Bread and Class in Medieval Society: Foodways in Anatolia

Adam Izdebski, Marcin Jaworski, Handan Üstündağ, Arkadiusz Sołtysiak

Journal of Interdisciplinary History, Volume 48, Number 3, Winter 2017,

pp. 335-357 (Article)

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Journal of Interdisciplinary History, XLVIII:3 (Winter, 2018), 335–357.

Adam Izdebski, Marcin Jaworski, Handan Üstündağ,

and Arkadiusz Sołtysiak
Bread and Class in Medieval Society: Foodways in
Anatolia Since the time of Braudel, most historians have come
to recognize the close link between social status and type of food
consumed. As Braudel wrote about Mediterranean life, “The
study of the grain problem takes us . . . to a greater understanding
of that life in all its complexity.” The role that food and diet
played in shaping the natural environment has subsequently
developed into a major theme in environmental history. Further-
more, economic historians have focused on human biological and

Adam Izdebski is Assistant Professor of Byzantine and Environmental History at the Institute
of History, Jagiellonian University. He is the author of A Rural Economy in Transition: Asia
Minor from Late Antiquity into Early Middle Ages ( Warsaw, 2013); co-author, with Karen
Holmgren et al., of “Realising Consilience: How Better Communication between Archae-
ologists, Historians and Natural Scientists Can Transform the Study of Past Climate Change in
the Mediterranean,” Quaternary Science Reviews, CXXXVI (2016), 5–22.
Marcin Jaworski is an alumnus, Department of Bioarchaeology, Institute of Archaeology,
University of Warsaw, and a freelance archaeologist. He is co-author, with Piotr Wroniecki,
of “Magnetic Survey of the Abandoned Medieval Town of Nieszawa,” Archaeologia Polona,
LIII (2015), 85–94; with Agnieszka Tomas, of “Non-Destructive Archeological Investigations
in the River Sárviz Valley (Hungary), 2012,” Światowit, X (2012), 171–175.
Handan Üstündağ is a faculty member, Department of Archaeology, Anadolu University.
She is the author of “Human Remains from Kültepe-Kanesh: Preliminary Results of the Old
Assyrian Burials from the 2005–2008 Excavations,” in Levent Atici et al. (eds.), Current
Research at Kultepe-Kanesh (Atlanta, 2014), 157–167; co-author, with Marcin Jaworski and
Arkadiusz Sołtysiak, of “Continuity and Change in Cereal Grinding Technology at Kültepe,
Turkey,” Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, IX (2017), 447–454.
Arkadiusz Sołtysiak is Professor of Bioarchaeology, Institute of Archaeology, University of
Warsaw. He is the author of “Cereal Grinding Technology in Ancient Mesopotamia: Evidence
from Dental Microwear,” Journal of Archaeological Science, XXXVIII (2011), 2805–2810; “Ante-
mortem Cranial Trauma in Ancient Mesopotamia,” International Journal of Osteoarchaeology,
XXVII (2017), 119–128.
This article presents research that Adam Izdebski undertook from 2012 to 2015 during his
postdoctoral fellowship at Jagiellonian University, Krakow—funded by the National Science
Centre, Poland (DEC-2012/04/S/ HS3/00226)—combined with dental microwear data
compiled by Marcin Jaworski. The authors thank Abdullah Deveci (Anadolu University),
the director of the excavations in Akarçay Höyük; Zeynep Mercangöz (Ege University),
the director of the excavations in Kadıkalesi; Akın Ersoy (Dokuz Eylül University), the direc-
tor of the excavations in Smyrna Agora; and Oluş Arık (University of Ankara), the former
director of excavations in Alanya Kalesi, for their support of studies examining human remains
from the sites.
© 2017 by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and The Journal of Interdisciplinary
History, Inc., doi:10.1162/JINH_a_01161
336 | I Z D E BSK I, JA W O R S KI , Ü S T ÜN D AĞ , AN D SO ŁT Y S I A K

nutritional data from the past to reconstruct changes in general

well-being and economic development. Foodways create connec-
tions between aspects of human existence that at first glance seem
completely unrelated; they also reveal the need for historians to
reach beyond textual sources when biological phenomena enter
their investigations. Not surprisingly, an ongoing debate among
historians—featured in recent issues of this journal—concerns
the consilience between historical and scientific approaches and
the potential that such synergy offers for re-formulating the central
questions of modern historiography. Until recently, historical
studies had to rely on textual sources produced by a small, elite
minority within society, thus fostering a number of methodolog-
ical challenges and unanswered questions that require other types
of evidence for their resolution.1
This article presents one viable approach, namely, the use of
state-of-the-art bioarchaeological methods to illuminate a rela-
tively recent historical period (the Middle Ages), combining tex-
tual sources with research about teeth found in excavations of
medieval sites in Anatolia and northern Syria (modern Turkey).
In a reconstruction of eating habits, we discuss the kinds of food
that different social groups tended to consume, focusing particu-
larly on access to bread, an ideal proxy for links between social
class or status (understood broadly as occupation, place in the
society, and wealth) and foodways. As a staple in the ancient and
medieval Mediterranean, bread found its ways into textual sources
as both a symbol and a topic. Medieval assumptions about bread
1 Fernand Braudel, The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II (New
York, 1972), I, 570. For biology and economic history, see Richard H. Steckel, “Biological
Measures of Economic History,” Annual Review of Economics, V (2013), 401–423; for environ-
mental history, Neil M. Maher, “Body Counts: Tracking the Human Body Through Envi-
ronmental History,” in Douglas Cazeau Sackman (ed.), A Companion to American
Environmental History (Malden, Mass., 2010), 163–180; Richard C. Hoffmann, An Environmen-
tal History of Medieval Europe (New York, 2014); for the consilience of science and history,
Michael McCormick, “History’s Changing Climate: Climate Science, Genomics, and the
Emerging Consilient Approach to Interdisciplinary History,” Journal of Interdisciplinary History,
XLII (2011), 251–273; John Haldon et al., “The Climate and Environment of Byzantine
Anatolia: Integrating Science, History and Archaeology,” Ibid. XLV (2014), 113–161; Izdebski
et al., “Realising Consilience: How Better Communication between Archaeologists, Historians
and Natural Scientists Can Transform the Study of Past Climate Change in the Mediterranean,”
Quaternary Science Reviews (Special Issue: Mediterranean Holocene Climate, Environment and Hu-
man Societies), CXXXVI (2016), 5–22—the subject of a review essay by Timothy Newfield, and
Inga Labuhn, “Realizing Consilience in Studies of Pre-Instrumental Climate and Pre-Laboratory
Disease,” Journal of Interdisciplinary History, XLVII (2017), 211–240.
BREAD AND CL ASS | 337
shed light on general stereotypes about food and the social hierar-
chy, whether in Christian or Islamic society. As it turns out, the
stereotypes favored in the written sources are only partially true:
The conclusions that emerge from the research herein show that
social-biological reality was much more complex than the written
sources suggest.2
Research on enamel microwear patterns in human teeth has
been used successfully to reconstruct the diet of extinct hominids
and to trace the transition from foraging to farming. Past research
also applied this method to more fine-grained problems, such as
the development of sophisticated grinding tools in late antiquity,
as well as the timing of the weaning process. This approach derives
from the observation that particular facets on molar crowns have
specific functions during the mastication process. Some of them,
mainly external ones, are in contact with their counterparts during
the first (vertical) phase of mastication, while others (mainly facets
close to the grooves) are affected during the second (horizontal)
phase, the grinding of food particles between upper and lower
teeth. Therefore, hard particles—mineral grit and at least some
plant phytoliths—can leave traces on these facets; both the size
and pattern of these traces is determined by the size and number
of these particles.
Although initially the analysis of enamel microwear patterns
met with enthusiasm, the limitations of the method soon became
evident. Many kinds of food (meat or dairy products) do not have
much of an effect on enamel; external mineral grit is primarily
responsible for observed damage on the enamel surface. None-
theless, in specific cases, the damage is enough to permit insight
into food-preparation practices in past human populations, espe-
cially those that relied on ground grains—flour in particular—for
the vast portion of their calorie intake. Enamel microwear is par-
ticularly helpful in the study of Mediterranean Graeco-Roman
and medieval foodways. Since all our tooth samples come from
detailed excavations, we are able to determine the social status of
individuals involved and thus to make connections between their

