pia Muthukumaran, S 2014 Between Archaeology and Text: The Origins of Rice

Consumption and Cultivation in the Middle East and the Mediterranean.

Papers from the Institute of Archaeology, 24(1): 14 pp. 1-7, DOI: http://
dx.doi.org/10.5334/pia.465

SHORT REPORT

Between Archaeology and Text: The Origins

of Rice Consumption and Cultivation in the
Middle East and the Mediterranean
Sureshkumar Muthukumaran*

I. Introduction onwards. It subsequently appears at mature

Asiatic Rice Oryza sativa L. (Poaceae) is a and late Harappan levels in north-western
domesticated grain crop native to the tropi- India (c. 2000 BC) before arriving at the edge
cal and subtropical regions of Asia, which of the eastern Iranian plateau at Pirak on the
presently ranks among the most important north Kachi plain in the early 2nd millennium
grains in a global diet. Oryza sativa is com- BC (Costantini 1981; Fuller 2006: 36; Sato
prised of two distinct phylogenetic subspe- 2005). The presence of rice at Pirak heralds
cies, namely japonica and indica, for which its gradual westward movement along the
genetic evidence indicates at least two cen- Iranian plateau via overland and perhaps
tres of domestication: the Lower Yangtze even coastal routes into western Iran and
valley for the broad thick-grained japonica Mesopotamia.
(c. 4000 BC) and the Gangetic basin for the While much effort has been expended in
thin elongated indica variety (c. 2500 BC) the archaeological sciences over the past
(Fuller et al 2010; idem 2011; Nesbitt et al few decades to refine our knowledge of rice
2010: 325–7). Modern genetics of landraces domestication in prehistoric East and South
from northeast India may indicate a third dis- Asia, there have been few attempts to trace
tinct origin for the so-called aus rice varieties its westerly anthropogenic diffusion from
(Londo et al 2006: 9581–2). The genetic his- those centres of domestication to the Middle
tory of this taxon is further complicated by East and the Mediterranean. Although rice is
post-domestication hybridisation between an important crop in the Middle East and the
domesticates and their wild ancestors as well eastern Mediterranean by Late Antiquity (c.
as the presence of rarer forms like the aro- 250 - 600 AD), the earliest history of rice in
matic rice varieties (basmati in South Asia those regions is unclear and its appearance
and sadri from Iran) which may be of inde- in antiquity has primarily been discussed
pendent origin (Nesbitt et al 2010: 324–5). with the aid of Greco-Roman and Hebraic
In South Asia domesticated rice is attested texts (Hehn 1887; Rabin 1966; Konen 1999).
at various archaeological sites in the Ganges The materials for the study of rice cultiva-
basin from the mid-3rd millennium BC tion in the ancient Middle East are, however,
already to be found in Akkadian and Elamite,
the written languages of Mesopotamia and
* Department of History, University College
southwestern Iran. Owing to substantial
London, UK philological impediments, these texts have
[email protected] rarely been utilised in any discussion of rice
Art. 14, page 2 of 7 Muthukumaran: Between Archaeology and Text

