The kitchen was particularly sophisticated 4,500 years ago in Syria, with goat meat, cereals or gazelle being cooked slowly in clay containers that varied according to the recipe, according to a Danish study.
© iStock
12/09/2026
by
Lusa
“IT IS a period of kingdoms, well-organized cities and stratified societies. In this sense, it is not surprising that they also master sophisticated gastronomy. What strikes me as surprising is that we can present concrete evidence of this”, he explained on Friday to the agency France-Presse (AFP) Mette Marie Hald, Archeobotany of the Copenhagen National Museum.
The investigator and her team analyzed bones of animals, plant remains and fat residues collected from the inside walls of pans in Hama, Syria.
His work shows that the city cooks used pans with different thermal properties, depending on the type of meal they intended to prepare, as today one chooses between a cast iron skillet or a non-stick.
“ It seems something modern: the different pots, the types of utensils”, observed Hald.
The locally produced pots were made of clay and calcite, while another type, imported from the eastern steppes, was made of a mixture of clay and basalt.
Resin wood was used to flavour certain dishes, which were prepared only in a specific type of pan.
Meals could include imported ingredients, such as gazelle, also from steppes, much further east.
These studies corroborate studies on more recent recipes, the researcher highlighted.
“ We have recipes extracted from cuneiform texts dating back about 2,000 years later, in which it is seen that they use many different ingredients and practice a very sophisticated cuisine”, he said.