Ancient DNA Unlocks the Secret Recipe of Roman Fish Sauce

The ancient Romans are famous for creating delicious sauces, including Garum-a well-standing fish bar. Scientists who study old DNA from the salting factory in the Roman era in Spain have found that European sardines were the main element.

Fish was an important part of the old Roman diet, and the Romans taught their hunting to maintain the long term in coastal fish refining factories called Cetariae. There, they crushed the fermented small fish in pastes and sauces such as Garum iconic flavor. Today, sauces based on fermented fish remain common, whether in the form of classic Worlestershire sauce or many fish sauces produced in Southeast Asia.

Fish analysis used in Roman spices can provide an insight into meals and the culture of old people as well as information about fish groups at the time, but the intensive treatment that occurred in salting plants, among other things, makes it almost impossible to identify the species visually from their remains.

To overcome this restriction, an international team of researchers tested a different approach: DNA analysis. Despite the fact that grinding and accelerating the genetic deterioration, they managed to sequence the DNA from fish that are found in the fishing tax in Cetaria in northwestern Spain. This achievement sheds light on sardines in the Roman era and opens the door for future research on the remains of archaeological fish.

The researchers wrote in a study published today in ancient times. “As we know, genetic studies have not benefited from the tremendous potential for this data source to clarify the consumption of past fish and the population dynamics for commercially relevant fish.”

To test the authenticity of genetic analysis in this context, the team has successfully extracted the DNA sequence from the remains of the small bone from the European sardines that were previously discovered in a factory that corrects the old Roman fish at the Spanish archaeological site of Darou Filo. Participated by Paula Campus, an researcher at the University of Porto, specialized in old DNA, and then compared to the old DNA sequence with genetic data from contemporary sardines. They concluded that the old sardines were genetically similar to their counterparts in the modern era in the same region. This is noticeable, given that the species are known for the abilities of dispersion.

“Here, the authors explain that despite its crushing and exposure to acidic conditions, the useful DNA can be recovered [fish] The researchers explained: “Analyzing this data has the ability to open a new way to research in the economies of subsistence, cultures and meals for the former population and provide information on fish groups that cannot be obtained from fishing data or modern samples alone.”

In the end, the study highlights a successful way to reach an archaeological resource that was ignored. It also confirms that in ancient Rome, the fish were not friends – it was a lot of food.