[Sca-cooks] Early Trade Goods

[Terry Decker]

I find the comments on finding banana protein in the calculus truly interesting.  Bananas are notoriously bad travelers.  If the plant was imported, then it would have been a whole live plant.  If the plants were imported and grown relatively locally, then there should be phytoliths in the soil at an appropriate level (none found thus far).  Far more likely the individual was a rambling man, probably a seafarer, working in the spice trade down the Red Sea and along the Arabian Coast to India, Sri Lanka, or Malaysia.  At the time, trade in the Indian Ocean was largely controlled by Austronesians using vessels similar to those of the Polynesian expansion, so that is an open question.  If he was an overland trader, then his journeys likely took him to the Indus Valley where there is evidence of banana cultivation at the time.

Fascinating puzzle.  Many thanks.

Bear

On 12/24/2020 7:05:00 PM, Sam Wallace <guillaumedep at gmail.com> wrote:
Happy holidays all. I hope you are safe and enjoying the season.

It seems that foodstuffs have been missing from much of the archeological
record because of it being consumed and otherwise leaving little trace.

https://insidescience.org/news/ancient-middle-eastern-people-dined-foods-south-asia

Guillaume
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