Ancient Romans were known to make delicious sauce including hot-a famous fish-based spice. Scientists studying ancient DNA from a Roman-era salty plant in Spain have found that European sardines were the major components.
The fish was an important part of the ancient Roman diet, and the Romans processed their grip for prolonged conservation in coastal fish-nuts plants, called setteria. There, they crush and ferment small fish in paste and sauce such as hot-like hot. Today, fermented fish-based sauce are popular, whether it is in the form of classic warsesterushire sauce or many fish sauce produced in Southeast Asia.
The analysis of fish used in Roman spices can provide information about the information about the fish population of the ancient people, as well as the fish population of that time, but among other things, intense processing on salty plants, making the species almost impossible to identify the species from their remains.
To cross this limit, an international team of researchers tested a different approach: DNA analysis. Despite the fact that grinding and fermentation accelerate genetic decline, they were capable of sequence of DNA from fish found in fish-greater VAT in a Seteria in North Western Spain. This achievement highlights the Roman-era sardine and opens the door for future research on archaeological fish remains.

Researchers wrote in a study published today in a study published today, “The bottles of fish-nuts are a numerous of the remains, yet these contexts have a small size of the bone material, one of the biggest challenges to study pelgic fish from these contexts. , Ancient times“For our knowledge, genomic studies have so far taken advantage of the vast capacity of this data source, which is the dynamics of the previous fish consumption and the population of commercially relevant fish species.”
In this context, to test the validity of genetic analysis, the team successfully extracted DNA from small bone residues of European Sardine, already identified at an ancient Roman fish-nutritious plant in Adro Velo’s Spanish archaeological site. Co-writer Paula Campos- A researcher at the University of Porto, and its colleagues, specialized in ancient DNA and its colleagues then compared ancient DNA sequences with genetic data from contemporary sardine. He concluded that the ancient sardines were genetically similar to their modern day counterparts in the same region. This is notable, given that the species is known for it Dissemination Captains.
“Here, the authors have demonstrated that, despite being in touch with crush and acidic conditions, usable DNA can be recovered from ichthyological (fish) residues in the lower part of fish-nuts Vats,” the researchers explained. “The analysis of these figures has the ability to open a new research in the previous human population, cultures and diets and provide information about the fish population that cannot be obtained from data or modern samples from fisheries.”
Ultimately, the study exposes a successful way of reaching an unseen archaeological resources. It also confirms that in ancient Rome, fish were not friends – they were too much food.