Fuel for thought? Beeswax in lamps and conical cups from Late Minoan Crete

Evershed, Richard P.; Vaughan, Sarah; Dudd, Stephanie N.; Soles, Jeffrey S.

doi:10.1017/s0003598x00085860

Cited by 175 publications

(117 citation statements)

References 12 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

107

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Dudd and Evershed 1998;Evershed et al 2002;Copley et al 2003;Evershed et al 2008;Dunne et al 2012;Debono Spiteri et al 2016). Likewise, aquatic products (Patrick et al 1985;Hansel et al 2004;Craig et al 2007;Hansel and Evershed 2009;Shoda et al 2017), plant oils and waxes denoting vegetable and plant oil consumption/ processing (Evershed et al 1991;Copley et al 2001a;Copley et al 2001b;Reber et al 2004;Copley et al 2005;Cramp et al 2011;Dunne et al 2016) and beeswax (Heron et al 1994;Charters et al 1995;Evershed et al 1997b;Regert et al 2001;Evershed et al 2003;Roffet-Salque et al 2015), resins, tars and bitumen (Beck et al 1989;Mills and White 1989;Evershed et al 1997a;van Bergen et al 1997;Urem-Kotsou et al 2002;Stern et al 2003;Buckley et al 2004;Stern et al 2008;Connan et al 2013;Brown et al 2014: Brettell et al 2014 have been identified in connection with a wide range of technological and cultural activities. On a broader scale, lipid residue analyses can provide insight into the domestication of plants and animals, the development of animal husbandry practices and ecological and environmental changes through time (Evershed 2008b;Evershed et al 2008;…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pastoralist Foodways Recorded in Organic Residues from Pottery Vessels of Modern Communities in Samburu, Kenya

Dunne

Grillo

Casanova

et al. 2018

J Archaeol Method Theory

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Organic residue analyses of archaeological ceramics can provide important insights into ancient foodways. To date, however, there has been little critical reflection on how lipid residues might (or might not) reflect dietary practices or subsistence strategies more generally. A combination of ethnoarchaeological research and chemical and isotopic analyses of lipid residues from pottery made and used by modern Samburu pastoralists in northern Kenya was undertaken to supplement the interpretive framework used in archaeological investigations. A total of 63 potsherds were collected from various contexts, including settlement sites and rockshelters, and analysed using gas chromatography (GC), gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and gas chromatography-combustion-isotope ratio mass spectrometry (GC-C-IRMS). The results showed that the free fatty acids, palmitic (C 16:0 ) and stearic (C 18:0 ), dominated the lipid profiles, with extremely broad ranges of δ 13 C values. The majority of the Δ 13 C values from Samburu pots suggest that vessels were intensively used to process ruminant carcass products, yet the Samburu economy is not, in fact, meat-based at all. Despite an overall reliance on dairy products, milk is rarely processed in ceramic vessels, largely due to cultural prohibitions. Surprisingly, a number of vessels from one site, Naiborkeju Hill, were used to process dairy products. Compound-specific radiocarbon dating of lipids from these sherds suggests that this pottery originated from an earlier period, demonstrating a possible shift in ceramic use by pastoralist communities in this region over time. The overall conclusion is that lipid residues may not necessarily reflect, in a simple way, the day-to-day consumption or the perceived relative importance of different foodstuffs. In the Samburu case, lipid residues reflect the functional and ideological suitability of ceramics for processing only certain types of food (meat/fat/bones), despite an overall reliance on milk. These conclusions are important when considering the origins and development of African pastoralism, for example, as interpreted from the archaeological record.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pastoralist Foodways Recorded in Organic Residues from Pottery Vessels of Modern Communities in Samburu, Kenya

Dunne

Grillo

Casanova

et al. 2018

J Archaeol Method Theory

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Indeed, beeswax has been regularly detected in later archaeological and historic periods in lipid extracts from the fabric of unglazed pottery vessels 11 where it is assumed to be a residue of honey use in cooking, or from the use of vessels for processing wax combs [12][13][14] , with beeswax being absorbed through repeated contacts. Beeswax has also been detected as a fuel in lamps and in larger vessels used as proto beehives, for example Roman Greece (second century bc to fourth century ad) 15,16 and applied as a post firing treatment to waterproof vessels 17 .…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Widespread exploitation of the honeybee by early Neolithic farmers