cultivation in the ancient Middle East and the Two 18th century French antiquarians had
Mediterranean. I will attempt in this paper to independently reported pieces of rice straw
integrate the diverse strands of archaeologi- used as a binder on the gilded plaster cov-
cal and textual data in order to understand ering of a statue of Osiris (de Caylus 1752:
the spatial and chronological distribution 14; Sonnini 1799: 253) but the current
of rice consumption and cultivation as well whereabouts and date of this statue remains
as postulate potential trade pathways along ill-defined. While some modern scholarly
which rice was introduced into the Middle works (Daressy 1922; Darby et al 1977: 493)
East and the Mediterranean. are favourable to the testimony of the18th
century French scholars, finds of rice straw,
II. The Archaeological Data which are difficult to identify with certainty,
The archaeobotanical imprints of riziculture should be treated as suspect.
in the Middle East and the Mediterranean Following a long dearth in data, the 1st cen-
before the 1st century AD are meagre and tury AD is relatively well endowed with rice
of dubious value in assessing its agricul- finds from various Roman and Parthian sites
tural potential. A single charred grain of across Europe and the Middle East. Somewhat
rice was reported from the site of Hasanlu unexpectedly Roman settlements beyond the
(ancient Gilzanu) in northwestern Iran from Alps, namely Novaesium (Neuss am Rhein)
a pit dated by the excavators to 750–590 BC and Mogontiacum (Mainz) in Germany and
(Tosi 1975). Van der Veen (2011: 77), how- Tenedo (Zurzach) in Switzerland, have pro-
ever, suggests that the single grain of rice duced significant evidence for the consump-
from Hasanlu may be a misidentification of tion and ritual use of rice (Knörzer 1966:
einkorn (Triticum monococcum) especially 433–443 ; idem 1970: 13, 28; Nesbitt et al
since subsequent archaeobotanical work at 2010: 329; Furger 1995: 171; Zach 2002:
the site yielded no trace of rice at the 1st mil- 104–5). The Roman military encampment
lennium levels (van der Veen 2011: 77). On at Novaesium (Neuss) produced 196 charred
a related note, einkorn grains recovered by grains of rice dating to the first quarter of the
Japanese researchers in the early 1970s at 1st century AD. These were recovered from a
Sang-i Čakmaq, a Neolithic site in northern building identified as a military hospital (val-
Iran, were also misidentified at the outset as etudinarium) suggesting that rice was valued
rice, owing to the superficial morphological for its medicinal properties, which are amply
similarities between einkorn and rice (Fuller, remarked upon in various Roman pharma-
personal communication). ceutical and medical treatises. Dioscorides,
As for the Mediterranean basin, the earli- for instance, notes that rice was ‘moderately
est positive strand of evidence comes from nutritious and it binds the bowel’ (MM II.95
Mycenaean Tiryns where German excava- Beck 2011). Other finds are less substantial
tors have identified a single uncharred grain but offer different contexts for the use of
of rice dating to the 12th century BC (Late rice. At Mogontiacum (Mainz), the capital of
Helladic IIIC) (Kroll 1982: 469). The hot and Germania Superior, a single grain of rice was
dry summers of the Argolid do not augur found in a sacrificial pit at the temple of Isis
well for water-intensive rice cultivation and and Magna Mater dating to the second half
consequently this find, if not intrusive, must of the 1st century AD or slightly later (Zach
represent an exotic import rather than a 2002: 104–5).
locally cultivated taxon (Sallares 1991: 23). As rice was not suited for growth in
Egypt, where rice was eminently suited to northern Europe these finds are undoubt-
grow in the Delta and Fayyūm oasis, has edly imports from the Mediterranean and
produced hardly any evidence for the culti- the Middle East by high-ranking Roman or
vation and consumption of rice before the Romanised functionaries, predominantly
Greco-Roman period (Konen 1999: 34–5). those associated with the military (Livarda
Muthukumaran: Between Archaeology and Text Art. 14, page 3 of 7

2011: 156). However, the social classes with Parthian storage-room dating to the 1st cen-
access to rice and other exotic botanical pro- tury AD at Susa, the capital of the province,
duce may have been wider than the archae- yielded 373 carbonised grains of rice along-
obotanical evidence admits. A record of side remnants of storage jars (Miller 1981).
transactions from Vindolanda at the periph- Additionally, rice hull impressions identified
ery of Roman Britain indicates, for instance, on bricks from several sites in the South Dez
that Gambax, a soldier of humble rank, was plain of Susiana, dating between 25 BC and
able to purchase some black pepper (piper) 250 AD, indicate localised cultivation of rice
for the small sum of 2 denarii (Tab. Vindol. (Nesbitt et al 2010: 326, 329; Miller 2011: 6).
II. 184). The cultivation of rice in Susiana has, as we
As for the Mediterranean zone of the 1st shall shortly observe, a longer history than
century AD, rice finds are presently limited these finds would suggest.
to the Red Sea ports of Egypt, namely Myos If the archaeological data were to be read
Hormos (Quseir al-Qadim) and Berenike singularly, notwithstanding the vagaries of
(Medinat el-Haras) (van der Veen 2011: 46–7; preservation and the uneven spatial sam-
Cappers 2006: 191) where the grains appear pling of ancient plant remains in the Middle
to be part of the foodstuffs brought by South East and the Mediterranean, we gain the
Asian merchants for their own consumption. impression that rice was relatively unknown
At Myos Hormos (Quseir al-Qadim) rice grains in the Middle East and the Mediterranean
and husk fragments were recovered alongside before the 1st century AD. The immense spa-
Indian ceramics and Tamil Brahmi ostraca tial range covered by the rice finds of the 1st
(Trenches 8 and 8A), indicating that rice was century AD argues, however, for a prolonged
consumed on-site by Indian traders (van der exposure to the crop. A gradual diffusion of
Veen 2011: 46–7). Similarly the small quanti- rice consumption and cultivation certainly
ties of rice recovered alongside Indian pulses appears more historically cogent rather than
like mungbean (Vigna radiata) from a 1st cen- a sudden adoption. The conservative charac-
tury AD dump in Berenike (Medinat el-Haras) ter of ancient dietary habits is, in any case,
would also suggest that the consumers were affirmed by Plutarch who, reporting on other
members of a South Asian trading diaspora Indian cultivars in the Mediterranean, states:
rather than local inhabitants (Cappers 2006: ‘we know that many older people still cannot
191; Wendrich et al 2003: 64). Rice prepared eat ripe cucumber, citron or pepper’ (Quaest.
with mungbeans is a typical South Asian dish Conv. 8.9 1–5 (731–4)).
already referred to in later Vedic literature. The localised and skewed perspective pro-
The Jaiminīyagṛhyasūtram dating to the vided by archaeological sources is best exem-
middle of the 1st millennium BC refers, for plified in the remarkable absence of rice from
instance, to rice cooked in milk with mung- the substantial archaeobotanical assemblage
beans and seasame (kuryāttilamudgamiśraṃ of Vesuvian urban centres like Herculaneum
sthālīpākaṃ) (Caland 1922: 12). Indicentally and Pompeii, or indeed metropolitan Roman
the transport of rice for the personal use Italy as a whole, despite the presence of rice
of seafaring merchants (saṃjattā-nāvā- at provincial Roman sites (see above). A 1st
vāṇiyagā) alongside other essentials like oil, century AD amphora from Herculaneum
ghee, fresh water, medicines, weapons and bearing a titulus pictus indicating that it
clothes is mentioned in a narrative found in contained rice (orissa) unsurprisingly con-
the Nāyādhammakahāo, an early Jaina didac- firms that rice was indeed consumed in the
tic text (Naya. Mallī 8.49). Vesuvian region despite eluding archaeo-
In the Middle East, the archaeobotanical logical records (CIL IV 10756). The paucity
evidence for rice cultivation in the 1st cen- of early archaeological data for rice is not,
tury AD derives exclusively from Susiana, therefore, tantamount to its absence in ear-
modern-day Khūzestān province in Iran. A lier periods. Fortunately, the textual sources
Art. 14, page 4 of 7 Muthukumaran: Between Archaeology and Text

