Archaeologists found evidence of spices such as turmeric and cloves from ancient Vietnam, suggesting South Asians shared their culinary traditions via an ancient maritime trade route
Dishes that are rich in flavor and aroma from combinations of spices such as earthy turmeric, warm cloves and sharp ginger—commonly known as curries in the West—have starred in cuisines throughout South and Southeast Asia, from India to Indonesia, for centuries. Not all the spices used in each place are native to that spot, though, which points to a robust ancient spice trade.
Historians have long known about a maritime trade route that ran during the same era as the famed Silk Road, a network of land routes between the Mediterranean Sea and China. The maritime route went farther south, connecting cultures in what is today Iran, India and Southeast Asia. But most of the evidence comes from written records, and the lack of physical evidence has made it difficult for researchers to verify these accounts.
Traces of eight spices were found: turmeric, ginger, fingerroot, sand ginger, galangal, clove, nutmeg and cinnamon. Because most of these spices originated on distant islands, traders would have had to bring them from several thousand kilometers away by sea. Hung says the stone tools were also likely imported, which suggests the larger culinary practice of incorporating such spices into foods was also borrowed from another ancient culture.
But Hoogervorst adds that it’s a stretch to assume the stone grinding tools found at Óc Eo were also imported from distant areas. “To assume that people in Southeast Asia couldn’t figure out how to basically crush their food with these stones is a huge leap,” he says.
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