Abstracts Oral Presentations Banquet at Mahal Teglinos (Sudan, third-second millennia BC) Local Recipes and Imported Delicatessen in Protohistoric Eastern Sudan Andrea MANZO University of Naples “L’Orientale” and ISMEO
[email protected] The research project conducted by the Italian Archaeological Expedition in the Eastern Sudan of the University of Naples “L’Orientale” and ISMEO has already provided crucial evidence for reconstructing the process of sorghum domestication in the Sahelian belt and the spread and adoption of this crop up in India in the third-second millennia BC. More recently, excavations conducted at the site of Mahal Teglinos, near the Sudanese city of Kassala [eastern Sudan], also led to the discovery of a food preparation, and perhaps consumption area, dating to the end of the 3rd millennium BC. Some data about the way food was processed was collected there, perhaps also throwing light on the origins of the griddles that are still used to cook sorghum and teff bread in some regions of Sudan and on the Ethio-Eritrean highlands. Moreover, the evidence of the possible consumption of delicatessen imported from the First Intermediate Period-early Middle Kingdom1 Egypt was also collected in the same sector of the site, suggesting that the menu included both local and exotic ingredients, and perhaps even experiments of interethnic cuisine. Finally, some remarks on the social context and the possible meanings of the banquets taking place at Mahal Teglinos will be proposed. 1 First Intermediate Period: ca. 2100–2030 BC; Middle Kingdom: ca. 2030–1660 BC. Reconstruction of the Baking Process Based on Depictions in Old Kingdom Tombs Agata BEBEL (1); Anna WODZINSKA (2) (1) Department of Bioarchaeology, Institute of Archaeology, University of Warsaw; (2) Department of Archaeology of Egypt and Nubia, Institute of Archaeology, University of Warsaw (1)
[email protected] Bread-baking scenes are one of the most popular decorative motifs depicted in Old Kingdom2 tombs.