are able to substantially amplify and clarify gurinǰ) and contextual grounds, with the
the limited archaeobotanical data and affirm Akkadian term kurângu (Thompson, 1939:
that the cultivation and consumption of rice 180–1; idem 1949: 106; Muthukumaran
has a long genealogy in the Mediterranean unpublished). The reservations on this iden-
and the Middle East. tification primarily stem from the misleading
assumption that kurângu is a word of Indo-
III. The Textual Data Iranian extraction and hence its presence as
The earliest unambiguous references to rice early as the 12th century BC would be anoma-
consumption and cultivation in the Middle lous (Salvini 1998: 188; Jursa 1999/2000:
East and the Mediterranean derive from Greek 294). The term kurângu is, however, certainly
and Chinese sources of the late centuries BC not of Indo-Iranian derivation (Skt. vrīhi) and
which are too well known to be rehearsed there is, in any case, already one other word
in detail here (Hehn 1887: 368–76; Konen of Indo-Iranian origin attested in 12th cen-
1999). Hieronymus of Cardia’s reference tury BC Mesopotamia (Bactrian camel: Akk.
to the armies of Seleucus and Pithon, the anše
udru cf. Skt. úṣṭra).
satraps of Babylonia and Media, subsisting The earliest Akkadian textual record
on rice during their passage through Susiana for rice, dating to the late 12th century BC,
in the late 4th century BC is particularly nota- derives from a clay tablet found at Kaḫat (Tell
ble (Diod. XIX.13.6). Strabo, probably citing Barri), a site east of the Jaghjagh tributary in
Alexander’s companion Aristobulus, notes the Ḫābūr triangle in modern Syria (Salvini
that rice grew in Bactria, Babylonia, Susiana 1988 K9.T1). In this Late Middle Assyrian
and Lower Syria (XV.1.18). Rice may have administrative text (c. 1100 BC), a certain
been familiar in the Greek world by the 5th official Erīb-īli writes to his subordinate in
century BC since a fragment of Sophocles’ Kaḫat asking if there was enough rice (kuri-
Triptolemus refers to bread made of rice angu ibašši laššu) and requests for someone
(όρίνδην ἄρτον) (Ath. III. 110e). Among the to irrigate (lišqi) the fields:
standard fixtures of ethnographic enquiries ‘Speak to Kalbu, thus Erib-ili: I am well. Is
in the imperial histories of China, rice-eating there rice or not? Why have you not written
civilisation par excellence is the question of news to me? Let someone go to Qalliya and
whether rice grew in foreign lands. Zhang ask him for water and let him irrigate (the
Qian, the earliest Han ambassador to Central fields). Bring an abaruḫu-tool to Ṭab-ṣiya’
Asia in the 2nd century BC, notes that rice (translated by the author).
grew in Parthia (Anxi) and Mesopotamia This text complements the single grain
(Tiaozhi) (Shiji Dayuan 123). The casual ref- of rice recovered from Mycenaean Tiryns
erences of Greek and Chinese commentators which could otherwise easily seem like an
to the cultivation of rice in Mesopotamia and intrusive find. Later references to kurângu
Susiana in the last centuries of the 1st mil- largely derive from the lexical and epistolary
lennium BC hint at a longer history of rice materials found in imperial Neo-Assyrian
cultivation in the Middle East. archives of the 8th and 7th centuries BC. These
In this respect, the less well-known tex- texts indicate that the cultivation of rice
tual sources in Akkadian and Elamite, the was well-established in the heavily-irrigated
ancient languages of Mesopotamia and Assyrian heartland (northern Iraq) although
southwest Iran respectively, contain impor- it was in no way a competitor with barley or
tant early references to rice cultivation the assortment of wheats (emmer, einkorn,
although the knowledge thereof has been timopheevoid wheat) which were the sta-
hitherto restricted to cuneiform specialists. ples of Syro-Mesopotamian agriculture
Rice has been convincingly identified, on (Muthukumaran, unpublished).
the basis of Iranian and Turkic cognates (e.g. The Elamite references to rice, miriziš, a
Middle Persian gwrync; New Persian guranǰ/ relatively straightforward loanword from the
Muthukumaran: Between Archaeology and Text Art. 14, page 5 of 7

