First molecular and isotopic evidence of millet processing in prehistoric pottery vessels

Culinary continuity in central Japan across the transition to agriculture

Rice and millet arrived in Western Japan from Korea around 3,000 years ago and spread eastwards across the archipelago in the next 700 years. However, the extent to which agriculture transformed traditional Jōmon hunter-gatherer-fisher communities is debated. Central Japan is a key area of study as remodelling of radiocarbon dates shows a slowdown in the dispersal rate of rice agriculture in this area. Here, we examine and compare the use of pottery by Final Jōmon and Early to Middle Yayoi communities in the Tōkai and the Central Highland regions of central Japan, using lipid residue analysis. Although the identification of specific biomarkers for rice remains elusive, an increase in the ratio of E/H C18 APAAs with the arrival of rice and millet indicates a potential change in plant processing and consumption. We were also able to identify biomarkers for broomcorn millet (miliacin) in both Final Jōmon and Yayoi pottery. However, evidence for millet consumption is sparse and in all cases was likely mixed with wild hunted and foraged foods. We conclude therefore that, despite the introduction of rice and millet agriculture in central Japan, pre-existing diets and culinary habits of Jōmon hunter-gatherers remain important.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12520-024-01992-9.

Investigating grandmothers' cooking: A multidisciplinary approach to foodways on an archaeological dump in Lower Casamance, Senegal

Because they hold information about cultural identity, foodways have been the focus of a variety of disciplines in archaeology. However, each approach documents different stages of culinary preparation and is constrained by the preservation specificities of each type of artefact and ecofact. Difficulties in achieving an interdisciplinary approach may explain the scarcity of such studies. In this paper, we propose a methodology that combines archaeozoological, carpological and microbotanical analysis of ecofacts retrieved in the sediment, with use-alteration, organic residue and microbotanical analysis carried out on pottery vessels, recovered during the excavation of a XXth century archaeological dump site in Lower Casamance (Senegal). The results demonstrate the strength of this multiproxy approach in reconstructing past foodways by characterising the importance of aquatic, terrestrial animals and plant products in the Diola Kassa diet. In addition, this study questions the modalities of food transformation by assessing the preparation techniques of animal and vegetal products (cutting marks, heating processes etc.) and the function of pottery vessels (transport, storage, cooking etc.). Aquatic products and rice were a significant part of the diet of the users of the dump (from archaeozoology, carpology, phytoliths and organic residue analysis) and wet cooking (boiling?), salty and acidic foods seem to have been particularly prevalent (from use-alteration). The absence of specific animal and plant parts in the archaeological record, as well as some pottery function, is also questioned. Beyond gathering the results of each approach, this study focuses on the interweaving of different research methods to depict past foodscape.

Pottery spilled the beans: Patterns in the processing and consumption of dietary lipids in Central Germany from the Early Neolithic to the Bronze Age

The need to better understand economic change and the social uses of long-ago established pottery types to prepare and consume food has led to the study of 124 distinct ceramic vessels from 17 settlement and funerary sites in Central Germany (present day Saxony-Anhalt). These, dated from the Early Neolithic (from 5450 cal. BCE onwards) to the Late Bronze Age (1300-750 cal. BCE; youngest sample ca. 1000 BCE), include vessels from the Linear Pottery (LBK), Schiepzig/Schöningen groups (SCHIP), Baalberge (BAC), Corded Ware (CWC), Bell Beaker (BBC), and Únětice (UC) archaeological cultures. Organic residue analyses performed on this assemblage determined the presence of vessel contents surviving as lipid residues in 109 cases. These were studied in relation to the changing use of settlement and funerary pottery types and, in the case of burials, to the funerary contexts in which the vessels had been placed. The obtained results confirmed a marked increase in the consumption of dairy products linked to innovations in pottery types (e.g., small cups) during the Funnel Beaker related Baalberge Culture of the 4th millennium BCE. Although the intensive use of dairy products may have continued into the 3rd millennium BCE, especially amongst Bell Beaker populations, Corded Ware vessels found in funerary contexts suggest an increase in the importance of non-ruminant products, which may be linked to the production of specific vessel shapes and decoration. In the Early Bronze Age circum-Harz Únětice group (ca. 2200-1550 BCE), which saw the emergence of a highly hierarchical society, a greater variety of animal and plant derived products was detected in a much more standardised but, surprisingly, more multifunctional pottery assemblage. This long-term study of lipid residues from a concise region in Central Europe thus reveals the complex relationships that prehistoric populations established between food resources and the main means to prepare, store, and consume them.