Roffet‐Salque

Regert

Evershed

et al. 2015

Nature

Self Cite

160

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The sharp, intense peaks at 2920 and 2850 cm-1 , as well as the absorption at 730-720 cm-1 , are the result of long straight-chain hydrocarbons (e.g., n-alkanes), which are accentuated in the chloroform extracts. Some hydrocarbon absorption, in conjunction with the small peak at 1790 cm-1 and a possible y-Iactone carbonyl absorption in the 1690-1670 cm-1 range, may also be due to an as yet unidentified plant resin or herb, as implied by previous research on ancient Near Eastern wine (McGovern et al 1996.According to gas chromatography-mass spectrometric (GCMS) analysis ( Figure 5b), C 23 H 48 , C 2s H s2 , C 27 H s6 , and C 29 H 6 o-characteristic n-alkanes in beeswax and thus marker compounds of honey (Evershed et al 1997;Xu et al 1989)-possibly account for the straight-chain hydrocarbon IR absorptions. Alternatively, these n-alkanes, with the C 29 compound usually most prominent (Kolattukudy 1976), might be explained by epicuticular waxes, which occur on the surfaces of leaves and fruits of many plants.…”

mentioning

confidence: 73%

“…According to gas chromatography-mass spectrometric (GCMS) analysis ( Figure 5b), C 23 H 48 , C 2s H s2 , C 27 H s6 , and C 29 H 6 o-characteristic n-alkanes in beeswax and thus marker compounds of honey (Evershed et al 1997;Xu et al 1989)-possibly account for the straight-chain hydrocarbon IR absorptions. Alternatively, these n-alkanes, with the C 29 compound usually most prominent (Kolattukudy 1976), might be explained by epicuticular waxes, which occur on the surfaces of leaves and fruits of many plants.…”

Section: T2450mentioning

confidence: 99%

Chemical Identification and Cultural Implications of a Mixed Fermented Beverage from Late Prehistoric China

McGovern¹,

Underhill²,

Fang³

et al. 2005

asi

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

THE DISCOVERY AND REDISCOVERY of how to make a fermented beverage from a natural or derived source of simple sugars has occurred in many places and at many times. Before the modern period, only the Eskimos, the peoples of Tierra del Fuego at the southern tip of South America, and the Australian aborigines apparently lived out their lives without the medical benefits and mind-altering effects of alcohol, the principal drug in any fermented beverage. While polar regions lacked good resources for monosaccharides, honey and sugar-rich fruits and other plants are plentiful in temperate parts of the globe and the tropics. In the New World, maize (Zea mays) and the juice of the century plant (Agave americana) and the saguaro cactus (Carnegiea gigantea) were sweet enough to ferment directly into chicha, pulque, and cactus wine, respectively. Increasingly, archaeological, ethnographic, and textual evidence from around the world points to fermented beverages, especially in the context of feasting activities, as integral to cultures at many different levels: social, religious, economic, and political. Although the goals and behaviors of participants and the scale of feasting and drinking varied (Bray 2003; Dietler and Hayden 2001;Hayden 1995;Potter 2000), feasts everywhere involved favorite foods and, almost invariably, fermented beverages. Feasts marked critical events in the lives of communities and individuals, and often entailed public rituals (Pauketat et al. 2002). Late pre-Hispanic Peru (Hastorf and Johannessen 1993; Moore 1989) exemplifies Patrick E. McGovern is senior research scientist and adjunct associate professor at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. Gretchen R. Hall is a research assistant and Chen-shan Wang is a graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania Museum's Applied Science Center for Archaeology, Philadelphia. Anne P. Underhill is associate curator and Gary M. Feinman is curator and chair in the Anthropology Department at the Field Museum, Chicago. Hui Fang, Fengshi Luan, Haiguang Yu, and Fengshu Cai are professors in the Department of Archaeology, Shandong University, China. Zhijun Zhao is a researcher at the Institute of Archaeology, Beijing, China. ASIAN PERSPECTIVES • 44(2) • FALL 2005 how great the demand for fermented beverages has been in the Americas, comparable to what is attested in the Old World (e.g., Iron Age Europe [Dietler 1990] and from the Neolithic period through historical times in the Near East and the Mediterranean region [Joffee 1998;McGovern et al. 1997; McGovern 2000McGovern , 2003).The demand for fermented beverages often led to social change. In Peru, this perceived need probably contributed to an intensification of maize production (Hastorf and Johannassen 1993). In Iron Age Europe, exchange systems were hard pressed to satisfy the craving of political elites for Italian wine (Dietler 1990). In the Middle East, the prestige exchange of wine and special winedrinking ceremonies have been proposed as the motive in the spread of a Neolithic wine culture, w...

show abstract

Fuel for thought? Beeswax in lamps and conical cups from Late Minoan Crete

Abstract: What was burned in lamps in the prehistoric Mediterranean? Olive oil, as one would first suppose? Analysis of absorbed lipids preserved in the fabric of lamps and conical cups from the Minoan site of Mochlos in eastern Crete shows for the first time that beeswax was used as an illuminant.

Cited by 175 publications

References 12 publications

Pastoralist Foodways Recorded in Organic Residues from Pottery Vessels of Modern Communities in Samburu, Kenya

Pastoralist Foodways Recorded in Organic Residues from Pottery Vessels of Modern Communities in Samburu, Kenya

Widespread exploitation of the honeybee by early Neolithic farmers

Chemical Identification and Cultural Implications of a Mixed Fermented Beverage from Late Prehistoric China

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About