Old Persian *vrīziš (Skt. vrīhi; Pašto vriži), are for most of antiquity. Beyond any cultural
to be found in the Persepolis Fortification preferences which must have exercised a
Archive which dates to the early Achaemenid substantial influence on crop choices, the
period (late 6th - 5th centuries BC). While the intensive labour and water requirements of
references to miriziš are meagre the admin- rice cultivation dissuaded large-scale cultiva-
istrative texts from Persepolis unmistakably tion of rice across the Middle East and the
attest to the cultivation of rice at localities Mediterranean until at least Late Antiquity
such as Liduma (modern Jenjān) and Kurra and the early Islamic period when more
on the royal route between Persepolis and efficient use of water yielding technologies
Susa in the Fahliyān region of Fars province in the form of the water wheel and exten-
(PF 544; PFNN 587). sive irrigation works emerged. Nonetheless
rice formed a notable constituent of an
IV. Routes and Modes of increasingly diversified Iron Age agricultural
Dissemination regime, undoubtedly spurred by risk-mini-
Despite the availability of earlier textual attes- mization strategies on the part of individual
tations for rice in Akkadian and Elamite, the producers. The state must have also played
manner and precise date in which rice was a weighty role in the adoption of new culti-
introduced into western Iran and Mesopotamia vars. Pliny, for instance, remarks on an Indian
remains obscure since the earliest extant ref- millet introduced into Italy during his own
erence to rice from Kaḫat is casual and does lifetime (NH XVIII.10.55). In the case of rice,
not suggest that it was an unfamiliar crop. It the Akkadian and Elamite textual sources
may well be the case that rice was transported indicate that rice was integrated into a state-
by eastern Iranian merchants, trading tin, gold run system of rations for provisioning the
and lapis lazuli along the plateau routes, for bureaucracy and labour force.
their own consumption much like the Indian Interestingly, the modes of food process-
traders who brought rice along the monsoon ing associated with rice in South Asia did
trade routes to Egypt in the 1st century AD. not migrate along the trade routes which
The barter of surplus grain at the end-desti- brought the new cultivars. Rice was pre-
nation could provide a likely scenario for the dominantly consumed in the ancient Middle
earliest tasting of rice in western Iran and East and the Mediterranean in the form of
Mesopotamia from where whence it spread bread, porridge or cake, much like barley
further west into the eastern Mediterranean. and wheat. In some regions of the Middle
Further bio-archaeological enquiries in east- East, like Susiana and the lowlands south of
ern Iran and Central Asia could perhaps elu- the Caspian Sea, rice would eventually come
cidate the processes by which rice spread to supplant barley and wheat as the princi-
from the western periphery of South Asia to pal staple crop but elsewhere it remained a
the Middle East in the late 2nd millennium BC. luxury until recent times, a status echoed in
Phytolith analysis from Tuzusai in southern the old Arab folk saying: What do the peo-
Kazakhstan indicates that rice cultivation was ple of paradise eat? – rice in butter (Zubaida
established there by the Late Iron Age c. 300 1994: 93).
BC (Rosen et al 2000: 620–2) but otherwise
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How to cite this article: Muthukumaran, S 2014 Between Archaeology and Text: The Origins
of Rice Consumption and Cultivation in the Middle East and the Mediterranean. Papers from the
Institute of Archaeology, 24(1): 14, pp. 1-7, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5334/pia.465

Published: 18 September 2014

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