In the Bible, the southern Levant is often referred to as ‘the land flowing with milk and honey’, suggesting a fertile area, filled with abundance and pleasure. Today, this region corresponds to southern Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, and Jordan, making for a highly diverse landscape. Back in the Bronze Age (3,600-1,200 BC) and Iron Age (1,200-586 BC) the peoples occupying the southern Levant witnessed many seismic social, political, and cultural changes. This period is also of key importance for understanding the historical context of two of the great monotheistic religions: Judaism and Christianity. So it is no surprise that the Bronze Age and Iron Age of this region are popular research topics. Scholars typically focus on subjects like the development of complex urban-based settlements, the construction of fortifications, the rise of monarchies, trade networks, and so forth. But while these topics tackle the major developments of the era, they do not always provide much sense of what everyday life was like. One question that still needs answering, for instance, remains entirely relatable nowadays: what did they get for supper?
Food for thought
When it comes to the southern Levant during the Bronze and Iron Ages, those seeking to understand ancient diets have three lines of evidence to draw on: ancient texts, and both direct and indirect archaeological evidence. Among the first are surviving administrative texts, business transactions, and sometimes even menus, which note the kinds of foodstuffs being consumed, sold, or taxed. Naturally, such details are invaluable, but, because the southern Levant has been controlled by numerous different empires, among them the Egyptians, Hittites, and Assyrians, these sources were compiled in various different ancient languages, complicating their study today. Archaeology can also be added to the mix by providing indirect evidence in the form of structures or artefacts used to obtain, process, or store food, such as silos, ovens, animal pens, yokes, and fishing hooks. Meanwhile, animal and plant remains can offer a wealth of direct evidence for what was being eaten, allowing us to identify staple foods, how animals were butchered and at what age, and what these animals were used for. Pathologies – that is traces of disease or injury – can show if animals were cared for, or repeatedly forced to undertake onerous tasks. Draught animals provide a classic example of the latter, as they are commonly afflicted by arthritis. Biomolecular methods are also now providing vivid glimpses of past diet. Lipid analysis, for instance, can reveal the former contents of pots, while isotope analysis sheds light on what people and animals ate and the sort of environment they grew up in.
Using these various categories of evidence reveals that the diet of people living in the southern Levant differed between the Bronze Age and Iron Age. It is useful to consider these changes alongside the key socio-political and economic developments of these eras. During the early and middle phases of the Bronze Age, for example, we see the development of the first complex urban-based societies. These settlements were underpinned by a mixed agricultural economy involving both crops and livestock. Sheep and goat were the main sources of meat, and consumed in sufficient quantities to suggest that most people were able to acquire them. Cattle, by contrast, were mostly used as beasts of burden, but also eaten from time to time on special occasions. There is a practical dimension to this, after all it is easier to divide a sheep or goat between a few families than a cow, which – depending on its size – can feed hundreds of people. Pigs were also eaten, but did not form an important source of meat. Game, such as deer, boar, and gazelle were hunted sporadically, while fish and poultry would also have been on the menu. Among the last, though, the now omnipresent chicken only became common during the Iron Age. When it comes to crops there was a heavy reliance on emmer wheats, glume wheats, lentils, and garden peas, all of which have the added advantage that they can be stored in silos as insurance against those years when harvests fail.