2 For the role of bread in medieval societies in general, see Hoffmann, Environmental History,
115–116; Remi Esclassan et al., “A Panorama of Tooth Wear During the Medieval Period,”
Anthropologischer Anzeiger, LXXII (2015), 185–199; Clark Spencer Larsen, Bioarchaeology: Inter-
preting Behavior from the Human Skeleton (New York, 2015).
338 | I Z D E BSK I, JA W O R S KI , Ü S T ÜN D AĞ , AN D SO ŁT Y S I A K

socio-economic status and the kinds of bread that they consumed.

In more technical terms, we assumed that the higher was the
frequency of small nonlinear features in individuals’ tooth enamel,
the better was the quality of their food during the two to three
weeks before death. In this context, quality of food is defined by
the amount of large-grit particles (the fewer, the better) in flour.3
Medieval Anatolia, together with other parts of the Middle
East, offers an ideal case study for historical-scientific research.
The wealth of textual sources enables reconstruction of the stereo-
types about food and social class that the region’s medieval (liter-
ate) inhabitants shared. Moreover, Turkey boasts one of the
longest histories of modern excavation in the world, making it
possible to select sites that aptly represent diverse cultures and types
of settlements in almost any period. Likewise, medieval Anatolia
allows for a comparison between Christian and Islamic attitudes
and cultural dispositions about food and social status; the predom-
inantly Greek Orthodox region experienced a major invasion by,
and migration of, Muslim Seljuk Turks during the eleventh cen-
tury. Prior to that period, Anatolia was the heartland of the Eastern
Roman (Byzantine) Empire, though its eastern parts still felt the
effects of the Arab conquest. In the tenth century, the Byzantines
re-conquered the whole of Anatolia as well as the northern parts
of Syria. Their dominance in the region, however, did not last
long, collapsing in the wake of the major Seljuk victory in the
battle of Manzikert (1071). The Seljuk state, with its capital located

3 Peter S. Ungar, Jessica R. Scott, and Christine M. Steininger, “Dental Microwear Differ-
ences between Eastern and Southern African Fossil Bovids and Hominins,” South African Journal
of Science, CXII (2016), 134–138; Laura Mónica Martínez et al., “Testing Dietary Hypotheses of
East African Hominines Using Buccal Dental Microwear Data,” PLoS ONE, 11(11) (2016),
e0165447; Patrick Mahoney, “Dental Microwear from Natufian Hunter-Gatherers and Early
Neolithic Farmers: Comparisons within and between Samples,” American Journal of Physical
Anthropology, CXXX (2006), 308–319; Sołtysiak, “Cereal Grinding Technology in Ancient
Mesopotamia: Evidence from Dental Microwear,” Journal of Archaeological Science, XXXVIII
(2011), 2805–2810; Rachel M. Scott and Siân E. Halcrow, “Investigating Weaning Using Dental
Microwear Analysis: A Review,” ibid.: Reports, XI (2017), 1–11; Jing Xia et al., “New Model to
Explain Tooth Wear with Implications for Microwear Formation and Diet Reconstruction,”
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, CXII (2015), 10669–10672; Kristin L. Krueger
et al., “Dental Microwear Textures of ‘Phase I’ and ‘Phase II’ Facets,” American Journal of Physical
Anthropology, CXXXVII (2008), 485–490; Jonathan M. Hoffman, Danielle Fraser, and Mark T.
Clementz, “Controlled Feeding Trials with Ungulates: A New Application of in Vivo Dental
Molding to Assess the Abrasive Factors of Microwear,” Journal of Experimental Biology, CCXVIII
(2015), 1538–1547.
BREAD AND CL ASS | 339
in the inland city of Konya, introduced a new Islamic culture to
the region. Despite the conquest of Constantinople by Western
Europeans in 1204, the ultimate disintegration of the Byzantine
Empire, and the major defeat of the Seljuk sultanate by the
Mongols in 1243, the cultural divisions of twelfth-century Anatolia
survived until the early fourteenth century.4
Our investigation of medieval Anatolian and Middle Eastern
foodways unfolds in three stages; (1) a discussion of the stereo-
typical Byzantine and Islamic links between food and social hier-
archy in textual sources; (2) an enamel-microwear analysis of four
populations from different parts of modern Turkey, including
materials, methods, and results; (3) an explanation of the differing
“views” of the two types of evidence about the correlation be-
tween social status and bread quality.

