Leafy greens first dished up 3,500 years ago
Archaeologists and archaeobotanists reconstruct the roots of West African cuisine

Date:
January 28, 2022
Source:
Goethe University Frankfurt
Summary:
Leafy vegetables accompany many West African dishes, such as pounded
yam in the south of the region. Researchers have now successfully
shown that the origins of such dishes date back 3,500 years.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
Over 450 prehistoric pots were examined, 66 of them contained traces
of lipids, that is, substances insoluble in water. On behalf of the
Nok research team at Goethe University, chemists from the University of
Bristol extracted lipid profiles, with the aim of revealing which plants
had been used. The results have now been published in "Archaeological
and Anthropological Sciences": over a third of the 66 lipid profiles
displayed very distinctive and complex distributions -- indicating that different plant species and parts had been processed.


========================================================================== Today, leafy vegetables, for example the cooked leaves of trees such
as the baobab (Adansonia digitata) or of the shrubby -- nomen est
omen -- bitter leaf (Vernonia amygdalina), accompany many West African
dishes. These leafy sauces are enhanced with spices and vegetables as well
as fish or meat, and complement the starchy staples of the main dish, such
as pounded yam in the southern part of West Africa or thick porridge made
from pearl millet in the drier savannahs in the north. By combining their expertise, archaeology and archaeobotany researchers at Goethe University
and chemical scientists from the University of Bristol have corroborated
that the origins of such West African dishes date back 3,500 years.

The studies are part of a project funded by the German Research
Foundation, which was headed by Professor Peter Breunig and Professor
Katharina Neumann and ended in December 2021. For over twelve years, archaeologists and archaeobotanists from Goethe University studied the
Nok culture of Central Nigeria, which is known for its large terracotta
figures and early iron production in West Africa in the first millennium
BC -- although the roots of the Nok culture in fact stretch back to the
middle of the second millennium.

Research focused above all on the social context in which the sculptures
were created, that is, including eating habits and economy. Using
carbonised plant remains from Central Nigeria, it was possible to prove
that the Nok people grew pearl millet. But whether they also used starchy plants, such as yam, and which dishes they prepared from the pearl millet
had so far been a mystery.

"Carbonised plant remains such as seeds and nutshells preserved in archaeological sediments reflect only part of what people ate back
then," explains Professor Katharina Neumann. They hoped, she says,
that the chemical analyses would deliver additional insights into food preparation. And indeed, with the help of lipid biomarkers and analyses
of stable isotopes, the researchers from Bristol were able to show,
by examining over 450 prehistoric pots, that the Nok people included
different plant species in their diet.

Dr Julie Dunne from the University of Bristol's Organic Geochemistry Unit
says: "These unusual and highly complex plant lipid profiles are the
most varied seen (globally) in archaeological pottery to date." There
appear to be at least seven different lipid profiles in the vessels,
which clearly indicates the processing of various plant species and plant organs in these vessels, possibly including underground storage organs
(tubers) such as yam.

Since the beginning of the project, the archaeobotanists have sought
evidence for the early use of yam. After all, the Nok region is situated
in the "yam belt" of West Africa, that is, the area of the continent in
which yam is nowadays grown. Carbonised remains are of no further help
here because the soft flesh of the tubers is often poorly preserved and
mostly non-specific as well.

The chemical analyses indicate that -- apart from leaves and other as
yet unidentified vegetables -- the Nok people also cooked plant tissue containing suberin. This substance is found in the periderm of both
overground and underground plant organs -- possibly a first indication
that yam was used, if not the unequivocal proof hoped for.

Through the archaeobotanical study of carbonised remains, pearl millet (Cenchrus americanus) and cowpea (Vigna unguiculata), the oily fruits
of the African elemi (Canarium schweinfurthii) and a fruit known as
African peach (Nauclea latifolia), which due to its high number of
seeds is reminiscent of a large fig, were already known. Molecular
analysis now rounds off the picture of food preparation at the sites
of the Nok culture. Archaeobotanist Dr Alexa Ho"hn from Goethe
University explains: "The visible and invisible remains of food
preparation in the archaeological sediment and the pottery give
us a much more complete picture of past eating habits. This new
evidence suggests a significant time depth in West African cuisine." ========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by Goethe_University_Frankfurt. Note:
Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Related Multimedia:
* Excavation_of_a_Nok_vessel_at_the_Ifana_3_site ========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Julie Dunne, Alexa Ho"hn, Katharina Neumann, Gabriele Franke, Peter
Breunig, Louis Champion, Toby Gillard, Caitlin Walton-Doyle,
Richard P.

Evershed. Making the invisible visible: tracing the origins of
plants in West African cuisine through archaeobotanical and organic
residue analysis. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences,
2022; 14 (1) DOI: 10.1007/s12520-021-01476-0 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/01/220128141339.htm

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