separated fresh milk into curds and whey, and they also suggested that they had a special container to hold the whey. afterwards, which allowed them after the separation of the curd, "says Jessica Hendy, lead author of the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History. These results show that the dairy industry has been active in this region for at least the 6th millennium BCE and that people used milk from many different animal species, including cows, sheep and goats.

However, the researchers point out that, according to the archeological records, a wider variety of foods, including plant-based foods, have probably been consumed in Çatalhöyük, that they are not contained in the ships that are being held. They have studied or that they do not appear in the databases that they use to identify proteins. . The "rifle" proteomic approaches used by researchers depend heavily on reference sequence databases, and many plant species are unrepresented or have limited representation. "For example, there are only 6 protein sequences for vetch in databases, and for wheat there are almost 145,000," says Hendy. "An important aspect of future work will be to expand these databases with more reference sequences."

The potential of protein analysis on archaeological ceramics

Other molecular techniques applied to ancient pottery can reveal large categories of foods – such as traces of milk fat or animal fat – but protein analysis helps paint a picture a lot more detailed past cooking. The results of this study show the power of protein analyzes, which can identify food in situ up to the species level in 8,000 year old samples. In particular, the residues in the interior of the ceramics were exceptionally well preserved and contained a mine of information. The elimination of these residues may be a common practice among archaeologists as part of the preservation and cleansing process. "These results show how valuable these deposits can be and we encourage their colleagues to keep them during the treatment and cleaning after the excavations," says Eva Rosenstock of the Freie Universität Berlin and lead author of the study.

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