Milling Cereals/Legumes and Stamping Bread in Mauretanian Tamuda (Morocco): An Interdisciplinary Study

Autor: Darío Bernal-Casasola, José Juan Díaz, Tarik Moujoud, María Angeles Pascual Sánchez, Macarena Bustamante-Álvarez, José Antonio López-Sáez, Mario Gutiérrez-Rodríguez, José Manuel Vargas Girón, José Luis Portillo-Sotelo
Přispěvatelé: Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (España), López Sáez, José Antonio, López Sáez, José Antonio [0000-0002-3122-2744]
Rok vydání: 2020
Předmět:
Zdroj: Digital.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
instname
ISSN: 1572-9842
0263-0338
Popis: Recent archaeological excavations (2016–2019) in the city of Tamuda (northern Morocco) yielded evidence of commercial milling and bread-making facilities dated to the Mauretanian period (first century BC). This article presents the results of the excavation of two Mauretanian buildings (E0 7 and E0 8) in the Eastern Quarter, in which evidence for flour milling and, indirectly, the preparation of bread were found. These buildings included four rooms used for milling (with low quern-stones of the rotary, saddle, and Pompeian types), as well as warehouses (full of amphorae) and other rooms of undetermined functions. Palynological analysis has indicated the milling of cereal, peas, and faba beans, while soil micromorphology revealed the roasting of hazelnuts and raised the possibility of using fish bones for the production of fish flour. Especially relevant was the discovery of a circular clay mold decorated with a heroic fishing scene, used for the decoration of bread and pies. These elements demonstrate the chaîne opératoire of bread-making—milling, dough production and decoration, and other food processing activities. This is the first time that archaeometric techniques are applied to study milling facilities in Morocco, and it is the only known association of bread stamps and pre-Roman milling facilities in North Africa.
This article is the outcome of the agreement signed by the Direction du Patrimoine of the Moroccan Ministry of Culture and the University of Cádiz. It resulted from projects GARVM III (PID2019-108948RB-I00) funded by the Spanish Government/Feder; ARQUEOFISH (P18-FR-1483) Programa de Ayudas a la I+D+i del Plan Andaluz de Investigación, Desarrollo e Innovación (PAIDI 2020); and ARQ-ANALYTICS (Proyectos Jóvenes Investigadores Ceimar, 2019 call). The project is also supported by the 2014–2020 ERDF Operational Programme and by the Department of Economy, Knowledge, Business, and University of the Regional Government of Andalusia (FEDER-UCA18-104415 ARQUEOSTRA). Additional financial help has been received from the Ministry of Culture and Sports of the Spanish Government/Feder (“Ayudas para Proyectos Arqueológicos en el Exterior” Program, 2016–2019) and Palarq Foundation (2018–2019). The palynological analysis was funded by project MED-REFUGIA-RTI2018-101714-B-I00 (Plan Nacional I+D+I, Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness). M.G.-R. is a member of the PAIDI Research Group, HUM 296: Roman and Late Roman Archaeology of Eastern Andalusia. The University of Granada provided a postdoctoral grant to M.G.-R. in the School of Archaeology and Ancient History of the University of Leicester (Programa de Perfeccionamiento de Doctores, Plan Propio del Vicerrectorado de Investigación)
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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