BYZANTINE AND ISLAMIC SOURCES FOR BREAD AND SOCIAL STATUS

Most environmental historians today share a strong conviction that
bread quality was closely connected to personal wealth. As Braudel
observed, “There was a bread for the rich and a bread for the
poor; only the former was made from wheat. In Lisbon, grain
from the north, when intended for rich men’s tables, was
first carefully sieved to remove stones and other impurities. The
women of Lisbon could be seen on their doorsteps engaged upon
this task.” Nor have historians’ understanding of this phenomenon
changed since the publication, in the late 1940s, of Braudel’s mag-
isterial study of the premodern Mediterranean. In a recent survey
of medieval environmental history, Hoffmann wrote, “[F]rom the
early to the central Middle Ages, the choice of bread and meat was
more a matter of wealth and status than simply where a person
lived, what they could afford, and what was needed for nutritional
purposes. Elites wanted meat and elites wanted white bread.”5
The testimonies of medieval sources, whether Byzantine or
Islamic, agree on this matter. Several Byzantine texts suggest that

4 Jean Claude Cheynet, “Byzance entre le Turcs et les Croisés,” in idem (ed.), Le monde
byzantin (Paris, 2004), II, 43–65; Jonathan Shepard (ed.), The Cambridge History of the Byzantine
Empire c. 500–1492 (New York, 2008). For the significance of Anatolia in the context of
medieval environmental history, see Haldon et al., “Climate and Environment.”
5 Braudel, Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World, I, 571; Hoffmann, Environmental
History, 115.
340 | I Z D E BSK I, JA W O R S KI , Ü S T ÜN D AĞ , AN D SO ŁT Y S I A K

people from different social backgrounds consumed distinct types

of bread. Elite authors show a strong dislike for the “dirty bread,”
often made of barley rather than wheat, that the poor tended to
eat. The same delight in “pure bread” is conspicuous in every
genre of Byzantine text—be it a medical treatise, a piece of poetry,
a saint’s life, or a work of history. In fact, two late Byzantine his-
torians, George Akropolites (thirteenth century) and Nicephorus
Gregoras (fourteenth century), used bread as a topos that allowed
them to draw a clear distinction between the upper and the lower
classes of Byzantine society. Both wrote complex, highbrow his-
toriographies in the classical style that the educated elite of byzan-
tine society always admired.6
Akropolites employed bread and food as a shorthand for the
divide between the cultivated elite and the uneducated poor. For
example, he ridiculed Constantine Margarites, a military commander,
as “a peasant born of peasants, reared on barley and bran and know-
ing only how to grunt.” His use of the Greek word pituron (“husks”
or “bran”) implied that Margarites’ bread was composed of grain and
flour that no aristocrat would ever consume. The author’s intended
elite audience would have immediately understood this metaphor
and its offensive intention.7
Gregoras’ example is not personally derogatory, but it uses
the same stereotype. In a long narrative describing war heroes
looking for food and shelter in a village, he wrote, “And if they
say that for a hungry person every (kind of ) bread is pleasant, so
we too found it pleasant and humane to wallow in ashes.” The
ashes in this passage are the impurities contained in peasant bread,
commonly baked in homes and often containing ashes added un-
intentionally during the baking process. Thus, this excerpt, again
referring to a stereotype, intimates that a member of the upper
class would eat only pure, unpolluted bread. Such an allusion to
commonplaces about bread and class in the context of military
adventures is surprising, however, given that Byzantine soldiers,

6 Phaidōn Koukoules, “Onomata kai eide arton kata tous Buzantinous chronous,” Epeteris
Hetaireias Byzantinon Spoudon, V (1928), 36–52; John L. Teall, “The Grain Supply of the
Byzantine Empire, 330–1025,” Dumbarton Oaks Papers, XIII (1959), 87–139; Ruth Macrides (ed.),
George Akropolites: The History: Introduction, Translation and Commentary (Oxford, 2007); Gregoras
(trans. Jan Louis van Dieten and F. H. Tinnefeld), Rhomäische Geschichte (Stuttgart, 1973), V.
7 Acropolita (ed. P. Wirth and A. Heisenberg), Opera (Leipzig, 1978), I, 123, 7–9. For the
English translation, see Macrides, George Akropolites, 297.
BREAD AND CL ASS | 341
including officers on campaigns, ground their own grain and
baked their own bread, which typically suffered from the same
defects as peasant bread. Gregoras’ disregard for the actual condi-
tions of soldiers’ life shows the strength of the connection between
bread and social status in the literature composed by and for the
Byzantine elite.8
The Christian and Islamic worlds in medieval Anatolia shared
the same truisms about bread and social status. Several Seljuk and
later Islamic Anatolian sources emphasize that pure bread was a
valued commodity, serving as a metaphor for products of fine
quality, much as it had in the Byzantine literature. Nor were these
the only Islamic societies of the medieval Middle East to hold such
notions. For instance, manuals intended for Cairo’s market in-
spectors advised officials to be on the alert for ground peas, broad
beans, and chickpeas that added weight to bread, and they iden-
tified the impurities—insects, straw, hair, or bodily fluids—that
often tainted bread during the dough-kneading process. Even
though Egypt, unlike almost any other region of the Mediterranean,
had easy access to wheat flour, the kind and caliber of the bread
consumed there depended on the presence or absence of non-
wheat or even non-cereal admixtures and impurities. In this respect,
Mamluk Egypt resembled Abbasid Iraq. The most comprehensive
Abbasid cooking manual, written by Ibn Sayyār al-Warrāq, shows
a strong concern for the quality of bread and flour. Interestingly,
although al-Warrāq recommended bread baked at home (rather
than in the market), he preferred flour purchased from millers to
flour that was ground in rotary querns at home, which could add
impurities to the final product.9
Medieval textual sources from the Middle East—Byzantine,
Abbasid, Seljuk, and Mamluk—leave no doubt that the best
bread (made of finely ground wheat flour with no impurities)

8 Gregoras (ed. Ludwig Schopen), Nicephori Gregorae Byzantina historia (Bonn, 1829), I, 379,
6–8 ( VIII 14.5); Haldon, Warfare, State and Society in the Byzantine World, 565–1204 (London,
1999), 168–169. “Pure bread” was already a topos in the works of Greek and Roman writers.
See Koukoules, “Onomata kai eide arton kata tous Buzantinous chronous.”
9 Nicolas Trépanier, Foodways and Daily Life in Medieval Anatolia: A New Social History
(Austin, 2014), 86; Amalia Levanoni, “Food and Cooking during the Mamluk Era: Social and
Political Implications,” Mamluk Studies Review, IX (2005), 201–222; Paulina B. Lewicka, Food
and Foodways of Medieval Cairenes: Aspects of Life in an Islamic Metropolis of the Eastern Mediterranean
(Leiden, 2011), 155–158; David Waines, “Cereals, Bread and Society: An Essay on the Staff of Life
in Medieval Iraq,” Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, XXX (1987), 255–285.
342 | I Z D E BSK I, JA W O R S KI , Ü S T ÜN D AĞ , AN D SO ŁT Y S I A K

was reserved for the elite. The hierarchy of foods corresponded to

the hierarchy of social groups.