Diets, stress, and disease in the Etruscan society: Isotope analysis and infantile skeletal palaeopathology from Pontecagnano (Campania, southern Italy, 730-580 BCE)

Susceptibility to morbidity and mortality is increased in early life, yet proactive measures, such as breastfeeding and weaning practices, can be taken through specific investments from parents and wider society. The extent to which such biosocialcultural investment was achieved within 1st millennium BCE Etruscan society, of whom little written sources are available, is unkown. This research investigates life histories in non-adults and adults from Pontecagnano (southern Italy, 730-580 BCE) in order to track cross-sectional and longitudinal breastfeeding and weaning patterns and to characterize the diet more broadly. Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis of incrementally-sampled deciduous and permanent dentine (n = 15), bulk bone collagen (n = 38), and tooth enamel bioapatite (n = 21) reveal the diet was largely based on C3 staple crops with marginal contributions of animal protein. Millet was found to play a role for maternal diet and trajectories of breastfeeding and feeding for some infants and children at the site. The combination of multiple isotope systems and tissues demonstrates exclusive breastfeeding was pursued until 0.6 years, followed by progressive introduction of proteanocius supplementary foods during weaning that lasted between approximately 0.7 and 2.6 years. The combination of biochemical data with macroscopic skeletal lesions of infantile metabolic diseases and physiological stress markers showed high δ15Ndentine in the months prior to death consistent with the isotopic pattern of opposing covariance.

Diverse dietary practices across the Early Bronze Age 'Kura-Araxes culture' in the South Caucasus

The Kura-Araxes (KA) cultural phenomenon (dated to the Early Bronze Age, c. 3500/3350-2500 BCE) is primarily characterised by the emergence of a homogeneous pottery style and a uniform 'material culture package' in settlements across the South Caucasus, as well as territories extending to the Ancient Near East and the Levant. It has been argued that KA societies practised pastoralism, despite a lack of direct examination of dietary and culinary practices in this region. Here, we report the first analyses of absorbed lipid residues from KA pottery to both determine the organic products produced and consumed and to reconstruct subsistence practices. Our results provide compelling evidence for a diversified diet across KA settlements in Armenia, comprising a mixed economy of meat and plant processing, aquatic fats and dairying. The preservation of diagnostic plant lipid biomarkers, notably long-chain fatty acids (C20 to C28) and n-alkanes (C23 to C33) has enabled the identification of the earliest processing of plants in pottery of the region. These findings suggest that KA settlements were agropastoral exploiting local resources. Results demonstrate the significance of applying biomolecular methods for examining dietary inferences in the South Caucasus region.

Lipid residues in ancient pastoralist pottery from Kazakhstan reveal regional differences in cooking practices

The Bronze Age—Iron Age transition in Central Asia (ca. 800 BCE) was a period of significant cultural change that was heavily influenced by greater population interaction and mobility. Indeed, scholars have increasingly emphasized the role that “food globalization in prehistory” has played in defining this period. In the mountain foothills of Kazakhstan, culinary traditions from across Eurasia were combined through the use of Southwest Asian wheat, barley, and livestock (cattle, sheep, and goats) with East Asian foxtail and broomcorn millets. The development of food cultures during this period has been investigated by archaeobotanical and isotopic analysis, yet lipid residues from pottery, which directly represent culinary practices, have not been adequately examined. In this study, lipid residue analysis was conducted on 72 pottery sherds, excavated from three burial mounds and one non-burial, ritual site located in Kazakhstan, dating to ca. 700–200 BCE. A particularly informative observation was the frequency of miliacin, a biomarker of broomcorn millet, detected in residues that corresponded well with previously published regional differences observed in carbon isotope ratios of human remains that indicate the consumption of C4 plants. This study also demonstrates continuity of Bronze Age dairying traditions into the Iron Age. Finally, this study sheds new light on the diversity of food cultures and mortuary practices in this region, which were not uniform across either space or time.

