Le fromage en Gaule à l’âge du Fer et à l’époque romaine : état des lieux pour sa production et analyse de sa place dans le monde antique

Abstract

Cheese, and more generally dairy products, is an essential part of the diet of ancient societies, particularly in the Mediterranean world and in Europe. These by-products therefore probably appeared right from the very beginnings of the domestication of cattle, sheep and goats. However, the study of this production is difficult to document using only the material data provided by archaeology: this is why the subject remains largely unstudied. The aim here is therefore to study, in as much detail as possible, the subject of cheese for the whole of pre-Roman and Roman Gaul –beyond the territory of present-day France– taking into account the various geographical areas for which almost only archaeological documentation is available. An attempt has also been made to assess the importance of this production geographically and through time. Curiously enough, no research of this kind had been carried out previously, at least not with such spatial and temporal scope. To this end we felt it necessary to compare this inventory with the knowledge of cheese and dairy products throughout the whole of the ancient Greco-Roman world, almost exclusively documented by Greek and Latin texts, epigraphy and significant iconographic documentation. The aim is therefore to assess Gaul’s place in this production within the ancient world. The study was therefore carried out on a temporal and a spatial scale, using data of a rather different nature:- first, on the scale of Gaul in a broader geographical sense (including Gallia Narbonnensis and the three Gallic provinces as well as the two German and the Alpine provinces) between the Early Iron Age (8th-7th c. BC) and the Early Middle Ages (7th c. AD), mainly based on archaeological data;- second, for comparison and perspective, the ancient world on the scale of the Mediterranean area, somewhat enlarged by the limits of the Roman Empire at its greatest size between the 8th c. BC and the 7th c. AD, the documentation being mainly based on texts (including epigraphic) and some iconographic data.How was this work carried out and how did it deal with the different aspects of the vast question of cheese-making in Gaul and in the ancient world? It was, of course, necessary to clearly define the subject, certainly within its temporal and spatial limits as just indicated, as well as with regard to the nature of this product, “invented” by our predecessors as early as the dawn of the Neolithic: the processing of milk –taken from sheep, goats or cattle, without our being able to differentiate– that takes place naturally in the stomachs of young suckling ruminants, a process that is then copied by humans for their own benefit. It was first of all necessary to collect the knowledge acquired on this subject for earlier periods, from the beginning of the Neolithic in Europe as well as on the other side of the ancient world, from Sumer to Egypt, and for the archaic, classical and Hellenistic periods of the Mediterranean world. This made it possible to assess the state of knowledge for Gaul in a broader sense. This approach was based on a thorough investigation of the various types of data, starting with the most important, the archaeological remains. In fact, the only material evidence of this production, in sufficient numbers, are the pottery strainers known as early as protohistoric times. However, the search for this documentation required a strict functional and morphological definition of the concept of cheese strainer. It also meant examining the data published or recorded in excavation reports and eliminating the numerous parasitic elements that constitute various other “potsherds pierced with small holes” which have the most diverse functions –and are not always well identified– certainly far removed from the straining of curdled milk. A rather considerable double corpus –Iron Age/Roman period– was thus established, making it possible to distinguish areas in which these objects were frequent, as well as many void areas, with important spatial and temporal variations. Of course, the source effect was taken into account, as well as the fact that the greater number of protohistoric and ancient cheese strainers, which must have been made of perishable materials (rushes, willow or wicker, even wood splints), have long since disappeared, leaving only the pottery specimens available to archaeologists that were examined here. In reality, and without any satisfactory explanation being put forward, the pottery cheese strainer is quite specific to Gaul (as well as to the British Isles), whereas the Latin word fiscella (faisselle in French) indeed means “small basket”. In the current state of the documentation the distribution of these cheese strainers appears to be non-random, leaving large empty areas. For the Iron Age the Aisne-Marne and Languedoc cultural areas were favoured in the 6th-5th c. BC, whereas, except for rare examples, this object is absent from the corpus from the 2nd c. BC onwards. With regard to the Roman period the most striking point is the very large number of pottery cheese strainers concentrated in the city of Reims and its surroundings, while, in general, a large number of occurrences are dated to the 2nd-4th c. AD. Other possible artefacts related to cheese-making, which in fact occur in very small numbers, are also analysed, as well as the few buildings possibly dedicated to this production, and the zooarchaeological data, which are not very conclusive, as well as the prospects opened up by the search for biomarkers. The examination of non-archaeological data relates to a few texts concerning the Gallic domain, and still rarer inscriptions and iconographic documents, which are sometimes debatable. Once the state of knowledge in Gaul had been examined in this way, the perspective was then widened in order to place this territory in the context of the whole of the ancient world. In order to do this, little use was made of the archaeological data –mentioned above concerning the situation in Gaul. After an analysis of the Greek and Latin vocabulary, written sources were examined first, based on the most exhaustive possible inventory of the occurrences of the term “cheese” –in Greek and Latin– and other related terms in Greek and Latin literature (and other texts, including those of a legal nature), from Homer to Isidore of Seville, i.e. no fewer than 176 authors or literary works, each with numerous occurrences. The epigraphic and papyrological data were then examined in the same way, certainly with a lower degree of comprehensiveness, particularly as regards difficulties in compiling an inventory. These nevertheless reveal the humble “menus” of the restoration sites in Pompeii, as well as the wealth, still largely unexploited, of Egyptian papyri over a very long period (from the Hellenistic period to the Byzantine period). Lastly, the iconography, which also relates to a long period of time, finally proves to be quite rich in information. This rather difficult approach further highlights the importance of Pompeian documentation, with, among other things, several wall paintings depicting still lifes on which appear, among other foodstuffs, fresh cheeses in their wickerwork faisselle. The various bodies of data mentioned, the largest of which (pottery, protohistoric and Roman cheese strainers in Gaul, but also in Roman Britain and in the Danube provinces, texts, iconography) are commented on in the text and are reported on for their own account in the appendices published online in parallel to this article. In conclusion, a comprehensive overview can be proposed: a detailed description of the cheese-making sequence, a definition of the prominent place of cheese in the ancient diet and, finally, according to the defined objectives, the identification of Gaul’s place in this matter. This production –which is in fact ubiquitous– is very important in certain Mediterranean areas (Italy and some Greek islands, in particular), but Gaul’s place during the Roman period seems quite respectable with regard to the “world economy” of that period, with cheese products that were sought after on Roman tables and therefore exported, as well as a production that was probably supplied to almost the entire territory under study, despite the filters induced by different types of data, which are divergent but complementary.