Ancient fermented food has been studied based on recipes, residue analysis, and ancient-DNA techniques and reconstructed using modern domesticated yeast. Here, we present a novel approach based on our hypothesis that enriched yeast... more
Ancient fermented food has been studied based on recipes, residue analysis, and ancient-DNA techniques and reconstructed using modern domesticated yeast. Here, we present a novel approach based on our hypothesis that enriched yeast populations in fermented beverages could have become the dominant species in storage vessels and their descendants could be isolated and studied today. We developed a pipeline of yeast isolation from clay vessels and screened for yeast cells in beverage-related and non-beverage-related ancient vessels and sediments from several archaeological sites. We found that yeast cells could be successfully isolated specifically from clay containers of fermented beverages. The findings that genotypically the isolated yeasts are similar to those found in traditional African beverages and phenotypically they grow similar to modern beer-producing yeast strongly suggest that they are descendants of the original fermenting yeast. These results demonstrate that modern microorganisms can serve as a new tool in bio-archaeology research.
Publication Name: Lipschits, O., Oeming, M. and Gadot, Y. 2020 Ramat Rahel IV – The Renewed Excavations by the Tel Aviv-Heidelberg Expedition (2005-2010): Stratigraphy and Architecture. Tel Aviv: 476-491.
More Info: Lipschits, O., Oeming, M., Gadot, Y. and Vanderhooft, D.S. 2007. Seventeen Newly Excavated YEHUD Stamp Impressions from Ramat-Rahel. Tel-Aviv 34: 74-89.
The ancient tell (mound) of Ramat Rahel sits on the outskirts of Jerusalem. It features an impressive residency and palatial garden that flourished during the seventh to fourth centuries BCE, when biblical Judah was under the hegemony of... more
The ancient tell (mound) of Ramat Rahel sits on the outskirts of Jerusalem. It features an impressive residency and palatial garden that flourished during the seventh to fourth centuries BCE, when biblical Judah was under the hegemony of the Assyrian, Babylonian and Persian empires. Until recently, the garden’s flora has been a mystery, as standard archaeological procedures were unable to retrieve secure archaeobotanical remains. A unique method of extracting fossil pollen from ancient plaster has now enabled researchers to reconstruct the exact vegetation components of this royal Persian garden and for the first time to shed light on the cultural world of the inhabitants of the residence. The plaster layers and garden are dated archaeologically and by Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) methods to the Persian period (fifth to fourth centuries BCE), and produced evidence of importation by the ruling Persian authorities of special and highly valued trees to the garden from remote parts of the empire. The most surprising find, and marking its earliest appearance in the southern Levant, was the citron (Citrus medica), which later acquired a symbolic-religious role in Judaism. Other imported trees found to have been grown in the garden are the cedar, birch and Persian walnut. The pollen evidence of these exotic trees in the Ramat Rahel palatial garden suggests that they were probably brought to flaunt the power of the imperial Persian administration. Native fruit trees and ornamentals that were also grown there include the fig, grape, olive, willow, poplar, myrtle and water lily. The identification of the ancient garden’s plant life opens a course for future research into the symbolic role of flora in palatial gardens. It also offers new opportunities for studying the mechanism by which native flora was adopted in a particular geographical area and proliferated by humans across the world.
In 2008, a large number of vessels, animal bones, and figurines were uncovered in a Late Iron Age II deposit at Ramat Raḥel. The ceramic and faunal remains indicate the presence of a ritual deposit that was intentionally placed below the... more
In 2008, a large number of vessels, animal bones, and figurines were uncovered in a Late Iron Age II deposit at Ramat Raḥel. The ceramic and faunal remains indicate the presence of a ritual deposit that was intentionally placed below the floor of the central courtyard of the palatial administrative structure. During Aharoni’s excavations at the site (1954, 1959–1962), another ritual pit with even larger numbers of pottery vessels and figurines was uncovered but misinterpreted; we interpret both as favissae. These favissae are evidence of diacritical feasting that took place at the administrative center of Ramat Raḥel. The feasting events are significant because they are the only examples of elite feasting found in a palace or administrative context in Iron Age Judah.
