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A funerary feast fit for King Midas

Nature volume 402, pages 863–864 (1999)Cite this article

A royal banquet has been reconstructed from residues in pots found inside the tomb.

We have chemically analysed the ancient organic contents of vessels from the Tumulus MM, ‘Midas Mound’1, the site at Gordion in central Turkey that is the likely tomb of King Midas. The analysis revealed that a spicy meal of sheep or goat and pulses was eaten by mourners at a feast before the interment. We also identified a mixed fermented beverage of grape wine, barley beer and honey mead in the most comprehensive Iron Age drinking set ever found, comprising numerous bronze mixing and serving vessels and more than 100 bowls. Besides providing direct and dramatic evidence for ancient Mediterranean cuisine and customs, our findings have an important bearing on the cultural antecedents of Midas's Phrygian kingdom and on the wider application of molecular archaeological techniques to other ancient foods and beverages.

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Figure 1: Analysis of vessel contents in the ‘King Midas’ tomb.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Museum Applied Science Center for Archaeology, University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia, 19104, Pennsylvania, USA

    Patrick E. McGovern, Donald L. Glusker & Lawrence J. Exner

  2. US Department of Agriculture, Eastern Regional Research Center, 600 East Mermaid Lane, Wyndmoor, 19038, Pennsylvania, USA

    Robert A. Moreau & Alberto Nuñez

  3. Department of Chemistry, Amber Research Laboratory, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, 12601, New York, USA

    Curt W. Beck & Edith C. Stout

  4. The Bard Graduate Center for Studies in the Decorative Arts, 18 West 86th Street, New York, 10024, New York, USA

    Elizabeth Simpson

  5. Scientific Instrument Services, 1027 Old York Road, Ringoes, 08551, New Jersey, USA

    Eric D. Butrym

Authors
  1. Patrick E. McGovern
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  2. Donald L. Glusker
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  3. Robert A. Moreau
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  4. Alberto Nuñez
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  5. Curt W. Beck
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  6. Elizabeth Simpson
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  7. Eric D. Butrym
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  8. Lawrence J. Exner
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  9. Edith C. Stout
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Correspondence to Patrick E. McGovern.

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McGovern, P., Glusker, D., Moreau, R. et al. A funerary feast fit for King Midas. Nature 402, 863–864 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1038/47217

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