ENAMEL-MICROWEAR ANALYSIS
People and Places How does the vision of food’s role in
medieval society in written sources produced by literate elites
compare with the results of a bioarchaeological study of enamel
microwear on the teeth of individuals from four medieval sites?
Three of these sites were Byzantine towns. The first, Kadıkalesi,
was a fortress located on the Aegean coast that protected the har-
bor of Anaia, and the other two—Kalon Oros (Alanya Kalesi, a
tenth-century cemetery) and Smyrna (Agora, twelfth through
thirteenth centuries)—were relatively important regional centers.
The fourth site, Akarçay Höyük, was a Muslim rural community
at the northernmost outskirts of Syria, between the Seljuk Sultanate
and the Levantine polities, now belonging to Anatolia (see Fig-
ure 1). Üstündağ analyzed the remains of the individuals from

Fig.1 Map of Byzantine-Seljuk Anatolia with the Study Sites

NOTE The dotted frontier line represents the maximum territorial extent of Byzantine power
in twelfth-century Anatolia (under Manuel I) and provides an approximation of cultural divi-
sions in Anatolia during most of our study period (twelfth through thirteenth centuries).
BREAD AND CL ASS | 343
all four sites using standard protocols for sex and age-at-death
assessments.10
The Hellenistic-Byzantine citadel of Kalon Oros, today’s
Alanya, provides the oldest tooth samples, dating back to the times
of the Byzantine re-conquest of Anatolia. During recent archaeo-
logical excavations, a tenth-century cemetery with eight burials
containing twenty-seven individuals was discovered in the north-
ern nave of a collapsed late antique basilica. The deceased were
buried on an west–east axis, facing east (as was the custom for
Christians), with their arms on their abdomens or with one hand
on their chest and the other on their abdomen. The pit graves
were covered by bricks, and one of the graves had a pearl cross
on it. It is impossible, however, to determine the social status of
these individuals solely from their graves or the goods found in
them. But judging from the relatively high prevalence of caries
on their teeth, which suggests the carbohydrate diet typical of
an urban population relying largely on plant-related food, they
seem to represent the middle range of Alanya’s tenth-century
urban population. During this period, Kalon Oros was an impor-
tant supply base for the Byzantine maritime theme (military and
administration unit) of Kibyrraiotes. The Book of Ceremonies, an
important Byzantine text attributed to Emperor Constantine
Porphyrogenites, attests to Kalon Oros’ role in the preparation of
naval expeditions during this period. Hence, the cemetery appears
to have been a burial site for an important military and urban
base.11
The town of Smyrna now falls within the modern metro-
polis of İzmir. Archaeological work was possible only in the ancient
agora, which after the Seljuk invasion served as a cemetery for
Byzantine city dwellers (as it has continuously into Ottoman times).

10 Jane A. Buikstra and Douglas H. Ubelaker (eds.), Standards for Data Collection from Human
Skeletal Remains (Fayetteville, 1994).
11 M. Oluş-Arık, “Alanya Kalesi 2004 Yılı Çalişmalari,” 27. Kazı Sonuçları Toplantısi, 2. Cilt
(2006), 213–228; Haldon, “Theory and Practice in Tenth-Century Military Administration:
Chapters II, 44 and 45 of the Book of Ceremonies, Text and Translation,” Travaux et Mémoires,
XIII (2000), 201–352; Hansgerd Hellenkemper and Friedrich Hild, Lykien und Pamphylien
( Wien, 2004), 50; Üstündağ and F. Arzu-Demirel, “Alanya Kalesi Kazılarında Bulunan İnsan
İskelet Kalıntılarının Osteolojik Analizi,” Türk Arkeoloji ve Etnoğrafya Dergisi, VIII (2008), 79–90;
idem, “Alanya Kalesi İskelet Topluluğunda Ağız ve Diş Sağlığı,” Hacettepe Üniversitesi Edebiyat
Fakültesi Dergisi, XXVI (2009), 219–234. For the correlation between low protein diet and
dental caries, see Larsen, Bioarchaeology.
344 | I Z D E BSK I, JA W O R S KI , Ü S T ÜN D AĞ , AN D SO ŁT Y S I A K

Remains of thirty-three Christians (heads facing east), dated from the

twelfth to thirteenth century, were discovered during excavations in
2007. Again, burials alone offered no clues to their social status, but
the percentage of individuals in this group who show pathological
signs of physical stress is greater than that of any other sample group
in this study. The high frequency (74 percent) of periosteal reactions
on long bones may have resulted from infection. The prevalent
porotic hyperostosis (73 percent), due to iron or B12 deficiency,
suggests malnutrition. As in Alanya/Kalon Oros, dental caries were
relatively common (15.9 percent). Altogether, this profile suggests
that Byzantine Smyrna had an average urban population on socio-
economic terms.12
According to ongoing excavations, Kadıkalesi, the last of
our Byzantine sites—a Byzantine stronghold on the southern
Aegean coast of Anatolia with good access to Mediterranean trade
networks—was relatively rich and well-stocked with luxury items.
Fifty-eight burials were unearthed there in two locations, close to
the church and along the stronghold walls. Because the skeletons
were dated to the twelfth or thirteenth century, they most likely
belonged to the Byzantine town dwellers (buried in pit graves
covered by bricks and heads oriented eastward). One burial from
the church contained a silver garment clasp, indicating an aged
female, clearly of high social status. Pathological indicators of
physical stress were rare compared to those in other sample
groups—porotic hyperostosis observed in only 17 percent and
periosteal reactions in only 26 percent of individuals. Only dental
caries were as common as elsewhere (15 percent), possibly reflect-
ing the higher percentage of females in this group. In short, the

