April 29, 2024

Earliest Evidence of Wine Consumption in the Americas Found on Small Caribbean Island

The analysis consisted of sherds from a Spanish olive container that might be dated between 1490-1520 ADVERTISEMENT. The rounded style of the jar shows it to be this early and aligns it with the timing of when Columbus initially kept in mind the presence of the island in his journal in 1494.
The olive jar, utilized then as a general container for all sorts of food and liquid products, transporting them on Spanish ships, had proof of wine residues inside.
” Whether taken in by Europeans or members of the indigenous population, this is direct proof for the importation and drinking of European wine to a tiny island in the Caribbean soon after the arrival of Spanish colonialists,” say the researchers.
Blend food experience over 500 years earlier
As very first generations of Spanish colonists brought European customs of white wine consumption to the location, regardless of their conquest over native people the regional customs for cooking on bbqs continued.
The researchers believe that bbq cooking was commonplace among the Taino community, indigenous to this location in the Caribbean, and adopted by early colonists. With no big mammals on the Caribbean islands in this area, its likely that the native population would have barbequed a big rodent-like animal called a hutier, along with iguanas.
Indigenous individuals in this area of the Caribbean prepared fish and meat with charcoal over a raised grill, and the origin of the word bbq is traced to Barbacoa– a word utilized by the Taino people. The researchers recommend that in some ways, 2 cooking customs came together– creating a blend food and drink experience centuries earlier.
Dr. Briggs continued: “Two cooking worlds collided in the Caribbean over 500 years earlier, driven by the early Spanish colonial impositions. We actually didnt know much about the cooking heritage of this area and the influence of early colonialists on food customs, so discovering the discoveries have actually been actually interesting.
” The strong culinary customs of the Taino people in developing the barbeque held firm despite Spanish colonialism, and affected food best all over the world. This continues today, as we are all familiar with a barbeque. Im actually happy that this research shines a light on the cultural heritage of this community.”
Native cooking traditions continued in spite of colonizers
On excavating the location in 2015, researchers from the British Museum found many fish and meat bones around the website– however crucially none were discovered inside cooking pots.
In the Caribbean ceramics analyzed, there was no evidence they were used for dairy or meat products. Whilst dairy items were long a staple of European cooking, this does not appear to be the case on Isla de Mona– providing additional evidence that native culinary traditions persisted in the face of manifest destiny and imported ceramic vessels.
” This uses a fascinating insight into culinary exchange on the island,” the scientists say. “… it appears standard foodways were kept even after an influx of European colonists shown up on the island with their glazed ceramics and olive containers. The lack of proof for dairy items in our samples even more recommends that European colonialists rapidly came to rely and adopt on indigenous cooking traditions.”
This indicates that the indigenous individuals continued to cook proteins on charcoal over a raised grill, and vegetable dishes in the ceramic pots. This cooking tradition is far apart from the modern European choice for stews and casseroles– with cooking pots from that location frequently consisting of meat remnants.
Recommendation: “Molecular evidence for brand-new foodways in the early colonial Caribbean: natural residue analysis at Isla de Mona, Puerto Rico” by Lisa Briggs, Jago Cooper, Oliver E. Craig, Carl Heron, Alexandre Lucquin, María Mercedes Martínez Milantchi, and Alice Samson, 3 May 2023, Anthropological and archaeological Sciences.DOI: 10.1007/ s12520-023-01771-y.
The research study was moneyed by the Wellcome Trust.

Researchers have actually found the earliest evidence of wine consumption in the Americas within pottery vessels discovered in the Caribbean. Above is an artists conception of the earliest proof of wine intake.
Scientists have actually found what is thought to be the earliest recorded proof of red wine intake in the Americas within ceramic artifacts recovered from a small Caribbean island.
Researchers have actually unearthed what they believe is the earliest evidence of red wine consumption in the Americas, sourced from ceramic residues found on a little island in the Caribbean. A collection of forty ceramic fragments underwent examination in this first-of-its-kind study that used molecular analysis methodologies– Gas Chromatography and Mass Spectrometry– to study 15th-century pottery from the Puerto Rico region.
The study focused on artifacts from Isla de Mona, nestled in between the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. The outcomes, which were published in Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, shed light on the improvements in diet and cultural interactions in the Greater Antilles before and after the arrival of Europeans.
Olive jar reveals the earliest evidence of wine in the location
The study was led by Dr. Lisa Briggs, Visiting Researcher at the British Museum and 75th Anniversary Research Fellow at Cranfield University, along with the University of Leicester.

Scientists have actually found the earliest proof of wine consumption in the Americas within pottery vessels found in the Caribbean. Surprisingly, the lack of fish in these ceramics recommends a preference for barbequing proteins amongst native communities. Above is an artists conception of the earliest proof of wine intake.
” The strong culinary traditions of the Taino individuals in creating the bbq held firm in spite of Spanish colonialism, and influenced food ideal around the world. The lack of evidence for dairy products in our samples further recommends that European colonialists rapidly came to embrace and rely on native culinary customs.”