Novel Deep Eutectic Solvent-Based Protein Extraction Method for Pottery Residues and Archeological Implications

Proteomic analysis of absorbed residues is increasingly used to identify the foodstuffs processed in ancient ceramic vessels, but detailed methodological investigations in this field remain rare. Here, we present three interlinked methodological developments with important consequences in paleoproteomics: the comparative absorption and identification of various food proteins, the application of a deep eutectic solvent (DES) for extracting ceramic-bound proteins, and the role of database choice in taxonomic identification. Our experiments with modern and ethnoarcheological ceramics show that DES is generally more effective at extracting ceramic-bound proteins than guanidine hydrochloride (GuHCl), and cereal proteins are absorbed and subsequently extracted and identifiedat least as readily as meat proteins. We also highlight some of the challenges in cross-species proteomics, whereby species that are less well-represented in databases can be attributed an incorrect species-level taxonomic assignment due to interspecies similarities in protein sequence. This is particularly problematic in potentially mixed samples such as cooking-generated organic residues deposited in pottery. Our work demonstrates possible proteomic separation of fishes and birds, the latter of which have so far eluded detection through lipidomic analyses of organic residue deposits in pottery, which has important implications for tracking the exploitation of avian species in various ancient communities around the globe.

Paleoproteomics

Paleoproteomics, the study of ancient proteins, is a rapidly growing field at the intersection of molecular biology, paleontology, archaeology, paleoecology, and history. Paleoproteomics research leverages the longevity and diversity of proteins to explore fundamental questions about the past. While its origins predate the characterization of DNA, it was only with the advent of soft ionization mass spectrometry that the study of ancient proteins became truly feasible. Technological gains over the past 20 years have allowed increasing opportunities to better understand preservation, degradation, and recovery of the rich bioarchive of ancient proteins found in the archaeological and paleontological records. Growing from a handful of studies in the 1990s on individual highly abundant ancient proteins, paleoproteomics today is an expanding field with diverse applications ranging from the taxonomic identification of highly fragmented bones and shells and the phylogenetic resolution of extinct species to the exploration of past cuisines from dental calculus and pottery food crusts and the characterization of past diseases. More broadly, these studies have opened new doors in understanding past human-animal interactions, the reconstruction of past environments and environmental changes, the expansion of the hominin fossil record through large scale screening of nondiagnostic bone fragments, and the phylogenetic resolution of the vertebrate fossil record. Even with these advances, much of the ancient proteomic record still remains unexplored. Here we provide an overview of the history of the field, a summary of the major methods and applications currently in use, and a critical evaluation of current challenges. We conclude by looking to the future, for which innovative solutions and emerging technology will play an important role in enabling us to access the still unexplored "dark" proteome, allowing for a fuller understanding of the role ancient proteins can play in the interpretation of the past.

Lipids in Archaeological Pottery: A Review on Their Sampling and Extraction Techniques

Several studies have been performed so far for the effective recovery, detection and quantification of specific compounds and their degradation products in archaeological materials. According to the literature, lipid molecules are the most durable and widespread biomarkers in ancient pottery. Artificial ageing studies to simulate lipid alterations over time have been reported. In this review, specific lipid archaeological biomarkers and well-established sampling and extraction methodologies are discussed. Although suitable analytical techniques have unraveled archaeological questions, some issues remain open such as the need to introduce innovative and miniaturized protocols to avoid extractions with organic solvents, which are often laborious and non-environmentally friendly.

Millets and Cereal Meals from the Early Iron Age Underwater Settlement of “Gran Carro” (Bolsena Lake, Central Italy)

Archeobotanical materials recovered from pottery vessels originating from the underwater archeological site of “Gran Carro”, located in Central Italy on the shore of Bolsena Lake, were analyzed to obtain new insight into the agricultural habits present in this Iron Age settlement. The archeobotanical study of cereal remains was combined with analytical data obtained from an amorphous organic residue using optical microscopy, SEM-EDS, ATR/FT-IR and Py-GC/MS. The cereal remains of emmer wheat (Triticum dicoccum), barley (Hordeum vulgare), broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum), and foxtail millet (Setaria italica) were identified as the preferred crops used for food and/or fodder at the site. The presence of charred millets, which have been directly dated by AMS, confirms consumption at the site and adds to the little-known background of millet use in central Italy. The find of millets in a perilacustrine pile-dwelling during a period when the water level of the Bolsena Lake was several meters lower than at present, attesting to a general dry period, suggests that the cultivation of millets, complementing more productive crops of wheat and barley, may have been favored by the availability of a large seasonally dry coastal plain, characterized by poor and sandy soils unsuitable for more demanding cereals.

