[Press Release] Ancient dental calculus reveals diverse diets of commoners in premodern Osaka, Japan, the “Kitchen of the Realm”

Release Summary

Applying palaeoproteomics to ancient dental calculus from eight premodern commoners buried in the Umeda cemetery in Osaka, Japan, researchers identified 38 dietary proteins from 17 taxa, including high‑grade sea bream, salmonids from distant waters, terrestrial mammal meat, and cottonseed oil products. These findings show that even relatively poor urban commoners in premodern Osaka accessed an unexpectedly diverse range of foods supplied through the city’s role as the “Kitchen of the Realm”.

For Details (Eurekalert!)

• Title: Dietary reconstruction of individual premodern commoners in Osaka, Japan, through the palaeoproteomic analysis of human dental calculus
• Authors: Yoko Uchida-Fukuhara, Mariko Iida, Shigenobu Oba, Rikai Sawafuji, Takumi Nishiuchi, Shiori Fujisawa, Tomohito Nagaoka, Takumi Tsutaya
• Journal: Anthropological Science
• DOI: 10.1537/ase.260519

• Research Center for Integrative Evolutionary Science
• Integrative Evolutionary Science