12 Akın Ersoy, “2007 Yılı Smyrna Antik Kenti Kazısı,” 30. Kazi Sonuçlari Toplantisi, 2. Cilt
(2009), 33–46; Markus Kohl and idem, “Agora d’Izmir, travaux 2007,” Anatolia Antiqua, XVI
(2008), 345–353; Ersoy, Gülten Çelik, and Seçil Yılmaz, “2010 Yılı Smyrna Antik Kenti
Kazısı Raporu,” 33. Kazi Sonuçlari Toplantisi, 2. Cılt (2012), 179–204. For the history of
Smyrna during this period, see Hélène Ahrweiler, “L’Histoire et la Géographie de la région
de Smyrne entre les deux occupations turques (1081–1317),” Travaux et Mémoires, 1 (1965),
1–204; for the link between malnutrition and porotic hyperostosis, Philip L. Walker et al.,
“The Causes of Porotic Hyperostosis and Cribra Orbitalia: A Reappraisal of the Iron-
Deficiency-Anemia Hypothesis,” American Journal of Physical Anthropology, CXXXIX (2009),
109–125; for the indicators of stress on bones, Alan H. Goodman et al., “Biocultural Perspectives
on Stress in Prehistoric, Historical, and Contemporary Population Research,” ibid., XXI (1988),
169–202.
BREAD AND CL ASS | 345
living conditions of those buried in Kadıkalesi were better than
those in the two other Byzantine sites.13
Akarçay Höyük, our only Islamic site, is located on the eastern
bank of the contemporary Carchemish Dam Reservoir. People
lived there from the Bronze Age to the Hellenistic-Roman period;
it became a cemetery from the thirteenth to the fourteenth century
after several centuries of abandonment. During this period, it came
under the political control of European Crusaders, Seljuks, Mongols,
and, most importantly, Egyptian Ayyubids and Mamluks. Age-at-
death and sex distribution suggests that Akarçay Höyük was a
regular attritional cemetery for the local Muslim rural population
(either agriculturalists or Turkic herders). The burials follow the
common Islamic custom: simple pit inhumations marked by oval
rings consisting of a single row of stones; graves in an east–west
orientation, with heads toward the east and faces/bodies turned
southward; and both hands placed on the abdomen. According
to the pathological indicators, this rural Muslim population was
significantly healthier than the Byzantine urban groups, with low
percentages of dental caries (8 percent) and porotic hyperostosis
(6 percent).14
Forty individuals with lower second molars were selected as
suitable for the present analysis—ten from Kadıkalesi, ten from
Smyrna Agora, eleven from Akarçay Höyük, and nine from Alanya
Kalesi (see Table 1 for details). As shown in Figure 2, Akarçay and
Kadıkalesi had a similar health profile, different from those identified
at both Alanya and Smyrna. The low frequency of porotic hyper-
ostosis and periosteal reactions in Akarçay and Kadıkalesi suggests
that these communities enjoyed better living conditions than the
other two locales. The low dental-caries rate in Akarçay is probably
13 Zeynep Mercangöz, “Ostentatious Life in a Byzantine Province: Some Selected Pieces
from the Finds of the Excavation in Kuşadası, Kadıkalesi/Anaia (Prov. Aydin, TR),” in Falco
Daim and Jörg Drauschke (eds.), Byzanz - das Römerreich im Mittelalter, 2 (Mainz, 2010), 181–
198; Işıl Talu, “Classification and Visual Analysis of Weathering Forms of Stone in Kadıkalesi,
Kuşadası,” unpub. M.A. thesis (İzmir Institute of Technology, 2005); Üstündağ, “Kuşadası
Kadıkalesi/Anaia kazısında bulunan insan iskelet kalıntılar,” 24. Arkeometri Sonuçları Toplantısı (2009),
209–228.
14 Abdullah Deveci, “2001 Excavations at Akaraçay Höyük,” in Numan Tuna, Jean
Greenhalgh, and Jale Velibeyoğlu (eds.), Salvage Project of the Archaeological Heritage of the Ilısu
and Carchemish Dam Reservoirs, Activities in 2001 (Ankara, 2004), 279–291; idem and H. Kübra
Ensert, “The 2002 Excavations at Akarçay Höyük,” in Tuna and Owen Doonan (eds.), Salvage
Project of the Archaeological Heritage of the Ilısu and Carchemish Dam Reservoirs Activities in 2002 (Ankara,
2011), 204–214.
346 | I Z D E BSK I, JA W O R S KI , Ü S T ÜN D AĞ , AN D SO ŁT Y S I A K

Table 1 General Description of the Analyzed Sample

ID SITE TAG SEX AGE-AT-DEATH

A1 Alanya Kalesi 2004 M1 Ind2 M 50+

A2 Alanya Kalesi 2004 M4 Ind1 M 40–45
A3 Alanya Kalesi 2006 M8 Ind3 M 30–35
A4 Alanya Kalesi Alanya No ID. M 20–25
A5 Alanya Kalesi 2005 M8 Ind1 F 20
A6 Alanya Kalesi 2006 M8 Ind5 M 30–35
A7 Alanya Kalesi 2005 M6 Ind2 M 25
K1 Kadıkalesi 2005 D18 M3 F 18–19
K2 Kadıkalesi 2005 D18 M8 F 20
K3 Kadıkalesi 2006 U32 M10 F 25–30
K4 Kadıkalesi 2007 S23 M21 F 35–40
K5 Kadıkalesi 2006 U32 M11 F 55
K6 Kadıkalesi 2005 D18 M6 M 35–40
K7 Kadıkalesi 2007 P23 M8 F 20
S1 Smyrna Agora 2007 M5 Ind1 M 30–35
S2 Smyrna Agora 2007 Av1.14 Ind1 F 20
S3 Smyrna Agora 2007 M6 Ind2 M 20
S4 Smyrna Agora 2007 M6 Ind4 F 25–30
S5 Smyrna Agora 2007 M6 Ind7 M 35–40
S6 Smyrna Agora 2007 Av1.08 F 20–25
S7 Smyrna Agora 2007 M6 Ind8 M 25–30
S8 Smyrna Agora 2007 Av1.14 Ind4 F 35–40
S9 Smyrna Agora 2007 M6 Ind10 M 40–50
H1 Akarçay Höyük 2005 F 25y F 25
H2 Akarçay Höyük 2001 I-XIVb KT28 M1 F 20–25
H3 Akarçay Höyük 2006 M1 F 25–35
H4 Akarçay Höyük 2001 JXIV A1 M4 M 20–25
H5 Akarçay Höyük KT 2002 KT3 F 25–30
H6 Akarçay Höyük 2001 KT11 M3 Ind3 F 35–40
H7 Akarçay Höyük 2006 M2 M 50+

evidence of a superior access to animal protein, and the graves at

Kadıkalesi clearly contain individuals who were wealthier than
the norm.
Methods Since the average wear of first molars is usually
higher than that of second molars, we selected lower second
molars with a wear degree of the protoconid cusp between 2
and 5 in Scott’s scale to maximize the sample size. If an individual’s
right and left molars did not differ significantly in degree of dental
wear, we selected the right one. We cleaned the teeth with water
and soft brushes and after drying them, made polyurethane resin
BREAD AND CL ASS | 347
Fig.2 Distribution of Paleopathological Indicators of Diet and
Physiological Stress (in Percentage)

SOURCES Üstündağ and F. A. Demirel, “Alanya Kalesi Kazılarında Bulunan İnsan İskelet
Kalıntılarının Osteolojik Analizi,” Türk Arkeoloji ve Etnoğrafya Dergisi, VIII (2008), 79–90; idem,
“Alanya Kalesi İskelet Topluluğunda Ağız ve Diş Sağlığı,” Hacettepe Üniversitesi Edebiyat
Fakültesi Dergisi, XXVI (2009), 219–234; Üstündağ, “Kuşadası Kadıkalesi/Anaia kazısında
bulunan insan iskelet kalıntılar,” 24. Arkeometri Sonuçları Toplantısı (2009), 209–228.

(RenCast FC52) casts using silicone negatives (Gumosil B poli-

condensing rubber).15
SEM pictures were taken with an LEO 1430VP microscope at the
Biology Dept., University of Warsaw. We selected as our surface
the protoconid facet x, a phase II facet that reliably shows micro-
wear patterns differentiated by diet and entails a relatively low
morphological variation of the protoconid, compared to
hypoconid and hypoconulid. Depending on the observed size of
facet x, usually one or two, but occasionally three or four, micro-
graphs were taken under magnification of ×300 (see Figure 3).16
At the first stage, all micrographs were reviewed to select
those suitable for an analysis of microwear patterns. If three or four
pictures were available, we selected the two with the lowest evi-
dence of remaining external dirt. The second picture was used for
estimation of measurement error. The many micrographs in which
postmortem erosion was evident were rejected.

