In southern Italy, strange residues discovered at the bottom of 2,500 -year -old bronze jars have intrigued specialists for decades. Thanks to high precision analyzes, a team of chemists and archaeologists has finally lifted the veil on their nature.
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It is honey, no doubt deposited in an offering to an ancient divinity, affirm the specialists. These viscous traces, preserved since the archaic era in the Greek city of Paestum, would be the remains of a precious ray of honey, frozen in its ritual context.
« What I find interesting is that the Greeks of Antiquity thought that honey was a superfoodsuperfood “Explains Luciana da Costa Carvalho, chemist at the University of Oxford and the main author of the study. The researchers published their results in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. Used in medicine, cooking, religious rituals or cosmetics, honey occupied a central place in ancient Greek and Roman societies.
This symbolic link had already led archaeologists in 1954 to suspect that the eight jars discovered in an underground sanctuary of Paestum, a héroon dedicated to a founding hero, contained honey. However, despite several analyzes carried out for almost 70 years, no concrete evidence of sucresucre could not have been detected … until today.
Modern technology as part of a millennial enigma
By combining the most recent tools in analytical chemistry, including mass spectrometry, a technique to identify different molecules and compounds, Carvalho’s team has managed to detect hexoses sugars still intact in one of the containers. However, these sugars, mainly of fructosefructosemake up almost 79 % of fresh honey.
The analysis also highlighted the presence of royal jelly, a nutrient substance produced by workers’ bees, as well as peptidespeptides characteristics of the European bee (Apis mellifera). So many concordant molecular clues that provide direct proof: the jars did contain honey, most likely in the form of whole shelves.
« The amount of sugar in ancient residues is very low compared to modern honeyPRECISIS LUCIANA DA COSTA CARVALHO. I find that the residues have the taste of honey washed on the shelves, but slightly more acidic », Without having tasted it. This remarkable preservation could be explained by the presence of copper ions, identified in the mixture. Known for their biocidal properties, these ions would have slowed down the degradation of surface sugars.
A ritual offering
All the discoveries were made in a héroonan underground place of worship located in Paestum. This sanctuary included a large table in boisbois and ritual elements in ferfer and wool. The researchers believe that honey would have been offered in tribute to IS of propeller, mythical hero and founder of the ancient Sybaris, Greek city destroyed in VIe Century before Jesus Christ, whose survivors later founded Poseidonia, who became a Paestum under Roman domination.
For Luciana da Costa Carvalho, this study finally illustrates the importance of revisiting museum collections at the lightlight scientific progress. “” Analysis techniques continue to develop And today allow to answer questions that have remained unanswered for decades.
