People from mainland Greece, Crete and Anatolia appear to have followed remarkably similar diets for thousands of years, despite living across the geographically diverse eastern Mediterranean, according to a new study.
The research, led by Benjamin Irvine of the Department of Archaeology at Bilkent University in Ankara, was published in the journal Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology.
Irvine examined nearly 700 previously published chemical measurements taken from human bones found at sites stretching from today’s western Turkey to mainland Greece and the Greek island of Crete.
The samples span an enormous period, from roughly 6000 B.C. during the Neolithic era to the early 1500s A.D., near the end of the Byzantine period.
Chemical analysis reveals a remarkably consistent ancient diet
The measurements come from a method called stable isotope analysis, which studies traces of carbon and nitrogen preserved in bone. Scientists use these traces to figure out what people ate long ago, including whether their diets leaned more on plants or meat, and whether foods came from the land or the sea.
The findings report that people across this broad region ate mostly wheat, barley, and legumes, along with meat from sheep, goats, and other domesticated animals, for most of the roughly 7,600 years studied. That basic pattern held steady across the Neolithic, Bronze Age, Iron Age, and into the Roman and Byzantine eras, with only gradual shifts over time.
One notable change did emerge. During the Classical period, roughly 500 to 323 B.C., people living around Athens and Thebes appear to have eaten notably more animal protein than those in earlier or later eras. Irvine suggests this may reflect a greater reliance on fish, alongside meat, among those populations.
Perhaps the most unexpected result, Irvine notes, is that diets looked much the same whether people lived on the Anatolian coast, on Crete or on the Greek mainland.
Given the differences in terrain and climate across these areas, distinct regional diets might have been expected. Instead, the similarities suggest that farming methods and food choices were widely shared across the region.
Diets reveal deeper ties among ancient Greeks, Cretans and Anatolians
Irvine connects this pattern to other well-established signs of ancient connectivity in the Aegean world, including trade routes, shared building styles, burial customs and the movement of people between settlements. Diet, he argues, may represent one more thread linking these ancient communities together.
The study does carry some limitations. Most of the skeletal data available comes from sites in mainland Greece, meaning the Anatolian coast and Crete are comparatively underrepresented.
Irvine also notes that fish consumption may be difficult to detect through bone chemistry alone, meaning some seafood in ancient diets could go unnoticed. He recommends further testing of ancient fish remains to clarify how much seafood these populations actually consumed.
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