First evidence for vanillin in the old world: its use as mortuary offering in Middle Bronze Canaan

Four small ceramic juglets that had been used as containers for offerings in an elite Middle Bronze Age III (ca. 1650–1550 BCE) masonry tomb uncovered at Tel Megiddo in the Jezreel Valley, Israel were tested using organic residue analysis. Notably, residues of vanillin, 4-hydroxybenzaldehyde, and acetonvanillone were identified in three of the four juglets examined. These are the major fragrance and flavour components of natural vanilla extract. To date, it has been commonly accepted that vanilla was domesticated in the New World and subsequently spread to other parts of the globe. Our research first ruled out all possibility of sample contamination and then conducted a post-organic residue analysis investigation of various species within the plant kingdom from which these principle compounds could have been exploited. The results shed new light on the first known exploitation of vanilla in an Old World context, including local uses, the significance and employment in mortuary practices, and possible implications for understanding trade networks in the ancient Near East during the second millennium BCE

Geomagnetic Field Intensity During the First Millennium BCE From Royal Judean Storage Jars: Constraining the Duration of the Levantine Iron Age Anomaly

International audienceRhe rich and extensively studied archaeological record of the Near East provides an opportunity to develop a comprehensive archaeomagnetic dataset for exploring the behavior of the geomagnetic field with high precision. The Levantine archaeomagnetic curve (LAC) project is an ongoing effort to develop a continuous high‐resolution geomagnetic intensity curve for the Levant and Mesopotamia. The first version of the LAC covered the period between 3000 and 550 BCE. Here, we report archaeointensity data from 169 samples compiled into 32 groups dating between the 7th and the 1st centuries BCE aiming at extending the LAC up to the end of the first millennium BCE. Twenty‐two groups are assembled from storage jar handles bearing different types of royal seal impressions, which were used in Judah as part of a taxation administrative system. These groups are combined with 10 other groups of pottery assemblages, three of which are from Hellenistic destruction layers dated using radiocarbon and coins. The new curve shows that the Levantine Iron Age Anomaly (LIAA) spanned 550 years (1100 ‐ 550 BCE) and that the rate of decline during the last spike around 600 BCE could have reached ∼0.6 μT/year. During the 6th century, the virtual axial dipole moment (VADM) dropped from 160 ZAm 2 to 125 ZAm2 after which field intensity only slightly increased to 135 ZAm2, until another considerable decline to ∼90 ZAm2 during the 3rd to the 1st centuries BCE. We highlight the archaeomagnetic implication of the new curve in inferring the relative chronological relationship between different stamp types