15 Eugenie C. Scott, “Dental Wear Scoring Technique,” American Journal of Physical Anthro-
pology, LI (1979), 213–218.
16 See Krueger et al., “Dental Microwear Textures of ‘Phase I’ and ‘Phase II’ Facets.”
348 | I Z D E BSK I, JA W O R S KI , Ü S T ÜN D AĞ , AN D SO ŁT Y S I A K

Fig.3 Examples of Enamel Microwear in (a) Alanya Kalesi, (b) Kadıkalesi,

(c) Smyrna Agora, and (d) Akarçay Höyük.

NOTE Scale bars 100 μm.

The features were counted and measured using Microwear

4.02 software and then classified manually into four groups, de-
pending on their shape and size—small linear features (LS, up to
5μm in breadth), large linear features ( LL, more than 5μm in
breadth), small nonlinear features (NS, up to 20μm in diameter),
and large nonlinear features (NL, more than 20μm in diameter).
The standard deviation for average relative orientation and average
length of all linear features was calculated. Pictures were processed
in random order, without prior reference to their origin and tags
to avoid systematic error. Differences in frequencies between two
micrographs of the same facet were tested using the χ2 test to
estimate the measurement error. For testing differences in distri-
bution of specified variables between three subsets, we used Kruskal-
Wallis ANOVA and chose Correpondence Analysis (CA) to see the
overall pattern of feature frequencies. All statistics were calculated
using Statistica 10 software.17

17 Peter S. Ungar, Microware Software, Version 4.02: A Semi-Automated Image Analysis System
for the Quantification of Dental Microwear (Fayetteville, 2002).
BREAD AND CL ASS | 349
Results From the initial sample of forty teeth, ten were not
suitable for further analysis due to postmortem erosion. For thirteen
of the teeth, we could take only one micrograph since the available
area of the facet x was too small. The data are presented in Table 2.
In the case of teeth with two micrographs, both microwear patterns
were usually similar; only once was the difference significant at the
0.05 level, and twice 0.1>p>0.05.
For further statistical analysis, micrographs of all teeth were
divided into two subsets (A and B). If two micrographs of one facet
were available, one was assigned to the subset A and the other to
the subset B. If only one micrograph was taken, it was assigned to
both subsets. The analyses were then performed for both subsets,
thereby providing insight into repeatability of the results.
Among four defined features, the differences in LS were sig-
nificant (Kruskall-Wallis test, p<0.05) in both subsets: Teeth from
Kadıkalesi and Akarçay Höyük clearly exhibited a higher number
of small linear features than teeth from two other samples (see
Table 3). Additionally, large nonlinear features were more com-
mon in teeth from Alanya Kalesi, and this difference is significant
in the subset B. On the other hand, there are no clear differences in
the frequency of large linear and small non-linear features between
teeth from four sites. Orientation and average length of linear fea-
tures exhibit considerable differences between subsets.
The overall pattern of differences was checked using CA for all
micrographs (total χ2=502.9, p<0.001). The results are presented
as two bi-plots, separately for the subsets A and B (Figure 4a and b),
after exclusion of two outliers with an abnormally high frequency
of nonlinear features (A7 and S6). The first dimension (c. 45 per-
cent of inertia) distinguishes between LS and all other categories of
features; the second dimension (c. 31 percent of inertia) discrimi-
nates between all categories, especially between NL and LL.
The relatively varied mineral content that individuals from
these four populations consumed allows for a few interesting obser-
vations. First, people in the Byzantine regional centers of Alanya/
Kalon Oros and Smyrna generally ate bread with coarser grit, as
indicated by their greater frequency of significant microwear fea-
tures. As explained above, both samples represent typical urban
populations, who were generally neither high on the social scale
nor possessed of particularly good health. It is hardly surprising that
their bread (which must have formed a crucial element of their diet,
Table 2 Frequency of Enamel Microwear Features in Studied Sites

ID LS LS% LL LL% NS NS% NL NL% ALL ORIENT. LENGTH χ2 P

A1a 116 53.2 50 22.9 38 17.4 14 6.4 218 20.13 130.21 0.553 0.907
A1b 112 52.1 48 22.3 43 20.0 12 5.6 215 25.55 150.41
A2a 57 39.0 51 34.9 28 19.2 10 6.8 146 55.58 117.95 7.845 0.097
A2b 72 51.1 44 31.2 13 9.2 12 8.5 141 50.36 104.67
A3a 43 47.8 18 20.0 22 24.4 7 7.8 90 22.01 106.25 1.165 0.761
A3b 38 41.3 23 25.0 25 27.2 6 6.5 92 33.69 118.65
A4 27 32.1 37 44.0 10 11.9 10 11.9 84 30.24 120.18
A5 18 33.3 19 35.2 8 14.8 9 16.7 54 15.65 133.93
A6 21 35.0 34 56.7 5 8.3 0 0.0 60 34.38 128.19
A7 22 40.0 2 3.7 22 40.0 9 16.4 55 31.35 84.93
K1a 63 59.4 27 25.5 7 6.6 9 8.5 106 36.63 101.62 7.614 0.055
K1b 45 59.2 26 34.2 5 6.6 0 0.0 76 23.22 111.99
K2a 114 63.0 45 24.9 20 11.0 2 1.1 181 27.48 92.09 5.286 0.152
K2b 95 70.9 32 23.9 7 5.2 0 0.0 134 31.13 120.06
K3a 76 58.5 33 25.4 16 12.3 5 3.8 130 22.05 135.1 3.851 0.278
K3b 59 51.8 25 21.9 22 19.3 8 7.0 114 21.53 136.25
K4a 45 40.9 33 30.0 30 27.3 2 1.8 110 27.97 176.16 3.400 0.334
K4b 35 42.7 30 36.6 14 17.1 3 3.7 82 19.37 169.98
K5 61 71.8 18 21.2 3 3.5 3 3.5 85 32.08 128.32
K6 88 47.1 67 35.8 19 10.2 4 2.1 187 17.96 126.40
K7 64 39.5 53 32.7 32 19.8 13 8.0 162 37.23 97.63
S1a 25 48.1 17 32.7 5 9.6 5 9.6 52 22.15 166.69 3.636 0.304
S1b 35 44.9 25 32.1 15 19.2 3 3.8 78 48.86 149.87
S2a 45 43.3 26 25.0 31 29.8 2 1.9 104 21.12 112.44 2.412 0.491
S2b 40 41.2 33 34.0 22 22.7 2 2.1 97 23.39 111.42
S3a 32 35.2 34 37.4 24 26.4 1 1.1 91 22.92 208.86 3.323 0.344
S3b 36 32.7 52 47.3 22 20.0 0 0.0 110 41.27 146.91
S4a 47 43.5 36 33.3 20 18.5 5 4.6 108 32.59 193.99 4.632 0.201
S4b 54 55.7 26 26.8 16 16.5 1 1.0 97 44.23 144.76
S5a 57 46.3 47 38.2 18 14.6 1 0.8 123 35.23 136.02 10.638 0.031
S5b 42 29.4 67 46.9 27 18.9 7 4.9 143 38.92 122.84
S6a 41 34.7 20 16.9 50 42.4 7 5.9 118 37.38 110.43 2.212 0.697
S6b 55 39.6 15 10.8 61 43.9 8 5.7 139 28.98 109.16
S7 21 24.7 47 55.3 17 20.0 0 0.0 85 40.86 176.13
S8 46 34.6 55 41.3 25 18.8 7 5.3 133 53.71 128.04
S9 56 43.1 65 50.0 9 6.9 0 0.0 130 34.52 159.60
H1a 75 55.6 30 22.2 22 16.3 8 5.9 135 28.49 120.60 2.469 0.48
H1b 48 48.5 24 24.2 23 23.2 4 4.0 99 42.06 118.64
H2a 63 65.6 18 18.8 15 15.6 0 0.0 96 43.12 88.88 2.227 0.328
H2b 47 57.3 15 18.3 20 24.4 0 0.0 82 38.33 104.98
H3a 56 64.4 21 24.1 10 11.5 0 0.0 87 34.64 85.16 2.657 0.265
H3b 54 58.1 20 21.5 19 20.4 0 0.0 93 32.53 116.87
H4a 44 55.7 23 29.1 10 12.7 2 2.5 79 28.08 71.10 2.252 0.522
H4b 38 53.5 17 23.9 15 21.1 1 1.4 71 39.21 141.13
H5 58 55.2 31 29.5 10 9.5 6 5.7 105 27.26 113.31
H6 36 47.4 18 23.7 18 23.7 4 5.3 76 40.87 90.65
H7 31 63.3 16 32.7 2 4.1 0 0.0 49 35.91 131.79
NOTES LS=small linear features; LL=large linear features (>5 μm in breadth); NS=small nonlinear features; NL=large nonlinear features (>20 μm in diameter);
orient=standard deviation of linear-feature orientation; length=mean length of linear features.
352 | I Z D E BSK I, JA W O R S KI , Ü S T ÜN D AĞ , AN D SO ŁT Y S I A K

