New Frontiers in Ancient Diet & Nutrition. Developing innovative methods for quantitative compositional analysis of desiccated archaeobotanical remains.

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Advances in Macrobotanical and Microbotanical Archaeobotany Part 1" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

This methodological paper presents on the development of new chemical methods to obtain functional, nutritional, and antinutritional compositional data from desiccated archaeobotanical specimens. It discusses the potential, pitfalls, possible applications, and significance of novel approaches to quantitatively assess the composition of ancient cereals and pulses in terms of a diverse array of macronutrients, micronutrients (e.g., vitamins, amino acids, and trace elements including ‘minerals’ such as iron and zinc), functional compounds (e.g., gluten) and antinutrients (e.g., phytate). As a case study, it showcases the trace element/mineral results obtained from the archaeobotanical assemblage from the Greco-Roman village of Karanis in the Fayyum region of Egypt. The work presented is being carried out within the context of the Flemish Science Organisation funded project Rethinking Roman Nutrition and the Belgian federal Excellence of Science project AGROS (Agriculture, diet, and nutrition in Greco-Roman Egypt. Reassessing ancient sustenance, food processing and (mal)nutrition) and is executed by an international interdisciplinary consortium comprised of five universities and led by the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB).

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Advances in Macrobotanical and Microbotanical Archaeobotany Part 1   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 39139.0