Food for Rome: A stable isotope investigation of diet in the Imperial period (1st–3rd centuries AD)

During the Empire, the population of Rome was composed mostly of lower-class free citizens and slaves. Viewed from historical records, the Roman diet included primarily olives, wine, and wheat, but poor and enslaved Romans may have eaten whatever they were able to find and afford, leading to significant heterogeneity in the Roman diet. Previous carbon and nitrogen isotope analyses of skeletons from Imperial Italy have begun to reveal variation in diet, but little is known about what people ate in the capital city. This study complements previous work by adding new isotope data from human skeletons found in two Imperial-period (1st–3rd centuries AD) cemeteries in Rome. These data suggest that urban and suburban diets differed, most notably in the consumption of the C₄ grain millet. Comparing these new data with all published palaeodietary data from Imperial Italy demonstrates that significant variation existed in the diet of the common people.     

小米能否制作面条的实验研究:兼论喇家面条的成分

根据中国西北部喇家遗址出土的面条状遗存,面条的历史被追溯到4000年前。喇家面条被描述为由带壳的小米磨成的粉制成面团并通过反复拉伸或挤压的方法制作而成。为了了解这种面条制作工艺,我们进行了面条试制实验和煮面实验,并记录了面条中的淀粉粒在烹调过程中发生的形态变化。研究表明,纯的粟黍面粉制成的面团不能拉伸成面条,煮过的粟黍淀粉粒形态也与喇家"面条"遗存中的"淀粉粒"不符。我们认为来自喇家"面条"的小米颖壳植硅体及似淀粉粒的颗粒是否来自面条需要进一步研究。