29 May 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

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

Archaeologists have found remnants of eight spices on a sandstone slab from an archaeological site in Vietnam, showing the early adoption of ingredients and techniques from South Asia.

Unearthed in an ancient village in southern Vietnam, the cookware—roughly the size and shape of an anvil—was likely used to grind the spice and other ingredients familiar in today’s curries.

Dishes that are rich in flavor and aroma from combinations of spices such as earthy turmeric, warm cloves, and sharp ginger—commonly known as curries in the West—have starred in cuisines throughout South and Southeast Asia, from India to Indonesia, for centuries.

The discovery, reported today in Science Advances, marks the earliest known example of spice processing in mainland Southeast Asia.. It also suggests that millennia ago, visitors from India and Indonesia may have brought their culinary traditions to the region.

During their digs at the Oc Eo archaeological site in southern Vietnam, Hsiao-Chun Hung at the Australian National University in Canberra and her colleagues uncovered several sandstone grinding tools alongside remnants of spices.

A sandstone grinding slab found at Oc Eo in Vietnam, on which traces of spices were identified. Photo: Khanh Trung Kien Nguyen
A sandstone grinding slab found at Oc Eo in Vietnam, on which traces of spices were identified. Photo: Khanh Trung Kien Nguyen

An analysis of 717 grains of starch recovered from the tools revealed the presence of eight different spices: turmeric, ginger, galangal, sand ginger, fingerroot, clove, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Many of the grains also showed signs of deformation, indicating that they had been damaged during grinding and resembled the starch granules found in modern curry powder.

Since Óc Eo was first excavated in the 1940s, it has yielded a large number of artifacts that suggest the city once lay at the crossroads of a vast trade network that spread as far as the Mediterranean Sea.

A maritime trade route that connected the Mediterranean Sea to China during the same time period as the renowned Silk Road has long been known to historians. The maritime route extended further south, connecting Southeast Asian, Iran, and modern-day Indian cultures. However, the majority of the evidence is based on written records, and the lack of physical evidence has made it difficult for researchers to verify these accounts.

“Before this study, we had only limited clues from ancient documents in India, China and Rome about the early spice trades,” says Australian National University archaeologist and study co-author Hsiao-Chun Hung. “However, this research is the first to confirm that these spices were indeed traded commodities that existed within the global maritime trading networks nearly 2,000 years ago.”

Though previous fragments discovered elsewhere predate the spices studied in the new study, the Óc Eo findings provide the first evidence that these spices were all used in Southeast Asia during this time period. The spice remains suggest that the stone mortars, pestles, and grinding slabs discovered there were most likely used for food preparation.

DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adh55

Related Articles

Recent Excavations in Spain Reveal 7th Century BCE Religious Structure, Showcasing Eastern Influences within Tartessian Culture

18 February 2025

18 February 2025

A research team led by the National University of Distance Education (UNED) has made an important archaeological discovery at the...

Findings showing the connection between Troy and Tavşanlı Höyük have been reached

23 August 2022

23 August 2022

Archaeologists unearthed 4,200-year-old hazelnut remains and marble idols during excavations at Tavşanlı Höyük (Tavsanlı Mound), located in the central Turkish...

Traces of the Battle of Thymbra: Two Lydian Soldier Skeletons and A Helmet Found in the Ancient City of Sardis

13 August 2024

13 August 2024

During the archaeological excavations in the ancient city of Sardes, the capital of the Lydian Kingdom in western Türkiye, traces...

Archaeologists have discovered the origins a Herefordshire Stone Age monument

22 August 2021

22 August 2021

Archaeologists have finally uncovered the mysterious origins of Arthur’s Stone, named after the mysterious legends of King Arthur, who inspired...

Archaeologists discover one of the largest Phallus Relief Carving of ancient Rome

28 August 2022

28 August 2022

According to an announcement by the region’s local history museum, a large Roman-era relief carving of a phallus has been...

Researchers Say that Neanderthals Had the Same Hearing Capacity as Humans

1 March 2021

1 March 2021

Virtual reconstructions of Neanderthal ears show that had the same physical capacity for hearing as modern humans, and by inference...

The Basilica cistern, which is said to have the sarcophagus of Medusa or the Mysterious Snake Woman, was restored

21 July 2022

21 July 2022

The Basilica Cistern, one of the magnificent ancient structures of Istanbul, was restored. Besides being the greatest work of the...

An 8500-year-old wooden ladder remain was discovered at Çatalhöyük

12 April 2022

12 April 2022

Remains of the wooden ladder were discovered for the first time in Çatalhöyük, one of the best-preserved Neolithic settlements in...

1,800-Year-Old Gold Ring with ‘Venus the Victorious’ Carving and Carolingian Coins Discovered in France

25 December 2024

25 December 2024

Archaeologists from the French National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research (INRAP) have discovered a 1,800-year-old gold ring with a chiseled...

Archaeologists unearth hidden tunnels under the 3,000-year-old temple complex

6 June 2022

6 June 2022

Archaeologists have discovered a system of hidden tunnels beneath the 3,000-year-old Chavín de Huántar temple complex in the Ancash Region...

A 3800-year-old cylinder seal was discovered at Turkey’s Tepebag Mound excavations

8 July 2022

8 July 2022

In the 2022 excavations of Tepebag Mound, located around Taşköprü, the center of Adana province in Turkey’s Mediterranean Region, a...

Experts to uncover the secret of the monumental and three-dimensional Urartian statue found on Garibin Tepe

2 November 2024

2 November 2024

In an area where rescue excavations were conducted last year, archaeologists discovered a basalt stone statue from the Urartian period...

In the 1,900-year-old underground temple of Mithras religion in Zerzevan Castle, an area where participants of secret rituals stayed was unearthed

23 July 2024

23 July 2024

Excavations at the  Zerzevan Castle in Diyarbakır province in the southeastern part of Türkiye have uncovered an area where participants...

1,600-year-old Hunnic double burial found in Poland

15 June 2024

15 June 2024

In 2018, archaeologists uncovered a 1,600-year-old double burial in the village of Czulice near Krakow, Poland, containing the remains of...

A unique tomb decorated with amber was discovered near Petrozavodsk

26 August 2021

26 August 2021

According to a press release from the Petrozavodsk State University a unique tomb was discovered on the western shore of...