By Melissa S. Cradic and Vanessa Linares

What kinds of flavors and scents were available to inhabitants of the Levant in the second millennium BCE? Well-documented ingredients from the region come to mind—for example, cinnamon and honey; herbs such as lavender, myrtle, and sage; and resins such as terebinth, pine, cedar, and frankincense. But what about something more exotic? The recent finding of vanilla residues in three Middle Bronze Age ceramic juglets using organic residue analysis takes the idea of exotic to a whole new level.

The juglets were excavated from an intramural tomb at the site of Tel Megiddo, a major urban center in the southern Levant.

Aerial photo of Tel Megiddo, facing south. Photo by Adam Prins. Courtesy of The Megiddo Expedition.

Interior of the intramural chamber tomb after excavation. Photo by Robert S. Homsher. Courtesy of The Megiddo Expedition.

Ceramic dipper juglet tested for organic residue analysis. The juglet is one of three vessels from a Middle Bronze Age tomb at Tel Megiddo that contained vanilla residues. Courtesy of The Megiddo Expedition.

Excavated in 2016, the tomb dates to ca. 1650-1550 BCE and contained seventeen individuals and their grave goods. The elaborate burial assemblage included precious materials, such as gold, silver, and bronze jewelry, and a well-preserved corpus of ceramic vessels.

The identified residues of vanillin, 4-hydroxybenzaldehyde and acetonvanillone, are fragrance and flavor components of natural vanilla extract. Vanilla derives from the vanilla orchid, a plant that is endemic to tropical regions in the Americas, Asia, and Africa.

Vanilla planifolia orchid, a source of vanilla. Malcom Manners / Wikimedia Commons / CC-BY-2.0

The vanillin and related chemical signatures showed up in clearly identifiable patterns, not trace amounts, possibly due to vanilla’s properties as an antiseptic and preservative. Sampling of the vessels drilled below the surface in order to reach residues that had soaked into the porous ceramic fabric of the vessel, a strategy that also eliminated the possibility of contamination from modern sources in the field or lab.

This unprecedented discovery reveals that Bronze Age peoples in the Levant utilized vanilla, a substance that has never before been documented in the ancient Near East. The presence of this far-flung material sheds new light on long-distance trade, lived experiences, and cultural meanings assigned to this flavor and scent ingredient in the ancient Near East. The results also reveal vanilla’s unexpected role as a mortuary material in the Middle Bronze Age (ca. 2000-1550 BCE), a period in which mourners carried out elaborate sequences of funerary rituals involving food, drink, bodily adornments, and anointing of the dead.

The presence of vanilla compounds in three separate juglets is compelling evidence for the use of vanilla in an elite Bronze Age mortuary context. But how did vanilla function? It may have been used as a flavor component for a funerary feast, as a perfume for the corpse, or as a scented oil offering for the dead, among other possibilities. In terms of edible deposits, finds related to the consumption of food and drink found within the tomb included serving vessels, faunal bones, and plant remains. These materials indicate that certain aromas and flavors featured as important aspects of Middle Bronze Age funerary rituals.

Beyond the possible consumption of vanilla-flavored food, vanilla may have been infused in oil used to perfume and/or preserve corpses before burial. The positions of the skeletons indicate that several individuals had been placed carefully inside the tomb and delicately adorned with precious metal jewelry.

In situ human skeletal remains inside the tomb. Several of the individuals were carefully positioned and adorned with jewelry, like these bronze bead anklets. Photo by Robert S. Homsher. Courtesy of The Megiddo Expedition.

The bodies may have been wrapped with shrouds and anointed with aromatic and medicinal oils. Such anointing practices have been documented at a second millennium BCE burial site, the Royal Hypogeum at Qatna in northwest Syria. Whether used as food, scent, or preservative oil, vanilla served a significant purpose within the broader funerary sequence as part of a feast, as an offering to the dead, or to prepare the corpses for burial.

Looking more broadly, these unusual results also expand our understanding of long-distance trade networks in the second millennium BCE. Where did the vanilla originate, and how did it end up at Megiddo? Vanilla orchids grow in tropical regions in Asia and Africa, and both are viable origins for the Megiddo finds. Contemporary textual sources and archaeological evidence attest to trade between large urban centers in Mesopotamia with distant places including Dilmun, the Indus Valley, and Afghanistan.

Links between the Levant with sub-Saharan Africa may have been routed through Egypt, which traded with the “Land of Punt” in east Africa. This area served as a source of gold and other exotic materials such as aromatic resins, ebony, ivory, and wild animals. Materials from the Indian subcontinent may also have reached the Levant through established trade networks via Mesopotamia or even Egypt. For example, trade between Egypt and the Indian subcontinent for specialized funerary materials can be traced through peppercorns that were used in the mummification of Ramesses II in the 13th century BCE.

This novel discovery of vanilla in the Middle Bronze Age Levant changes the picture of what we now about funerary practices and expands knowledge of international trade networks with tropical regions in Africa and Asia.

Melissa Cradic is a Fellow at the Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. Vanessa Linares is a doctoral student at Tel Aviv University.

For Further Reading:

M.S. Cradic, 2017. “Embodiments of Death: The Funerary Sequence and Commemoration in the Bronze Age Levant.” Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 377: 219-248.

R.P. Evershed, et al. 2011. “Organic Residue Analysis of Ceramic and Stone Vessels, Resinous Artefacts and Anthropogenic Sediments from the Royal Tomb.” In Interdisziplinäre Studien zur Köningsgruft von Qatna, edited by P. Pfälzer, 411-447. Qaṭna Studien 1. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag.

V. Linares, et al. 2019. “First Evidence for Vanilllin in the Old World: Its Use as Mortuary Offering in Middle Bronze Canaan.” Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 25: 77-84.