The Role of the Traditional Mediterranean Diet in the Development of Minoan Crete: Archaeological, Nutritional and Biochemical Evidence 9781841711157, 9781407351421

Table of contents :
Front Cover
Copyright
CONTENTS
List of Tables
List of Figures
List of Plates
ABSTRACT
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
1. INTRODUCTION
2. THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL BACKGROUND
3. THE MEDITERRANEAN DIET AND ITS SUGGESTED NUTRITIONAL AND HEALTH BENEFITS
4. CEREALS IN MINOAN CRETE
5. THE OLIVE IN MINOAN CRETE
6. FISHERY RESOURCE EXPLOITATION IN MINOAN CRETE
7. DEMOGRAPHIC EVIDENCE FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF MINOAN CRETE
8. CONCLUSIONS
9. REFERENCES
10. APPENDIX

Citation preview

The Role of the Traditional Mediterranean Diet in the Development of Minoan Crete Archaeological, Nutritional and Biochemical Evidence

F.R. Riley

BAR International Series 810 1999

Published in 2019 by BAR Publishing, Oxford BAR International Series 810 The Role of the Traditional Mediterranean Diet in the Development of Minoan Crete © F. R. Riley and the Publisher 1999 The author’s moral rights under the 1988 UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act are hereby expressly asserted. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be copied, reproduced, stored, sold, distributed, scanned, saved in any form of digital format or transmitted in any form digitally, without the written permission of the Publisher. ISBN 9781841711157 paperback ISBN 9781407351421 e-book DOI https://doi.org/10.30861/9781841711157 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library This book is available at www.barpublishing.com BAR Publishing is the trading name of British Archaeological Reports (Oxford) Ltd. British Archaeological Reports was first incorporated in 1974 to publish the BAR Series, International and British. In 1992 Hadrian Books Ltd became part of the BAR group. This volume was originally published by John and Erica Hedges in conjunction with British Archaeological Reports (Oxford) Ltd / Hadrian Books Ltd, the Series principal publisher, in 1999. This present volume is published by BAR Publishing, 2019.

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CONTENTS

iv

List of Tables List of Figures List of Plates Abstract Acknowledgements Map of Bronze Age Crete

1. 1.1 1.2

V V

vi vii Vlll

Introduction The need for a more scientific environmentall y-based model for Aegean Bronze Age prehistory The research approach adopted in this study

1

8

2.

The archaeological background

2.1 2 .3

The earliest evidence for agriculture and fishing in the Aegean The arrival of settlers on Crete : the Neolithic to the Bronze Age Minoan Crete and its economic and cultural links

3.

The Mediterranean diet and its suggested nutritional and health benefits

3.1 3.2

Cereals , olive oil and fish as components of the Mediterranean diet A note on the chemistry of dietary fats

26

4.

Cereals in Minoan Crete

28

2.2

5.

The olive in Minoan Crete

5.1 5.2 5.3

Evidence for the domestication of the olive , olive cultivation and oil production The dietary and nutritional benefits of traditional cold -pressed olive oil Chemical properties and storage stability of olive oil

6. 6.1 6.2 6.3

Fishery resource exploitation in Minoan Crete

6.4

7. 7.1

7.2 7.3

The topography , hydrography and fish stocks of the Mediterranean and the Aegean Sources , interpretation and validity of evidence for fishing in the ancient Aegean Determination of the fatty acid composition of some fish and cephalopods that formed part of the Aegean and Minoan Bronze Age diet Current research and postulated beneficial health effects of fish fatty acids (a) Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) (b) Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA)

13 15 18

22

36 46 52

56 59

88

108

Demographic evidence for the developmentof Minoan Crete Agricultural development , settlement expansion and population growth The health status of Bronze Age Cretans : the skeletal evidence Summary and discussion

8.

Conclusions

8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4

Prehistori~ background Archaeological and nutritional conclusions Biochemical conclusions Concluding remarks

9.

Bibliography

9.1 9.2

General bibliograph y Classical bibliograph y

10.