Table 3a Kruskal-Wallis Test Results for Observed Microwear Features

(Subset A, N=30)
ALANYA KALESI KADIKALESI SMYRNA AKARÇAY
(N=7) (N=7) AGORA (N=9) HÖYÜK (N=7)

FEATURE MEAN S.D. MEAN S.D. MEAN S.D. MEAN S.D. H P

LS% 40.1 7.8 54.3 12.1 39.3 7.5 58.2 6.6 14.90 0.002
LL% 31.1 17.3 27.9 5.2 36.7 11.7 25.7 4.9 5.39 0.145
NS% 19.4 10.4 13.0 8.1 20.8 10.9 13.3 6.1 3.93 0.269
NL% 9.4 6.0 4.1 3.0 3.3 3.3 2.8 2.8 7.26 0.064
All 101.0 60.7 137.3 39.8 104.9 25.8 89.6 26.7 5.81 0.121
Orientation 29.9 13.2 28.8 7.2 33.4 10.5 34.1 6.4 2.76 0.430
Length 117.4 17.0 122.5 29.1 154.7 35.2 100.2 21.9 9.44 0.024

Table 3b Kruskal-Wallis Test Results for Observed Microwear Features

(Subset B, N=30)
ALANYA KALESI KADIKALESI SMYRNA AKARÇAY
(N=7) (N=7) AGORA (N=9) HÖYÜK (N=7)

FEATURE MEAN S.D. MEAN S.D. MEAN S.D. MEAN S.D. H P

LS% 40.7 8.1 54.7 13.0 38.4 9.3 54.8 5.6 12.83 0.005
LL% 31.2 16.9 29.5 6.8 38.3 13.9 24.8 4.8 5.95 0.114
NS% 18.8 11.4 11.7 6.9 20.8 9.7 18.1 8.0 5.00 0.172
NL% 9.4 6.0 3.5 3.1 2.5 2.4 2.3 2.6 7.98 0.046
All 100.1 59.1 120.0 43.0 112.4 24.5 82.1 19.1 6.00 0.165
Orientation 31.6 10.5 26.1 7.4 39.4 9.4 36.6 5.2 9.64 0.022
Length 120.1 21.0 127.2 22.6 138.7 22.5 116.8 16.6 3.87 0.276

as suggested by the high frequency of dental caries) was not of high

quality.
Second, most of the people from the Byzantine town of
Kadıkalesi and all the Muslim villagers buried at Akarçay Höyük
had access to superior bread. Accordingly, the Kadıkalesi sample
consists of numerous healthy, possibly even elite, individuals, and
the Akarçay sample consists of a relatively healthy rural population
with better access to animal protein.
Third, the distinction between people who ate the purest
bread and those who did not in Kadıkalesi during this period
BREAD AND CL ASS | 353
corresponds with their burial location either near the church
(higher status) or outside the citadel walls (lower status).
Observed contrasts in the dental-microwear patterns between
the four compared populations are most likely the consequence of
differences in their grinding tools, since the other parameters—
availability of various cereal species and the method of baking flat
bread in ovens—were roughly the same throughout Anatolia and
northern Syria during that period.18

MEDIEVAL TEXTS AND FOODWAY REALITIES Reliance on the written

sources alone would lead to an obvious conclusion: The rich and
powerful ate better than the poor and less privileged. Bioarchaeo-
logical research, however, reveals that medieval food realities
were much more complex. On one hand, the Byzantine town
of Kadıkalesi seems to confirm some aspects of the stereotype:
The richer and more influential individuals, buried close to the
church, indeed ate higher-quality bread than the poorer individ-
uals buried outside the town walls. On the other hand, the main
difference between our study populations follows an urban–rural
divide that runs contrary to the notion that peasants ate the kind of
“dirty” bread that left strong damage on teeth enamel. The group
that, on average, ate the best bread was the villagers from northern
Syria. In fact, the peasants buried at Akarçay Höyük ate bread
similar to that of the urban elite from Kadıkalesi. The lower strata
of the urban communities in Smyrna, Kalon Oros, and Kadıkalesi
emerge as the most underprivileged in terms of diet. The stereo-
type may have reflected certain social-biological conditions—
those of the two groups that were in immediate contact, namely,
city-based elites and average city dwellers—but not those of the
society in general.

