Ancient Sweetness Preserved: 2,500-Year-Old Honey Discovered Still Edible in Greek Jars Unearthed in Italy
The Discovery Of 2,500-Year-Old Honey In The Greek Jars Found At Paestum
According to a statement from Oxford University, the jars of ancient honey were first found in 1954 by archaeologists excavating the site of Paestum, about fifty miles away from Pompeii. As the archaeologists unearthed a Greek shrine from the sixth century B.C.E., they came across several Greek bronze hydrias, or vessels with three handles. Upon close examination, they found that the jars were filled with a sticky, orange-brown substance.
Luciana da Costa CarvalhoSome of the honey that archaeologists discovered in the bronze jars found at Paestum.
Though the archaeologists suspected that the substance was honey, they were unable to confirm it. Three different teams examined the substance over a 30-year period, and none of them were able to definitively identify the substance in the jars. Finally, researchers posited that the substance was “animal or vegetable fat contaminated with pollen and insect parts.”
But a new study, published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, took a closer look at the substance. Using modern techniques, including mass spectrometry for proteins and small molecule compositional analysis, the researchers were able to glean new details about the substance. Ultimately, they were able to determine that it had “a near-identical chemical fingerprint to modern beeswax and similar to modern honey.”
In other words, the hunch of the original researchers was correct. The substance left at the sixth-century B.C.E. shrine was indeed honey. This makes perfect sense, as honey played a significant part in various customs throughout the ancient world.
Post Comment