Appendix

10.1 10.2

Method of anal ysis of olive and fish fatty acids Minoan Chronology

118 133 140

145 145 147 148

149 159

160 161

iii

List of Tables 1 2

3 4

5 6 7 8

9 10 11 12 13

14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26

27 28

29 30 31 32

33 34 35 36 37

38 39 40 41 42 43 44

Comparative fat intake (grams/day) of Cretans and Americans Estimated consumption of nutrients and deaths from heart disease Archaeobotanical evidence for cereal and pulse crops on Crete in the Late Bronze Age Composition of wheat and barley (g/100g dry basis) Fatty acid composition of wheat and barley (g/lO0g food) Nutrient intake on Crete (1948) and National Research Council's (NRC) recommendations Comparative measurements of olive stones from Bronze Age archaeological sites Comparative measurements of ancient olive stones from Crete Minoan spouted tubs (lekanai) and stone presses recovered on Crete Calculated number of olive trees and oil yields from two Late Minoan settlements Olive tree totals recorded in Linear B tablets for outlying settlements Fatty acid composition(%) of three Greek cold-pressed virgin olive oils Fatty acid composition(%) of various olive oils Fatty acid composition(%) of cold-pressed (virgin) olive oil Tocopherol and tocotrienol composition (mg/kg fat) of three varieties of Greek olives (6-9 samples/mean) The tocopherol content (mean of 6-9 samples) of virgin olive oil (mg/kg fat) Fish catches in the Mediterranean and Black Sea: By groups of species and by species ('000 metric tons) Tuna, mackerel and billfish caught in the Mediterranean and Aegean Smaller pelagic fish caught in the Aegean Bronze Age Littoral and demersal fish caught in the Aegean in the proto- and historic periods Fish fauna! remains from Palaikastro, eastern Crete Numbers of fish bones recovered at Saliagos Fish faunal remains from Lerna, Greece Contribution of tuna and shellfish to nutrition at Saliagos Principal n-3 and n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids Fatty acid composition(% fish oil) of Trachuros species Family Carangidae caught off Chile and South Africa Fatty acid composition(% fish oil) of anchovy of the Family Engraulidae caught off South Africa, Chile, Califomia and Peru Fatty acid composition(% total fat) of albacore (Thunnus alalunga), skipjack (Katsuwonus pelamis), bluefin (Thunnus thynnus thynnus) and yellowfin (Thunnus albacares) Fatty acid composition(% total fat) of Mediterranean sardine (Sardinella aurita), mackerel (Scomber scomber), horse mackerel (Trachuros trachurus) and red mullet (Mullus surmuletus) Fatty acid composition(% total fat) ofred sea bream (Sparus aurata) , hake (Family Merluccidae) , dolphinfish (Coryphaena hippurus) and gurnard (Family rn ·gla) Fatty acid composition(% total fat) of angelfish (Squatina squatina), kob (Argyrosomos hololepidotus) and white bream (Diplodus sargus) Fatty acid composition(% total fat) of sole (Solea vulgaris), squid (Loligo vulgaris) and octopus (Octopus vulgaris) Lipid analysis: Comparison of EPA and DHA contents (%) University of Crete (UOC) and Fishing Industry Research Institute (FIRI) Lipid analysis: Comparison of EPA and DHA contents (%) Technical Educational Institution, Thessalonik.i(TEIT) and Fishing Industry Research Institute (FIR!) Per capita intake of fish and related n-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids in the United Kingdom Fatty acid composition(%) and consumption levels of EPA and DHA from Aegean fish based onAllbaugh (1953) Fatty acid composition(%) and consumption levels of EPA and DHA from Aegean fish based on Allbaugh (1953) Fatty acid composition(%) and consumption levels of EPA and DHA from Aegean fish based on Allbaugh (1953) Survival of heart disease patients over 16 to 19 years. Comparison of those on a standard diet with those on a special diet which included fish as a main course at least three times per week The n-6 and n-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids Species of common fish for which a cholesterol depressant effect has been demonstrated The n-3 fatty acid content of some marine fish and crustacea Population estimates for Early Minoan Settlements Comparative cephalic indices(%) of a sample of 100 Minoan skulls

