Milling Cereals/Legumes and Stamping Bread in Mauretanian Tamuda (Morocco): An Interdisciplinary Study
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...
| Autores: | , , , , , , , , |
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| Tipo de recurso: | artículo |
| Estado: | Versión publicada |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2020 |
| País: | España |
| Institución: | Universidad de Jaén |
| Repositorio: | RUJA. Repositorio Institucional de la Producción Científica de la Universidad de Jaén |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:ruja.ujaen.es:10953/7369 |
| Acceso en línea: | https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10437-020-09413-7#article-info https://hdl.handle.net/10953/7369 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | Western Mauretania Pre-Roman period Milling Bread-making Palynology Micromorphology 902 |
| Sumario: | 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. |
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