MOST ANCIENT GREEKS

Foods of the most ancient Greeks can be identified from flora and fauna remains
excavated at late Paleolithic-, Neolithic-, Copper-, Bronze-, and Iron-Age sites.
Oldest remains of seeds, dated to 11,000-7,300 BCE, pre-date plant domestication
and agriculture but reveal use of such wild foods as barley, lentils, oats, and peas.
The earliest evidence for domestication and agriculture in Greece dates to ca.
6,200-5,300 BCE, where the following crops were grown: barley, millet, oats, wheat;
lentils, peas, and vetch. Gathered foods that also accompanied these domesticated
crops included acorn, almond, cherry, grapes, olive, pistachio, plum, and pear.62-63

Excavations at Copper-, Bronze-, and early Iron-Age sites in Greece also have
revealed dietary use of both wild and domesticated fruits and nuts, among them
acorn, almond, anise, apple, blackberry, blackthorn/sloe, caper, cherry, coriander,
cowberry, cucumber, elderberry, fig, grape, hawthorn, white mustard, olive, pear,
plum/bullace, pomegranate, poppy, raspberry, rose hip, strawberry, strawberry tree,
and water chestnut.64
Excavations at Sitagroi, a prehistoric village in northeastern Greece, revealed
the presence of domesticated cattle, goats, pigs, and sheep, while additional remains
— aurochs (wild progenitor of common cattle), badger, brown bear, beaver, bustard,
wild cat, chamois, red deer, fallow deer, roe deer, duck, fox, geese, hare, hedgehog,
marten, wild pig, quail, turtle, and various fish bones — showed the importance of
hunting.1
Excavations at Dimini, Nemea, Olynthus, Orchomenos, Pylos, Sparta, Thebes,
and Vardaroftsa yielded acorn, almond, barley, fava bean, beef/cattle, elk, fig, fish,
geese/eggs, goat, grapes and wine-making equipment, lentils, millet, fresh water
mussel, olive, pear, pea, pork/pig, pinna shells, scallop/pecten, lamb/sheep, tortoise,
venison/deer, and wheat.65-66 Although olive pits or stones have been excavated at
most ancient Greek sites, pollen evidence suggests that olive use was rare in Greece
until ca. 1300 BCE, and cultivated olive trees were uncommon until ca. 900-700
BCE.66
Turning to Crete, the late Stone Age or Neolithic levels at Knossos, dated to ca.
6000 BCE, revealed the presence of domesticated goats and sheep (75% of bones
excavated), pigs (18% of the bones), and bovines (7%). Excavations at post-Neolithic
sites at Gournia, Hagia Triada, and Knossos unearthed almond, barley, bean,
beef/cattle, chick-pea, fig, fish, goat, olive, pea, pork/pig, lamb/sheep, venison/deer,
wheat, and various types of edible marine hard-shelled mollusks.2, 67
Iron-Age Mycenaeans had a cereal-based diet, where barley and wheat were
commonly prepared as porridge or bread. Although bones of cattle, goats, pigs,
and sheep have been excavated at Mycenaean sites, presumably little meat was
consumed and beans and lentils would have been the primary protein resources.
Still, forensic analysis of Mycenaean-era skeletons has suggested that diets were
low in protein, energy, and iron, since adult females (n = 154) averaged 160 cm
in height, and adult males (n = 191) 167 cm. Further, average age at death was
32 for adult females, 39 for adult males.68 On the other hand, the Mycenaean diet
may have been superior to that of the early Classical Greek Period, given evidence
of even shorter average stature: 153-154 cm for adult females, 162-163 cm for
adult males.69
The ancient Achaeans, who occupied Mycenae, Pylos, and Sparta, were extolled
by Homer of Chios. Earliest literary mention of Greek foods and culinary practices,
in fact, are found within Homer's Iliad70 and Odyssey,11 where typical food patterns
of the heroes who besieged Troy were characterized as bread, meat, and wine, but
not fish and fowl. Some scholars have argued, however, that food-related descriptions
that appear in Homer's texts reflect ritual/religious practices, and were not charac-
teristic of everyday meal-time traditions even among the elite.