iv

23 24

29 30 31 33 37 37 41 44 44 48 48 53 53 54 58 68

74 76 80 81

82 86

88 90 91 93 94 95 96 97 103

104 105

105 106 106 113

115 116 116 130 134

List of Figures 1 2 3 4

5 6 7 8 9

10 11 12

13 14 15 16

17 18 19 20 21

22 23 24 25 26

27

Schematic model based on systems analysis for Aegean prehistory Schematic model showinginteractions between the subsystemsof the Aegean culture system Model of reconstructionof the Myrtos living system Theoretical structure of regional survey and archaeologicalexcavations carried out in Messenia Abridged scheme for primary areas of research Toe evidence for cereals, olives and fish in the traditional Cretan diet and their chemical analysis for fatty acid compositionand content Identification of fish caught in the Aegean Bronze Age and analysis for fatty acid composition Consumption of olive oil in Mediterranean countries and the United States of America Sites of primary olive pollen cores in Greece Comparison of Linear A and Linear B ideograms for olives Dietary consumptionof Greece and the United States of America compared to the EAS ( 1987) recommendations for fat, carbohydrate and protein Comparative computer analysis of olive oils from Greece, Crete and Western Cape Temperature spectra for tunas Distribution and fishing areas for bluefin tuna Thunnus Thynnus thynnus Distribution and fishing areas of albacore Thunnus alalunga Distribution and fishing areas for the Mediterranean bonito Sarda sarda Distribution and fishing areas for skipjack Euthynnus (Katsuwonus) pelamis Distribution and fishing areas of the little tuna Euthynnus alletteratus Comparison of fatty acid compositionof Family Carangidae (Trachurus sp.) Comparison of fatty acid composition of Family Engraulidae Fatty acid compositionof Aegean fish fat Fatty acid compositionof Aegean fish fat Fatty acid compositionof Aegean fish fat EPA and DHA content of Aegean fish fat EPA and DHA content of Aegean fish fat EPA and DHA content of Aegean fish flesh EPA and DHA content of Aegean fish flesh

3 5 6 7

9 10 11

23 38 43

46 49 69 70

71 71 72 73

92 92 99 100 100 101 101 102 102

List of Plates 1 2 3

Olive groves on east Crete mountains Fishing boats in Siteia harbour Palaikastro showing proximity to sea

35 75 87

V

ABSTRACT

Archaeological evidence reveals that a diet consisting of mainly of cereals , pulses and olives , supplemented by fish and with a low percentage of animal products , was consumed on Crete in the Minoan period, as it was up to this century . Modem clinical and biochemical research indicates that this traditional 'Mediterranean diet' offers certain nutritional and health benefits depending on the balances of the components - particularl y relating to moderately high carbohydrate intake , low saturated (mainly animal) fatty acids and the presence of beneficial fatty acids of vegetable (especially olive) and fish origin. It has been demonstrated that intake of these latter fatty acids is associated with reduction in cardiac pathology and the development of visual and mental acuity in neonatal infants . Beneficial effects in certain cancers and auto-immune diseases are also being investigated.

Lipid analyses of samples of Cretan olive oil and Aegean fish (identified taxonomicall y

from fauna! remains and Minoan frescoes) confirm good levels of both essential and other dietary fatty acids . An assessment ot the nutritional benefits of the Minoan diet and its possible role in the development of MinoanCrete are investigated, using archaeological , demographic , biochemical and skeletal evidence.

Vl

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This publication is unusual in that it combines academic training in Minoan prehistory with experience gained professionally in food and fishery science . This is reflected in the range of people to whom I am indebted for assistance. In particular I would like to thank Professor John Atkinson of the Classics Department , University of Cape Town, for his encouragement and supervision including procurement of reference material not available in South Africa . I am also particularly indebted to Professor A J de Koning of the Fishing Industry Research Institute , Cape Town, who supervised and assisted with the technical part of the research . Other colleagues at the Institute who kindly offered assistance include Mr Ben Post who provided computer graphics of some of the data and Mr Colin Simmonds who was involved in obtaining and identifying fish that were analysed for fatty acid composition . Professor R G Ackman of the Department of Food Science and Technology , Dalhousie University , Nova Scotia, provided invaluable advice and publications on lipid chemistry. Dr Peter Molteno formerly chairman of the South African Olive Growers Association provided literature and advice on olive cultivation and processing . Dr Judith Powell of the Department of Classics and History, University of Queensland, Australia , provided publications and data on Aegean fish remains. In the United Kingdom , Professor Keith Branigan of Sheffield University and Dr H A Forbes of Nottingham University were most generous with encouragement , advice and reference material on Minoan archaeology. On Crete, Miss Dimitra Mylona offered previously unpublished data on fish fauna! remains from east Crete and the assistance of Mr Yannis Kafetzakis of Siteia included providing much information on the area and arranging accommodation and car hire , and is much appreciated .

