Biomolecular Insights into Food, Medicine, and Scent in Environmental Archaeology

Understanding the complex relationships between ancient societies and their environments requires an interdisciplinary approach that connects material culture, biological remains, and innovative scientific methodologies. This Research Topic, Biomolecular Insights into Food, Medicine, and Scent in Environmental Archaeology, aims to explore the critical roles of food, medicine, and aromatic substances with their associated practices in shaping human history. These elements were central to daily life, well-being, trade, interactions, ritual practices, spirituality, and cultural identity in ancient societies; yet their study often remains fragmentary without the application of advanced biomolecular techniques.

Biomolecular archaeology provides unparalleled insights into these aspects of ancient life. Through methods, such as organic residue analysis, stable isotopic techniques (bulk and compound-specific for lipids and amino acids), lipidomics, proteomics, metabolomics, and archaeogenetics, researchers can reconstruct past culinary and consumption practices, identify medicinal, psychoactive and aromatic compounds, as well as trace their cultural and environmental contexts. These approaches not only have the potential to deepen our understanding of ancient foodways and pharmacological traditions but also shed light on the sensory and symbolic dimensions of aromatic substances, such as spices, herbs, and resins, which played essential roles in rituals, healing, and trade.

This Research Topic seeks to highlight the diverse applications of biomolecular techniques to uncover these hidden aspects of the past. We welcome contributions that explore these themes in innovative ways, bringing together biomolecular data with broader archaeological, environmental, and cultural insights. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

· Methodological Advances: Papers presenting novel or refined techniques for analyzing archaeo-organic materials (e.g., charred food remains, ceramic food crusts, floral, faunal, and human remains) or artifacts related to food, medicines, and scents (e.g., ceramics, lithics, metal tools/containers). Furthermore, combining different methodological approaches, i.e., multi-omics approaches, to enhance the retrieval of information are similarly welcome.

· Case Studies: Articles reporting biomolecular analyses of food, medicinal, and aromatic residues from archaeological contexts in various geographical areas. This may include results from stable isotope studies, lipid analysis, proteomics, metabolomics, and archaeogenetics.

· Interdisciplinary Research: Contributions exploring the intersections of foodways, medicinal practices, and scents, especially those integrating biomolecular archaeology with complementary approaches such as ethnoarchaeology, ethnohistory, anthropology, humanities, arts, and environmental sciences.

· Theoretical Perspectives: Perspective or review articles discussing the integration of biomolecular archaeology with theoretical frameworks for understanding the cultural, economic, and sensory dimensions of food, medicine, and scents.

Submission Details: We invite original research articles, methods papers, reviews, and perspective pieces.

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Classification
• Clinical Trial
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• FAIR² DATA Direct Submission
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Classification
• Clinical Trial
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• FAIR² DATA Direct Submission
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Review
• Systematic Review
• Technology and Code

Keywords: Pottery Residues, Amino Acids, Past Diets, Archaeological artifacts, biomolecules, Compound Specific Isotope Analysis, food, scent, medicine, biological remains, ancient societies

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.