There were 70 cooked tortoises, three aurochs (a now-extinct species of giant cattle), a section of a leopard pelvis, some eagle wingtips and 28 human skeletons.
These remains were discovered last week at a site in northern Israel and are believed to be 12,000 years old. The find, which represents the oldest funeral feast unearthed to date, belongs to the Natufian people, a tribe that thrived during the transition period between hunting and gathering and agriculture. The tradition of giving elaborate meals for the dead has a rich and strange history.
In ancient Egypt, food offerings were just one part of a very particular burial rite. The earliest graves were shallow hollows dug close together in the sandy and stony soil beside the Nile River in Upper Egypt. Bodies were wrapped in reed mats, or in the case of a chief, in hides from a bull or gazelle. The corpses were laid on their left sides, with heads usually facing south. The knees were bent up so as to be level with the top of the breast and the hands were placed in front of the face. Around the body were placed coarse earthenware vessels filled with flint weaponry and food offerings that included sweet beer, cakes, fruit, scented oils and bull heads. The food was intended to nourish the deceased on their journey to the other world, the flint weapons were so he could fight off enemies and wild beasts. The Egyptologist Wallis Budge reported that this custom persisted in parts of Sudan into the last century.
King Midas, who is popularly remembered in Greek mythology for his ability to turn everything he touched to gold, is thought to be based on an actual 8th Century BC Anatolian king named King Mita. In 1957, University of Pennsylvania archaeologists discovered Midas’ tomb, in the ancient central Turkey city of Gordion. The large chamber was walled off with logs, inside lay Midas’ body, atop a thick pile of dyed textiles that was encased in an extraordinary log coffin. The tomb was accompanied by a set of wood dining tables, where mourners devoured a sumptuous funeral feast. Laid out on these tables were 150 metal vessels and vases, the most comprehensive Iron Age drinking set ever found. Included among these was an elaborate bucket-shaped iron serving dish called a situla, two jugs with long sieved spouts, 19 juglets, 100 finely wrought bronze omphalos (drinking bowls) and 19 large two-handled bowls.
At the time of discovery it was impossible to determine the contents of the feast but modern day analysis using methods like infrared spectroscopy, liquid and gas chromatography and mass spectrometry has allowed researchers to inspect the organic remains left in the bowls to determine what was actually consumed. The results: diners drank grape wine, barley beer, and honey mead and ate spicy lentils and a stew of barbecued sheep or goat. The meat was likely barbecued before it was cut off the bone and it may have been marinated with honey, wine and olive oil.
In Bulgaria, once a body was removed from the home measures were taken to purify the place where the corpse had lain. Nails were driven into the floor where the corpse had been or a heavy stone or axe was placed in the spot. Sometimes an egg or an earthenware pot was broken over the spot or hot coals were hammered to pieces in the area where the dead persons feet had lain. In some places, for 3, 9, or even 40 days after the funeral a cup of water or wine and a dish containing flour was placed where the head of the deceased had rested, in case his soul were to become hungry. A funeral feast was often held at the grave site, the fare typically included boiled wheat and a loaf specially baked inside the cemetery. Food was served on cloth spread directly on the ground and passed around to mourners, who sat in a circle. A portion of each dish was dropped on the ground for the dead.