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) , Rome, kindly gave permission to reproduce the tuna distribution maps and fish catch data for the Mediterranean as referenced. The publication 'Mediterranean Diets in Health and Disease' edited by Gene A Spiller provided useful statistical information . The Librarians at both the British School at Athens and the University of Cape Town sought out and provided material not available locally. Funding for essential field work on Crete was provided by the Centre for Science Development and Social Studies for which I am most grateful . Mrs Betty Miller typed and collated the material and laid out the typescript. My wife Pat provided endless moral support and editorial assistance. Without them this publication would not have been possible .

vii

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Distribution and fishing areas of little (lll) E. affinis (M . (11) E. li.nea tus

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Euthynnus alletteratus

Laevastu and Rosa (1963: 13) and Gulland (1971:39) both state that small populations of the little tuna Euthynnus alletteratus are to be found to the east and west in the Mediterranean. At least one population would have been accessible to the Aegean Bronze Age :fishermen. The little tuna is a wide-ranging oceanic gamefish that favours surface waters near continents and these two factors enable artisan :fishermen to catch them . Little tuna are not harvested commercially in the West but in the Far East they constitute an important traditional protein source and are either smoked or sun-dried. It is therefore likely that these tuna, together with bonito and skipjack , were dried to constitute food when protein was scarce . The final tuna species that is reported to be present in the Mediterranean is the frigate mackerel Auxis thazard (Faber 1883:198; Gallant 1985:59). Its presence is not recorded by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation in Rome, indicating that they are ofno commercial importance today. Frigate mackerel are small fish 4 to 6 kilograms in mass classified as tunas and which move inshore in the Mediterranean to spawn in June to July. Confined to small shoals they were suitable for harvesting by the Cycladic Bronze Age fishermen using fish traps , hook and line, nets and even lures carved from bone. This review of the Mediterranean and Aegean tuna resource is based mainly on data provided by the International Tuna Commission and a publication of the World Scientific Meeting on the Biology of Tunas and Related Species (Laevastu and Rosa 1963). The information contained in these publications reinforces the Bronze Age archaeological evidence and Homeric and Classical sources for tuna fishing in the Aegean in the prehistoric period . It refutes opinion that the resource was a meagre one . The tuna distribution data presented here suggest that the primary species caught off Crete and in the Cyclades in the Bronze Age would have been albacore Thunnus alalunga, rather than the larger Atlantic bluefin tuna Thunnus thynnus thynnus, since an albacore population exists to the west of Crete (Laevastu and Rosa 1963:3 , Fig. 5; Gallant 1985 :30). Furthermore because these fish particularly favour inshore island waters , such as exist in the Aegean , they would have been easier to catch using Bronze Age fishing methods.

73

Table 19 contains a list of the smaller pelagic fish harvested in the Aegean, mainly fish of the Clupidae (herrings and sardines) and Engraulidae (anchovies) families.

TABLE 19 Smaller pelagic fish caught in the Aegean Bronze Age Specie s

Habita t

Reference s

Mediterranean pilchard Sardina pilchardus

Nwnber of large populations , western and northeastern Mediterranean , smaller populations in southeastern region. Spawn in shallow water , biannual seasona l migra tions . Annual catch (1971) 76 000 tons

Gulland 1971 :42 Gallant 1975:65 Faber 1883:31, 85, 100, 104, 147, 149, 156

Mediterranean sardine Sardine/la aurita

More southerl y distribution , caught commerciall y off Oppian 1.244 , 3.398 north Africa . Annual catch with S. maderensis of 40 000 Gulland 1971 :32, 42 tons. Gallant 1985:59

Anchovy Engraulis crasicholus

Important pelagic shoal fish distributed throughou t Mediterranean . Seasonal , eaten salt ed or fresh . Mediterranean/Black Sea catch 226 600 tons in period 1963- 1969.

