LUCIANA DA COSTA CARVALHO
The long debate came to an end with the confirmation that the waste found in the bronze jars discovered in Paestum is honey. Scientists believe it was a religious offering.
After almost 70 years of speculation, scientists finally confirmed that the sticky residue found at the background of 2500 -year -old bronze pots, discovered in southern Italy, It is, in fact, honey. The discovery solves an old archaeological debate that dates back to 1954, when the jars were first discovered in the ancient city of Paestum.
The discovery comes from a team of chemicals and archaeologists led by Luciana da Costa Carvalho, from the University of Oxford, who employed modern chemical analysis techniques to identify mysterious paste. His findings, this week at the Journal of the American Chemical Society, confirm that the jars contained honeycombs which were probably offered as a sacred gift in a religious ritual.
“What I find interesting is that the ancient Greeks believed that honey It was a superfood“Carvalho observed in a video that accompanies the study. In antiquity, honey and bees had great cultural and spiritual meaning, commonly used in medicine, cosmetics and religious offerings throughout the Greek and Roman world, says.
The jars were originally discovered in a underground sanctuary, or heroon, in Paestuma city once known as Poseidonia and being believed to have been founded by refugees from the Greek city of Sybaris in the 6th century BC The Sanctuary also included a large wooden table and iron bars, suggesting elaborate ritual practices.
Despite the previous assumptions that the jars contained honey, the previous analyzes did not detect sugar residues. The team revised samples using advanced tools such as mass spectrometry, which revealed the presence of hexose sugars, the main sugars found in fresh honey. They also detected exclusive royal proteins and peptides of the European bee (Apis mellifera), providing the first molecular evidence that the substance was in fact honey.
Interestingly, the residue contained copper ionswhich are known for their antimicrobial properties. Carvalho suggests that these biocide elements may have played a key role in preserving sugar traces during millennia.
Although the waste of the waste was lower than that of modern honey, its preservation and molecular signature were sufficient to confirm its identity. “I think the residue knows the honeycomb washed, but a little more acidic“Carvalho said, although admitted not to have felt the taste.
