Hostname: page-component-76d6cb85b7-7262s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-07-24T21:47:45.273Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

On the Beginnings of South Asian Spice Trade with the Mediterranean Region: A Review

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 February 2016

Ayelet Gilboa*
Affiliation:
Zinman Institute of Archaeology, University of Haifa, Israel.
Dvory Namdar
Affiliation:
Institute of Earth Sciences, Hebrew University, Jerusalem.
*
Corresponding author. Email: gilboaaa@zahav.net.il.

Abstract

When did the trade in lucrative spices from South Asia to the West commence? Recent organic residue analyses performed on small early Iron Age (11th–late 10th century BCE) Phoenician clay flasks provide the first concrete archaeological evidence that such sustainable trade took place much earlier than hitherto suspected. The analysis shows that several of the flasks contained cinnamon, which in this period could only have originated in South/Southeast Asia. Here, we first summarize the rationale and results of that study. Subsequently, we provide an updated review of all sources of data relevant to the question at hand—archaeological, analytical, and textual. Finally, we offer suggestions for future research on the Asian spice trade with the West.

Information

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © The Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable