Vessels were used to collect animal blood
Ancient vessels accidentally discovered on the Mongolian steppe have allowed archaeologists to take a new look at how the ancient inhabitants of this land ate.
AI
Archaeologists scraped caked-on remains from the insides of two 2,750-year-old Bronze Age cauldrons and found that these vessels were once used to collect the blood of ruminants such as sheep and goats, as well as the milk of wild yaks.
Scientists have suggested that it was used for culinary purposes, for example, to produce blood sausage, by analogy with technologies that are still used in rural areas of Mongolia.
This discovery not only relates to the collection and consumption of blood in the region, but also represents the earliest evidence to date of the presence of wild yaks in central Mongolia.
“Our analysis highlights the remarkable preservative properties of bronze materials, which serve as preservatives for proteins and other organic molecules,” says biomolecular archeologist Shevan Wilkin. “These discoveries provide insight into the gastronomic traditions and dietary preferences of Bronze Age nomads, and shed light on the variety of culinary methods practiced by ancient civilizations.”
Two cauldrons were discovered by luck: shepherds from the Khuvsgel province unexpectedly stumbled upon it a place where they were working on a fence for a corral for horses.
During the excavations, they found not only boilers, but also other artifacts, which were then transferred to the Mongolian Academy of Sciences.
Wilkin and her colleagues conducted a detailed study of the two boilers. They used radiocarbon dating to determine their age, and then took samples from the inside of both cauldrons for protein analysis.
They hoped this would reveal something about the diet of the people who once used boilers, for example, for cooking meat. But what Wilkin and her colleagues found was a little different.
Their proteomic analysis revealed the presence of blood proteins, as well as a glycoprotein that is expressed in the liver. These proteins were then classified as coming from ruminant animals such as goats and Berber sheep. But that wasn't the only thing the researchers discovered. The secondary proteins in the kettle were derived from the milk of wild yaks.
“Our evidence suggests that two particular kettles from northern Mongolia were used to collect the blood of ruminants during slaughter and were likely an important part of food production nutrition. If the blood, as we hypothesize, was collected for sausage production, this would extend the antiquity of this practice at least 2,700 years into the past,” the researchers indicate.
According to experts, since milk production from ruminants practiced in the region for more than 5 thousand years, this is not surprising.
The researchers concluded that such bronze vessels may represent an untapped resource for understanding ancient civilizations, since the metal has antibacterial properties that can preserve organic materials on for thousands of years.