18 Waines, “Cereals, Bread and Society”; Naomi F. Miller, “The Crusader Period Fortress:
Some Archaeobotanical Samples from Medieval Gritille,” Anatolica, XVIII (1992), 87–99;
John Moore, Tille Höyük 1: The Medieval Period (London, 1993), 19–54; Miller, “Patterns of
Agriculture and Land Use at Medieval Gritille,” in Scott Redford (ed.), Archaeology of the
Frontier in the Medieval Near East: Excavations at Gritille, Turkey (Philadelphia, 1998), 211–252; Noor
Mulder-Heymans, “Archaeology, Experimental Archaeology and Ethnoarchaeology on Bread
Ovens in Syria,” Civilisations: Revue internationale d’anthropologie et de sciences humaines, XLIX (2002),
197–221; John M. Marston, “Agricultural Strategies and Political Economy in Ancient Anatolia,”
American Journal of Archaeology, CXVI (2012), 377–403.
354 | I Z D E BSK I, JA W O R S KI , Ü S T ÜN D AĞ , AN D SO ŁT Y S I A K

Though reminiscent of the modern understanding of medieval

cities as ecological black holes—particularly regarding the less
privileged—the patterns displayed in this article derive from
surprising differences between social groups and their access
to technology. As far as the enamel microwear pattern is con-
cerned, the quality of bread depends on the available flour, the
contingencies of baking (labor costs, ovens sealed from ashes,
etc.), and the milling process. Watermills were better than hand
mills at producing flour—due to the weight of their stones,
which affected the size of the microwear content—and their
lower costs (minimal human labor). Watermills could grind

Fig.4a Correspondence Analysis Bi-plot for Data from Table 2

(subset A)

NOTES Dimension 1 distinguishes between Small Linear (LS) features in enamel-microwear

pattern and all other features. LS features are associated with bread (flour) of higher quality.
Dimension 2, less important, distinguishes between linear and nonlinear features—nonlinear
being the most frequent in some teeth from Alanya Kalesi. Note bi-modal distribution at
Kadıkalesi, in which some teeth are dominated by small linear features, but others have many
more large lines and nonlinear features.
BREAD AND CL ASS | 355
Fig.4b Correspondence Analysis Bi-plot for Data from Table 2
(subset B)

NOTE With some minor differences, this bi-plot shows the same pattern as the bi-plot for
subset A, indicating that observed differences between sites are not accidental. Despite the
differences, both bi-plots show roughly the same pattern. Teeth from Kadıkalesi and Akarçay
Höyük cluster around LS, though the distribution for Akarçay Höyük is clearly narrower. The
lesser homogeneity of the teeth microwear pattern in Kadıkalesi is due to the burial sites that
provided the samples: The two teeth with enamel-microwear patterns most visibly displaying
a diet with bread of poorer quality belonged to people of lower social rank buried outside the
stronghold walls (2007 S23 M21 and 2007 P23 M8 in Table 1); those who ranked higher in
the town community’s hierarchy were buried close to the church. In contrast, teeth from
Alanya Kalesi and Smyrna Agora cluster around LL AND NS, suggesting a diet based on low
quality bread. Higher frequency of large nonlinear features (NL) at Alanya Kalesi indicates
an even poorer quality of bread. However, only the difference between the two pairs of sites
(Kadıkalesi and Akarçay Höyük vs. Alanya Kalesi and Smyrna) in the first CA dimension is
clear, based on the significant difference in LS as tested using Kruskall-Wallis ANOVA. This
pattern holds for both subsets.

the same grain several times, thereby ensuring the quality of the
final product.19
Hand mills (more specifically, rotary hand querns) were the
dominant milling technology in Byzantine cities, especially for

19 Hoffmann, Environmental History, 227–237; Britta Padberg, Die Oase aus Stein: humanökologische
Aspekte des Lebens im mittelalterlichen Städten (Berlin, 1996), 59–80.
356 | I Z D E BSK I, JA W O R S KI , Ü S T ÜN D AĞ , AN D SO ŁT Y S I A K

flour prepared at home (poorer households tended to prepare their

dough at home and then bring it to a bakery to be finished). Yet
bakers in Constantinople probably used animal-powered mills
capable of producing excellent flour. Even in other cities and
towns, the servants of the wealthier inhabitants could usually obtain
good flour for their masters’ tables. Furthermore, the ubiquity of
watermills across the Byzantine countryside is evident in the Nomos
Georgikos, a Byzantine legal collection of regulations dealing with
rural life, as well as in the reports of a number of archaeological
projects.20
Watermills also continued to dominate the Anatolian and
northern Syrian countryside after the Byzantine state lost its grip
on Anatolia. Medieval Muslim villages usually had one in close
proximity if not within their own borders. Recent archaeological
surveys leave no doubt that watermills remained an element of the
Turish landscape throughout Ottoman times and even under the
early Republic. Early Ottoman documents show that watermills
were present in the vicinity of Akarçay Höyük during the six-
teenth century. Thus, an important biological and dietary differ-
ence between elite, urban, and rural populations in medieval
Anatolia, also perceived as a crucial marker of social status, is trace-
able not just to the availability of high-quality raw products, which
were typical for medieval cities, but also to inequalities in access to
key food-processing technology.21
It is not difficult to explain the failure of the stereotypes in
the textual sources to reflect social-biological circumstances prop-
erly. The written sources, which we owe to the literacy of elites,
inescapably reflect narrow perceptions of food and class, show-
ing what elites considered to be an important marker of their
social status. They use bread as a symbol of their superiority over

20 Michael Decker, “Agriculture and Agricultural Technology,” in Elizabeth Jeffreys,

Haldon, and Robin Cormack (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Byzantine Studies (New York,
2008), 397–406; Igor P. Medvedev (ed.), Nomos georgikos: Vizantiiskii zemledel’cheskii zakon
(Leningrad, 1984), 126–128.
21 Trépanier, Foodways and Daily Life, 51–54; K. Donners, M. Waelkens, and J. Deckers,
“Water Mills in the Area of Sagalassos: A Disappearing Ancient Technology,” Anatolian
Studies, LII (2002), 1–17. For Akarçay Höyük, see Mehmet E. Üner, “Osmanlı Döneminde
Urfa’da Hanımlar Tarafından Kurulmuş Vakıflar,” Şanlıurfa Kültür Sanat Tarih ve Turizm
Dergisi (2014), 8–18; Abdurrahman Acar and M. Mesut Ergin, “Halep’te Memlüklü Dönemine
ait Medrese Vakıfları,” Dicle Üniversitesi İlahiyat Fakültesi Dergisi, IV (2012), 1–36.
BREAD AND CL ASS | 357
uneducated, primitive town and village dwellers. This elite self-
understanding is most easily articulated through a comparison
with the lifestyle that contrasted drastically with their own—
that of peasants. Nonetheless, the details of these stereotypes had
more to do with the everyday realities of urban life than with
divisions concerning foodways (and technology) in a wider society.
This study demonstrates that environmental historians should always
be aware that description in medieval sources often sacrifices accu-
racy to other goals. The application of scientific archaeological
methods is one of the solutions to this problem; combined with
textual sources, it has the potential to reveal the complexities be-
neath the simplistic world of medieval stereotypes.