New research at the ancient Italian volcano eruption site of Pompeii revealed the dining habits of the Romans back in the early days of the region.
The findings dispute the theory that the rich dined lavishly on exotic meats such as flamingo and giraffe while the poor ate mush simpler meals; the non-elite may have had a much more gourmet diet than researchers previously believed, a University of Cincinnati news release reported.
Researchers have been looking at "homes, shops and businesses" in a non-elite section of the mummified city for the past 10 years. Inside the area there are 20 shop fronts and 10 "building plots." The shops all served meals to local citizens of the time. The team tested ancient feces and food waste from 10 latrine and cesspit drains from the area to make their findings.
"The material from the drains revealed a range and quantity of materials to suggest a rather clear socio-economic distinction between the activities and consumption habits of each property, which were otherwise indistinguishable hospitality businesses," Steven Ellis, a University of Cincinnati associate professor of classics said in the news release.
The researchers found traces of food that would have been readily available to the general public, such as "grains, fruits, nuts, olives, lentils, local fish and chicken eggs, as well as minimal cuts of more expensive meat and salted fish from Spain," the news release reported.
A drain from the central property showed a very different variety of food remains. Many of the items were imported goods like shellfish, sea urchin and even the remains of a butchered giraffe leg.
"That the bone represents the height of exotic food is underscored by the fact that this is thought to be the only giraffe bone ever recorded from an archaeological excavation in Roman Italy," Ellis said. "How part of the animal, butchered, came to be a kitchen scrap in a seemingly standard Pompeian restaurant not only speaks to long-distance trade in exotic and wild animals, but also something of the richness, variety and range of a non-elite diet."
The testing also showed traces of exotic spices; some may have even been imported from Indonesia.
One very special mineral deposit is believed to date back to the 4th century.
"The ultimate aim of our research is to reveal the structural and social relationships over time between working-class Pompeian households, as well as to determine the role that sub-elites played in the shaping of the city, and to register their response to city-and Mediterranean-wide historical, political and economic developments. However, one of the larger datasets and themes of our research has been diet and the infrastructure of food consumption and food ways," Ellis said.
The findings could change the way researchers think about ancient Roman culture.
"The traditional vision of some mass of hapless lemmings - scrounging for whatever they can pinch from the side of a street, or huddled around a bowl of gruel - needs to be replaced by a higher fare and standard of living, at least for the urbanites in Pompeii," Ellis said.
