Europe’s historical hunger for tasty food—spices, specifically—helped drive the Age of Exploration. When did flavorful food become so important that it would eventually change the course of human history? It is difficult to say because plant remains rarely last, and it can be a fool’s errand to speculate how they were used thousands of years ago. Now, however, in 6,000-year-old pottery from Denmark and Germany, a team of researchers has found phytoliths, small bits of silica that form in the tissues of some plants, from garlic mustard seeds, which carry strong, peppery flavor but little nutritional value.

Because they were found alongside residues of meat and fish, the seed remnants represent the earliest known direct evidence of spicing in European cuisine. According to researcher Hayley Saul of the University of York, “It certainly contributes important information about the prehistoric roots of this practice, which eventually culminated in globally significant processes and events.”

Chemists are analyzing the soil around burials at a medieval cemetery in Ribe, Denmark’s oldest town, 200 miles west of Copenhagen. They’re picking their spots carefully, hoping to illuminate previously unknowable details about the last days of the deceased.

Kaare Lund Rasmussen of the University of Southern Denmark examined the skeletal remains of a 10- to 13-year-old child, and specifically the soil that had once been in contact with the child’s lungs, kidneys, and liver. It has been determined that, as those organs decay, they release chemical compounds that can offer clues to an individuals’ final days or even months. In this case, Rasmussen found high concentrations of mercury. Mercury came to Denmark with Christian monks in the Middle Ages, according to historical sources. The highly toxic element was once thought to have broad curative properties, so its presence suggests that the child was undergoing treatment for a debilitating illness. 

Also, the organs that the mercury was associated with suggest something about how and when treatment was administered. Rasmussen found mercury in the soil that had been in contact with the child’s lungs. The element is excreted from the lungs within two days, so the discovery implies that treatment had been given shortly before death. However, the ground near the child’s liver was also enriched, which suggests a much longer course of treatment. Mercury remains in liver tissue for about two months. “I have no doubts the results from our work will affect how soil samples will be taken in future excavations,” says Rasmussen. “It will have a global impact.”

In the ruins of a seventh-century A.D. building at the foot of the Temple Mount, Hebrew University of Jerusalem archaeologist Eilat Mazar has discovered a stunning collection of artifacts. The 36 coins, dating from between the middle of the fourth to the early seventh century A.D., along with gold and silver jewels and a remarkable gold medallion, were once wrapped inside two small fabric bundles, small remnants of which Mazar also found. The medallion depicts a menorah, Torah scroll, and a shofar, a musical instrument usually made of a ram’s horn that is used in Jewish rituals. Found in a hole in the floor, the medallion once hung from a gold chain and was uncovered with a smaller gold medallion, two pendants, a gold coil, and a silver clasp, all of which may have been ornamentations for a Torah scroll.