Integrating Lipid and Starch Grain Analyses From Pottery Vessels to Explore Prehistoric Foodways in Northern Gujarat, India

This study attempts a holistic approach to past foodways in prehistoric northern Gujarat, India, by considering evidence of food production, distribution, preparation and consumption. We present here the results of a pilot residue study, integrating lipid and starch grain analyses, conducted on 28 ceramic vessels from three Chalcolithic/Harappan settlements (c. 3300–2000 cal. BC) in northern Gujarat, which are discussed in the light of previous evidence of plant and animal acquisition and preparation strategies in this region. We aim to explore how the prehistoric inhabitants of northern Gujarat transformed ingredients into meals, focusing on how different foodstuffs were processed. When assessed on their own, the lipid and compound-specific isotopic data suggest that animal fats were primarily processed in ceramic vessels, specifically non-ruminant fats. However, lipid residue analysis favors the detection of fat-rich animal products and is often unable to disentangle signatures resulting from the mixing of plant and animal products. The incorporation of starch grain analyses provides evidence for the processing of a range of plants in the vessels, such as cereals, pulses and underground storage organs. Together, the results provide a holistic perspective on foodways and a way forward in overcoming preservational and interpretational limitations.

Isotopic investigation of skeletal remains at the Imdang tombs reveals high consumption of game birds and social stratification in ancient Korea

Understanding the development of early states on the Korean Peninsula is an important topic in Korean archaeology. However, it is not clear how social structure was organized by these early states and what natural resources were utilized from their surrounding environments. To investigate dietary adaptation and social status in ancient Korea, stable isotope ratios and radiocarbon dates were measured from humans and animals from the Imdang cemetery, Gyeongsan city, South Korea. The results indicate that the Imdang diet was mainly based on C3 plants and terrestrial animals. Animal remains in the graves were directly consumed as daily food items as well as for ritual offerings. MixSIAR modeling results revealed that the dietary sources for the humans were: game birds > C3 plants > terrestrial herbivores > marine fish > C4 plants. The finding that the game birds represented the highest contribution to the whole diet, indicates that game birds must have been intensively hunted. Furthermore, elites consumed more game birds than their retainers and they also consumed seafood as a privileged dietary item in the Imdang society. This study demonstrates that the Apdok was a stratified society having high variations in the consumption of food items available to an individual and provides new insights about the subsistence and social status of the early ancient Apdok state on the Korean Peninsula.

New insights into early medieval Islamic cuisine: Organic residue analysis of pottery from rural and urban Sicily

Sicily, during the 9th-12th century AD, thrived politically, economically, and culturally under Islamic political rule and the capital of Palermo stood as a cultural and political centre in the Mediterranean Islamic world. However, to what extent the lifeways of the people that experienced these regimes were impacted during this time is not well understood, particularly those from lesser studied rural contexts. This paper presents the first organic residue analysis of 134 cooking pots and other domestic containers dating to the 9th -12th century in order to gain new insights into the culinary practices during this significant period. Ceramics from three sites in the urban capital of Palermo and from the rural town of Casale San Pietro were analysed and compared. The multi-faceted organic residue analysis identified a range of commodities including animal products, vegetables, beeswax, pine and fruit products in the ceramics, with a complex mixing of resources observed in many cases, across all four sites and ceramic forms. Alongside the identification of commodities and how they were combined, new light has been shed on the patterning of resource use between these sites. The identification of dairy products in calcite wares from the rural site of Casale San Pietro and the absence of dairy in ceramics from the urban centre of Palermo presents interesting questions regarding the role of rural sites in food consumption and production in Islamic Sicily. This is the first time organic residue analysis of ceramics has been used to explore foodways in a medieval multi-faith society and offers new pathways to the understanding of pottery use and resources that were prepared, consumed and combined, reflecting cuisine in different socio-economic environments within the pluralistic population of medieval Sicily.

Investigating the formation and diagnostic value of ω-(o-alkylphenyl)alkanoic acids in ancient pottery

Long-chain ω-(o-alkylphenyl)alkanoic acids (APAAs) derived from the heating of unsaturated fatty acids have been widely used for the identification of aquatic products in archaeological ceramic vessels. To date, little attention has been paid to the diagnostic potential of shorter chain (< C20) APAAs, despite their frequent occurrence. Here, a range of laboratory and field experiments and analyses of archaeological samples were undertaken to investigate whether APAAs could be used to further differentiate different commodities. The results provide new insights about the conditions for the formation of APAAs and enable the proposition of novel criteria to distinguish different natural products.

