Jan Bartek – AncientPages.com – Researchers from the University of Oxford have recently resolved a long-standing archaeological mystery by re-examining the molecular composition of a curious orange residue found in bronze jars unearthed from a 6th-century BCE underground Greek shrine in Paestum, southern Italy.
Underground shrine in Paestum. Source
This mysterious substance found in a bronze jar some 70 years ago in Italy has finally been identified as honey, but it took time and using of advanced scientific techniques.
The team of researchers identified lipids, saccharide decomposition products, hexose sugars, and significant proteins found in royal jelly proteins. These findings support the hypothesis that the jars originally contained honey or honeycombs.
The underground shrine, located approximately an hour and a half’s drive from Pompeii, was first uncovered in 1954. During the excavation, several bronze jars were found containing an orange-brown sticky substance.
Initially, archaeologists speculated that this residue was honey due to its significance in the ancient world as offerings to deities or as part of burial practices. However, over three decades of analysis by different research teams revealed no confirmation of honey’s presence. Instead, they determined that the jars contained a type of animal or vegetable fat mixed with pollen and insect fragments.
Professor James McCullagh, who directs Oxford’s Mass Spectrometry Research Facility in the Department of Chemistry and co-led the project, explained that the team made high-tech analysis, which was crucial to the study’s success. This approach allowed them to differentiate between contaminants, degradation products, and original biomarkers effectively.
Lead author Dr Luciana da Costa Carvalho, a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Chemistry, added that the team analysed the surface of the residue and found copper corrosion products closely associated with it, and the presence of copper ions may have helped protect the sugar markers in this area from microbial decay.
Left: One of the Greek bronze hydrias (vessels with three handles) and the mystery residue on display at the Ashmolean Museum. Right: Sample of the orange-brown sticky residue. Credit for images: Luciana Carvalho.
“Ancient residues aren’t just traces of what people ate or offered to the gods — they are complex chemical ecosystems,” explains da Costa Carvalho. “Studying them reveals how those substances changed over time, opening the door to future work on ancient microbial activity and its possible applications.”
Co-author Dr. Gabriel Zuchtriegel, who serves as the Director of the Archaeological Park of Pompeii and previously directed the Archaeological Park of Paestum & Velia, emphasized that using chemical and scientific analyses to derive new insights from existing artefacts enables a more informed and nuanced understanding of historical societies’ lives and rituals.
Honey played a crucial role in ancient societies, serving multiple purposes across various domains. Historical records and imagery reveal that honey was an early sweetener used in medicinal concoctions, rituals, and cosmetics. In the cultures of ancient Greece and Rome, bees and honey were imbued with considerable religious and symbolic significance.
It was believed that honey fostered wisdom, with myths suggesting that even Zeus was nourished with honey during his childhood. Furthermore, the discovery of honey residues in archaeological sites offers direct chemical evidence of the collection, use, and processing of bee products.
This evidence provides valuable insights into early agricultural practices and subsistence strategies across different regions worldwide.
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Written by Jan Bartek – AncientPages.com Staff Writer
