Researchers have found evidence of globalization in food stuck between human teeth from almost 4000 years ago.
The study shows that globalization is not a modern phenomenon, and people have been trading goods and food across continents for millennia.
Researchers examined 16 individuals from historical sites located in present-day Israel. These sites bridged the Mediterranean, Asia and Egypt. Researchers analyzed food traces including protein and plant residue and fossils preserved in human teeth over thousands of years. People were already eating turmeric, bananas and soy.
The study gives the earliest direct evidence of trade of exotic spices, fruits and oils from Asia to the Mediterranean, pushing back the estimated date of trading to several centuries earlier than previously thought.
By combining protein chemistry and archaeology, researchers have traced the roots of long-distance trade and nascent globalization, showing that people's interest in interesting and exotic food has a long history indeed.
Original article:
Original study:
Exotic foods reveal contact between South Asia and the Near East during the second millennium BCE