What do "barbarians" eat? Integrating ceramic use-wear and residue analysis in the study of food and society at the margins of Bronze Age China

The Siwa archaeological culture (ca. 3350 and 2650 cal yr BP) has often been associated with the tribes referenced in textual sources as Qiang and Rong: prized captives commonly sacrificed by the Shang and marauding hordes who toppled the Western Zhou dynasty. In early Chinese writings, food plays a key role in accentuating the 'sino-barbarian' dichotomy believed to have taken root over 3000 years ago, with the Qiang and Rong described as nomadic pastoralists who consumed more meat than grain and knew little of proper dining etiquette. To date, however, little direct archaeological evidence has allowed us to reconstruct the diet and foodways of the groups who occupied the Loess Plateau during this pivotal period. Here we present the results of the first ceramic use-wear study performed on the Siwa ma'an jars from the site of Zhanqi, combined with the molecular and isotopic characterization of lipid residues from foodcrusts, and evidence from experimental cooking. We report molecular data indicating the preparation of meals composed of millet and ruminant dairy among the Siwa community of Zhanqi. Use-wear analysis shows that Zhanqi community members were sophisticated creators of ceramic equipment, the ma'an cooking pot, which allowed them to prepare a wide number of dishes with limited fuel. These findings support recent isotope studies at Zhanqi as well as nuance the centrality of meat in the Siwa period diet.

Digging deeper - A new data mining workflow for improved processing and interpretation of high resolution GC-Q-TOF MS data in archaeological research

Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry profiling is the most established method for the analysis of organic residues, particularly lipids, from archaeological contexts. This technique allows the decryption of hidden chemical information associated with archaeological artefacts, such as ceramic pottery fragments. The molecular and isotopic compositions of such residues can be used to reconstruct past resource use, and hence address major questions relating to patterns of subsistence, diet and ritual practices in the past. A targeted data analysis approach, based on previous findings reported in the literature is common but greatly depends on the investigator’s prior knowledge of specific compound classes and their mass spectrometric behaviour, and poses the risk of missing unknown, potentially diagnostic compounds. Organic residues from post-prehistoric archaeological samples often lead to highly complex chromatograms, which makes manual chromatogram inspection very tedious and time consuming, especially for large datasets. This poses a significant limitation regarding the scale and interpretative scopes of such projects. Therefore, we have developed a non-targeted data mining workflow to extract a higher number of known and unknown compounds from the raw data to reduce investigator’s bias and to vastly accelerate overall analysis time. The workflow covers all steps from raw data handling, feature selection, and compound identification up to statistical interpretation.

The dynamics of Early Celtic consumption practices: A case study of the pottery from the Heuneburg

The Early Celtic site of the Heuneburg (Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany) has long been understood as a hallmark of early urbanization in Central Europe. The rich collection of Mediterranean imports recovered from the settlement, the elite burials in its surroundings and the Mediterranean-inspired mudbrick fortification wall further point to the importance of intercultural connections with the Mediterranean as a crucial factor in the transformation of Early Iron Age societies. We describe a new facet of this process by studying the transformation of consumption practices, especially drinking habits, brought about by intercultural encounters from the late 7^th to the 5^th century BC through the analysis of organic remains in 133 ceramic vessels found at the Heuneburg using Organic Residue Analysis (ORA). During the Ha D1 phase, fermented beverages, including Mediterranean grape wine, were identified in and appear to have been consumed from local handmade ceramics. The latter were recovered from different status-related contexts within the Heuneburg, suggesting an early and well-established trade/exchange system of this Mediterranean product. This contrasts with the results obtained for the drinking and serving vessels from the Ha D3 phase that were studied. The consumption of fermented beverages (wine and especially bacteriofermented products) appears to have been concentrated on the plateau. The ORA analyses presented here seem to indicate that during this time, grape wine was consumed primarily from imported vessels, and more rarely from local prestigious fine wheel-made vessels. In addition to imported wine, we demonstrate the consumption of a wide variety of foodstuffs, such as animal fats (especially dairy products), millet, plant oils and waxy plants, fruit and beehive products as well as one or several other fermented beverage(s) that were probably locally produced. Through this diachronic study of vessel function from different intra-site contexts, we inform on changing and status-related practices of food processing and consumption.