Aristotle HA 569a-b 26-30 Aelian 2.2, 8, 19 AthenaeusVII.c .22 Xenocrates 7 Oppian 4.468-503 Gulland 1971 :39 Faber 1883:45 , 85, 100, 106, 114, 148, 161 Gallant 1985:50-51

Horse mackerel Trachurus trachurus

Shoals in open water , close inshore in summer , frequents off-shore sand banks. 4 .6% of Mediterranean/Black Sea catch (15 000 tons 1963-1969) .

Oppian 3.400 Gulland 1971 :42 Faber 1883:32-33, 76, 106, 113, 148, 160 Gallant 1985 :62 Mylona 1994

Sprat Clupea sprattus

Shoal species , northern Mediterranean . Annual catch exceeds 10 000 tons .

Athenaeus VII.e.28 Gulland 1971 :39 Gallant 1985 :70

Of the five smaller pelagic fish species caught in the Aegean and listed in Table 19, only the horse mackerel Trachurus trachurus has been recovered from a Minoan settlement. Five otoliths, two positively and three tentatively identified as horse mackerel, were recovered at Palaikastro. The absence of these smaller pelagic shoal fish is probably due to the small bone size and degradable nature. On archaeological, literary and scientific evidence, it is not possible to quantify Bronze Age pelagic fish catches. Qualitatively the evidence suggests however that reasonable quantities of pelagic fish were caught. In reply to Gallant's argument on the inter-annual variability of the resource, it is pointed out that large capital-intensive international fisheries are centred on predictable seasonal migratory patterns of pelagic fish. The Scombridae (tunas) , Clupidae (herrings and sardines) and Engraulidae (anchovies) are all fished annually internationally on a sound economic basis . In all probability the Aegean resource of Scombroid fishes was greater in the Bronze Age than it is today, since evidence suggests that where the catches of bluefin tuna are poor, the cause in almost every instance is not a natural phenomenon, but simply gross over-fishing. Overfishing would not have occurred in the Bronze Age, thus leaving the bulk of the resource intact for small regular catches.

74

In contrast to the Bronze Age pelagic fishery evidence indicates that the Aegean littoral and demersal resource was characterised by a wider diversity of fish species. The tables that follow contain classifications of the littoral and demersal fish species caught off Crete, the Aegean islands and Greece in the Neolithic and Bronze Age periods . The first tables are compiled from the common names of fish recorded mainly in the writings of Classical authors . Subsequent tables cover the fish species recovered archaeologically from prehistoric settlement sites at Palaikastro in east Crete, Saliagos near Antiparos in the Cyclades and at Lerna in the Greek Argolid. The Bronze Age archaeological and Classical literary evidence on which the tables are based extend in time from the Aegean Middle Neolithic period (c. 4000 BC) to about 200 AD. It is generally accepted that an Aegean fishery model drawing on Classical sources is applicable to the Bronze Age because of the innate conservatism discussed earlier that characterises small-scale fishing (Gallant 1985: 12). To place the identifications on a scientific footing the fish named by Classical authors were cross-checked where possible against twentieth century publications on prehistoric Aegean fishing (Ratcliffe 1921; Evans and Renfrew 1968; Gejvall 1969; Gallant 1985), as well as against publications dealing specifically with fish taxonomy and nomenclature (Smith 1949; Smith 1975; Van der Elst 1981; Smith and Heemstra 1991). The identification of fish from Classical literary and Bronze Age archaeological sources is open to errors, as fish nomenclature even today is continually changing. The task is made more difficult as most countries have their own particular names for identical fish. The Aegean meagre (Argyrosomus hololepidotus) for example proved to be the South African kabeljou . Similarly the Aegean dentex a member of the Family Sparidae is related to the Cape red steenbras. The Aegean sargue is probably the Cape '