China News Service, Beijing, April 7th (Reporter Sun Zifa) What were the main foods of the Han Dynasty Tuobian civilians?
How do they make their food?
What kind of exchange and integration did the Hu and Han nationality food culture have at that time?
The research group of Professor Yang Yimin from the Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, in cooperation with the Palace Museum and the Ningxia Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, carried out a systematic study of the Han Dynasty food remains unearthed from the Changle Cemetery in Zhongwei City, Ningxia, and found that people living in important areas of ethnic integration on the Silk Road The ancestors of the ancestors, the meals included naan and skewered meat, both meat and vegetarian food, not only absorbed the eating habits of the local ethnic minorities, but also retained the characteristics of the immigrants themselves.
Among them, the meat skewers are the earliest real mutton skewers discovered in China so far.
Starch granules in modern millet with different treatments (the upper row is the photos of starch granules under 500× transmitted light, and the lower row is the photos of starch granules under the corresponding orthogonal polarized light).
Photo courtesy of Yang Yimin's research group
Food remains unearthed in Changle Han Tomb in Ningxia
Professor Yang Yimin pointed out that Ningxia is an important area for ethnic integration on the Silk Road. In addition, the economic form of this area is suitable for farming and animal husbandry. It is a key area for immigrants in the Han Dynasty. Archaeological research on relevant food remains is of great significance for exploring the food culture of the Hu and Han peoples. .
Wang Renfang, an associate research librarian at the Ningxia Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, said that the Changle cemetery under this study is located in Changle Town, Zhongwei City, Ningxia. The tombs are well preserved, and a wealth of food remains have been unearthed, some of which may be processed cooked food sacrifices, which are rare in previous Han tomb excavations in this area.
The "cake" remains of the M17 tomb were unearthed in two lacquer boxes on the ground in front of the coffin, one of which was hemispherical and composed of looser granules, and the other two were irregular lumps of pasta, which should have been processed from grains into powder. The meat skewers and jerky were unearthed in the bamboo basket on the lid of the coffin. The outside of the bamboo basket has an ink calligraphy which is interpreted as "Ten pieces of Luqiu entering the kitchen", indicating that the items in the basket are "Luqiu" when the tomb owner died. offerings.
Using proteomics and analytical methods such as plant microfossils and stable isotopes, the cooperative team systematically carried out a systematic analysis of three samples of suspected "cakes" unearthed from the Changle cemetery, as well as food relics of the Han Dynasty such as "meat skewers" and "jerky". Research and comprehensive analysis, the results of the paper have been published online in the international cultural heritage research professional journal "Heritage Science".
Food remains unearthed in Changle Cemetery (A, B), cakes (CH), meat skewers (I, J), and dried meat (K) samples.
Photo courtesy of Yang Yimin's research group
The cake remains are baked with millet as the main raw material
The first author of the paper, Dr. Ren Meng from the Palace Museum, said that the research results show that the main components of the three cakes are starch, which shows that they are indeed food processed from grains. In line with the characteristics of millet.
In addition, the starch granules in these three samples also showed similar morphology, and compared with modern simulation experiments, it was found that the starch granules in the ancient samples were very similar to the roasted morphological characteristics, so it was judged that they were all roasted .
The carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) stable isotope analysis showed that the three food remains were dominated by C4 plants, which was consistent with the results of phytolith analysis.
However, the nitrogen isotope values of two of the block cakes were significantly higher than those of the samples made directly from millet particles, which may be related to the raw materials and processing methods.
In order to obtain more comprehensive information, the research team carried out proteomic analysis on the two samples, and detected both plant protein and animal protein, which can explain the phenomenon of higher nitrogen isotope values in the two samples.
The vegetable protein in one of the samples is mainly from millet, and the animal protein may come from the muscle tissue of cows and chickens, which shows that meat has been added; the animal protein in the other sample is mainly from the bovid family. The results of phytolith and isotope showed that C3 barley was not the main component, but was probably just an added ingredient.
It can be seen that the three cake remains unearthed from the M17 tomb were all baked with millet as the main raw material. One of them was directly made from millet particles, and the other two were milled into powder and added meat. The scones are similar to the "Hu Bing" and "Shaobing" recorded in ancient Chinese books. The sesame cake side of "Study" is "a bucket of noodles, 2 catties of mutton, a combination of scallion and white, soy sauce and salt, boil until cooked, moxibustion, and the noodles are ready to serve".
Meat testing found "mutton skewers" and "beef jerky" in the Han Dynasty
Ren Meng pointed out that meat was also an important food source for the ancients, but it was limited by preservation conditions and analytical techniques. Previous studies were mainly based on animal bones and stable isotope analysis of human bones unearthed in archaeology. Research reports on physical remains of meat products are relatively rare. few.
The striking meat skewers and jerky remains unearthed in the Changle cemetery provide rare data for archaeological research.
The cooking method of meat kebabs is mainly "burning". The custom of grilling food directly on the fire has a long history. Many "kebab pictures" can also be seen in the Han portrait stones, vividly showing the ancient people's grilling. Scenes.
She said that the results of proteomic analysis showed that animal proteins of the subfamily Ophie were detected in the meat skewers unearthed from the tomb. Combined with the natural geographical environment and animal archaeological evidence in the area, it was speculated that they were mutton products, which could be called "mutton skewers" in the Han Dynasty. , is the earliest real mutton skewer discovered in China. A large amount of bovine collagen and a small amount of actin were detected in the dried meat sample. In addition, the sample has high toughness. It is speculated that it is a beef product with high tendon content. It is called "Beef Jerky" in the Han Dynasty.
Show the Silk Road National Food Culture Exchange and Interaction
Yang Yimin said that food remains contain rich archaeological information, which helps to reveal the processing methods of ancient food, the production and life of ancestors, cultural exchanges and ethnic integration, and activates historical scenes.
Due to differences in climate, resources, cultural customs, etc., different regions and ethnic groups have different food processing and dietary traditions.
At present, China's research on food remains mainly focuses on Xinjiang, and Ningxia is an important area for ethnic integration and cultural exchanges on the Silk Road.
Before wheat was introduced into China, millet and millet were planted in the areas along the Yellow River for thousands of years, forming a traditional dry farming agricultural production represented by millet and millet, as well as "grain food" and "cooking" as the "Baking" and "heavy meat" are the dietary customs of all ethnic groups in the Western Regions.
Yang Yimin believes that the research on the food remains of the Han Tomb in Changle, Ningxia, also found that the cakes baked by "whole grains" of millet and "grinding and noodles + meat", as well as beef and mutton products such as jerky and meat skewers, It can be seen that the Han people who migrated to Ningxia not only absorbed the eating habits of ethnic minorities, but also retained their own characteristics, vividly showing the exchange and interaction of the food culture of ancient Chinese Hu and Han ethnic groups on the Silk Road.
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