15 July 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

East and West Meeting at the King’s Dinner Table

Researchers from Tezukayama University and the Uzbekistan Archaeological Institute reported that a food pantry about 37 feet long and 10 feet wide was found in Kafir Kala, an eighth-century fort.

Unearthed in the ancient Silk Road city of Samarkand, the cellar shows the influence of Eastern and Western nutritional cultures on a Sogdian king’s dinner table.

The Kafir Kala, a trading base and military foothold along the Silk Road, is believed to have served the king as a detached palace.

According to the results of the excavations described here in March, burnt grains of foxtail millet grains commonly consumed in East Asia and a charred substance thought to be honey commonly used in Greek cooking were discovered.

Takao Uno, visiting professor of archeology at Tezukayama University, who participated in the excavation, told The Asahi Shimbun, “The site was a key stop along the Silk Road, and the culinary culture there is testimony to East-West exchange. That’s why our study is significant.”

Kafir_Kala_near_Samarkand_
Kafir Kala Samarkand

Uno said porridge made of foxtail millet was likely served at royal banquets and that the grains may also have been eaten in the form of dumplings with honey on it.

Today, people in Uzbekistan also eat foxtail millet porridge, which is cooked with garlic, beans, and other ingredients, he said.

Charred beans and garlic were also found in the storage room of Kafir Kala, which means the fortress of infidels. Thirteen large earthen jars about 1 meter high were found along the wall, which may contain wine and olive oil.

foxtail millet
Foxtail millet

A similar pantry has been discovered in the Cretan civilization in the Aegean Sea. The Cretan pantry was also found close to a throne, Uno said.

Tezukayama University has published an artistic interpretation of an imaginary scene from a royal banquet based on materials available, including Chinese murals depicting the Sogdians. In the illustration, the king and his entourage are eating with foxtail millet porridge and dumplings in the presence of musicians playing instruments and a dancer.

Source: The Asahi Shimbun

Related Articles

Prehistoric Cave Art Handprints With Missing Fingertips Point to Ritual Amputation

3 January 2024

3 January 2024

Researchers who examined prehistoric cave art in France and Spain, a new interpretation of Paleolithic cave art proposes that prehistoric...

The Iremir Mound illuminates the pre-Urartian period in East Van

27 July 2021

27 July 2021

Archaeological findings unearthed in the excavations carried out at the İremir Mound in the Gürpınar district of Van, in eastern...

Oldest known arrowheads uncovered in the Americas

24 December 2022

24 December 2022

Archaeologists from Oregon State University have discovered projectile points in Idaho that are thousands of years older than any that...

In southern Turkey, an ancient quake-damaged structure was discovered

9 November 2021

9 November 2021

In the ancient city of Perre in southeastern Turkey, a building damaged in an earthquake believed to have happened in...

Persian plateau unveiled as crucial hub for early human migration out of Africa, study suggests

29 March 2024

29 March 2024

60,000 to 70,000 years ago, our species Homo sapiens walked out of Africa and began to find new homes around...

A 12.000 -year-old temple was found during excavations in Boncuklu Tarla in southeastern Turkey

21 October 2021

21 October 2021

A temple thought to be 12 thousand years old was unearthed in Boncuklu Tarla in the Ilısu Neighborhood of Dargeçit...

Archaeologists discovered the secret ingredient that made Mayan plaster durable

20 April 2023

20 April 2023

Ancient Mayan masons had their own secrets for making lime plasters, mortars, and plasters, which they used to build their...

DNA from human remains found in medieval well shines new light into a significant historical crime and into Ashkenazi Jewish history

30 November 2022

30 November 2022

An analysis of DNA from 12th-century human remains has provided new insights into a significant historical crime and into Ashkenazi...

People may have been cooking curries in South-East Asia for at least 2000 years

22 July 2023

22 July 2023

Archaeologists have found remnants of eight spices on a sandstone slab from an archaeological site in Vietnam, showing the early...

At Ostrowite, archaeologists have discovered a high-status burial dating back almost a thousand years

2 January 2022

2 January 2022

Archaeologists have discovered a burial chamber in Ostrowite, in Poland’s Pomeranian Voivodeship, containing several high-status grave goods from the 11th...

Saudi Archaeologists have discovered a pre-Islamic Musnad inscription and a bronze bullhead

18 February 2023

18 February 2023

Saudi archaeologists have discovered the longest pre-Islamic Musnad inscription -of the ancient south Arabian script- and three gold rings and...

Found in Spain a poem by Virgil engraved in a Roman amphora

22 June 2023

22 June 2023

Archaeologists have deciphered a verse by Virgil, the greatest poet of Rome’s Golden Age, carved into the clay of a...

Archaeological excavations started again after 50 years in Tunceli Tozkoparan mound

28 June 2021

28 June 2021

Archaeological excavations at the Tozkoparan Mound in Turkey’s Tunceli province are anticipated to turn the city into one of eastern...

Oregon may be home to oldest human occupied site in North America

12 July 2023

12 July 2023

Where and when the first humans appeared in North America is a contentious issue that many disagree on, and this...

A 2,000-year-old ancient “mirror” throws light on aristocratic life in China

17 May 2022

17 May 2022

Archeologists in Beijing have successfully reconstructed a 2,000-year-ago dressing mirror once cherished by the high nobility during the Han Dynasty....