Foodstuff found in Ur Excavations

As a result of excavations at Ur by Woolley (1923–1934) food debris was recovered and is now reported on. Plant remains include chickpea, six-row barley, wheat, pea, dates, perforated crab apple rings and possible flat bread. Of special interest are the chickpeas which are among the earliest found in lowland Mesopotamia and the crab apple rings which have not been found before in ancient deposits in the Near East. Of the mammals, caprovids seem to have been most important as food offerings. The occurrence of tunny fish vertebrae was unexpected.

The preliminary analysis of some inorganic residues is so far inconclusive although it is possible that one of the residues may originally have contained salt.

In 879 B.C.E., the Assyrian king Assurnasirapli II boasts, on an inscription on a stele (Grayson, pp. 288–293), of having given a gigantic banquet, on the occasion of the inauguration of his new palace, for no fewer than 69,574 guests, from workers to dignitaries, local and foreign. The supplies for this banquet give an idea of the requirements of the Assyrian gourmet, leaving aside the question of the historical precision of the round numbers:

1,000 oxen, 1,000 calves, 14,000 sheep, 1,000 lambs, 500 deers, 500 gazelles, 1,000 large birds, 500 geese, 500 cranes, 1,000 mesukku-birds, 1,000 qaribu-birds, 10,000 pigeons, 10,000 turtle doves, 10,000 smaller birds, 10,000 fish, 10,000 akbiru (a small rodent), 10,000 eggs, 10,000 containers of beer, 10,000 goatskins of wine, 10,000 jars of a hot condiment, 1,000 boxes of fresh vegetables, and large quantities of honey, pistachios, roasted grain, pomegranates, dates, cheeses, olives, and all kinds of spices. These are the highlights of a list thirty-six lines long on the stele.