Diet in Mesopotamia

The Evidence of the Barley Ration Texts ( c . 3000–1400 B.C.)

Bibliographic Data

ID24075342
AuthorsRosemary Ellison (corresponding author)
Year1981
Volume43
Issue1
Pages35-45
Publication date1981-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueIraq (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0021-0889 • E-ISSN: 2053-4744
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0021088900004885
OpenAlexW2041262071
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited11

In order to live one must eat and if one is to live a full and active life the food that is eaten must supply all the nutrients required to maintain the body in a healthy state. An appreciation of the importance of diet has led to many modern studies in this field. The methods used include an examination of the environment of the country concerned; of its economic basis—for example whether it is mainly an agricultural or an industrial country, what food is available and whether such food is locally grown or imported; dietary surveys, usually at family level, of the food intake of the population and clinical studies to assess the health of the individual. The information gained in these surveys is used to assess the adequacy of the nutritional intake of the population. It has proved difficult to set up an accepted standard by which to judge adequacy of diet, but the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations has produced tables of recommended daily intakes of nutrients which can be taken as a practical guide. Some of these methods can be applied to ancient Mesopotamia in order to see whether the diet there can be considered adequate. Examination of the palaeoethnobotanical and palaeozoological evidence from excavated sites, together with references in cuneiform texts and representations of plants and animals on cylinder seals and reliefs, give information about the environment and the economic base. This was agriculture with cereals such as barley and wheat as the main crops and sheep, goats, cattle and pigs the main domesticated animals. Clinical studies of individual people are not possible: obviously no one is available for measuring and weighing or to supply blood and urine samples for tests! It may be, however, that the study of skeletal material will in future enable the likely height and weight of a population to be calculated and provide some information about calcium and Vitamin D deficiencies. It is impossible also to carry out the kind of dietary survey in which families are studied and their food weighed before eating so that exact food intake can be calculated. But by studying the botanical and faunal remains, cylinder seals and reliefs, and the cuneiform texts, it is possible to get some idea of the range of food which was available, which foodstuffs were utilized and how, and to a certain extent who ate what.

Agricultural economics · Agricultural science · Agriculture · Archaeology · Biology · Economics · Environmental health · Geography · Mesopotamia · Nutrient · Population · Ancient Near East History · Biotechnology · Ecology · Medicine