New insights into Early Celtic consumption practices: Organic residue analyses of local and imported pottery from Vix-Mont Lassois

The rich Mediterranean imports found in Early Celtic princely sites (7^th-5^th cent. BC) in Southwestern Germany, Switzerland and Eastern France have long been the focus of archaeological and public interest. Consumption practices, particularly in the context of feasting, played a major role in Early Celtic life and imported ceramic vessels have consequently been interpreted as an attempt by the elite to imitate Mediterranean wine feasting. Here we present the first scientific study carried out to elucidate the use of Mediterranean imports in Early Celtic Central Europe and their local ceramic counterparts through organic residue analyses of 99 vessels from Vix-Mont Lassois, a key Early Celtic site. In the Mediterranean imports we identified imported plant oils and grape wine, and evidence points towards appropriation of these foreign vessels. Both Greek and local wares served for drinking grape wine and other plant-based fermented beverage(s). A wide variety of animal and plant by-products (e.g. fats, oils, waxes, resin) were also identified. Using an integrative approach, we show the importance of beehive products, millet and bacteriohopanoid beverage(s) in Early Celtic drinking practices. We highlight activities related to biomaterial transformation and show intra-site and status-related differences in consumption practices and/or beverage processing.

Molecular and isotopic evidence for the processing of starchy plants in Early Neolithic pottery from China

Organic residue analysis of ancient ceramic vessels enables the investigation of natural resources that were used in daily cooking practices in different part of the world. Despite many methodological advances, the utilization of plants in pottery has been difficult to demonstrate chemically, hindering the study of their role in ancient society, a topic that is especially important to understanding early agricultural practices at the start of the Neolithic period. Here, we present the first lipid residue study on the Chinese Neolithic pottery dated to 5.0 k - 4.7 k cal BC from the Tianluoshan site, Zhejiang province, a key site with early evidence for rice domestication. Through the identification of novel molecular biomarkers and extensive stable isotope analysis, we suggest that the pottery in Tianluoshan were largely used for processing starchy plant foods. These results not only highlight the significance of starchy plants in Neolithic southern China but also show a clear difference with other contemporary sites in northern Eurasia, where pottery is clearly orientated to aquatic resource exploitation. These differences may be linked with the early development of rice agriculture in China compared to its much later adoption in adjacent northerly regions.

Ancient proteins from ceramic vessels at Çatalhöyük West reveal the hidden cuisine of early farmers

The analysis of lipids (fats, oils and waxes) absorbed within archaeological pottery has revolutionized the study of past diets and culinary practices. However, this technique can lack taxonomic and tissue specificity and is often unable to disentangle signatures resulting from the mixing of different food products. Here, we extract ancient proteins from ceramic vessels from the West Mound of the key early farming site of Çatalhöyük in Anatolia, revealing that this community processed mixes of cereals, pulses, dairy and meat products, and that particular vessels may have been reserved for specialized foods (e.g., cow milk and milk whey). Moreover, we demonstrate that dietary proteins can persist on archaeological artefacts for at least 8000 years, and that this approach can reveal past culinary practices with more taxonomic and tissue-specific clarity than has been possible with previous biomolecular techniques.

New criteria for the molecular identification of cereal grains associated with archaeological artefacts

The domestication and transmission of cereals is one of the most fundamental components of early farming, but direct evidence of their use in early culinary practices and economies has remained frustratingly elusive. Using analysis of a well-preserved Early Bronze Age wooden container from Switzerland, we propose novel criteria for the identification of cereal residues. Using gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS), we identified compounds typically associated with plant products, including a series of phenolic lipids (alkylresorcinols) found only at appreciable concentration in wheat and rye bran. The value of these lipids as cereal grain biomarkers were independently corroborated by the presence of macrobotanical remains embedded in the deposit, and wheat and rye endosperm peptides extracted from residue. These findings demonstrate the utility of a lipid-based biomarker for wheat and rye bran and offer a methodological template for future investigations of wider range of archaeological contexts. Alkylresorcinols provide a new tool for residue analysis which can help explore the spread and exploitation of cereal grains, a fundamental component of the advent and spread of farming.