Shipwreck Yields World's Oldest Salad Dressing

Discovery News ^ | Jennifer Viegas

[AxelPaulsenJr]

Don’t eat the mayo.

[Joe 6-pack]

They’ve yet to look in my refrigerator.

[blam]

GGG Ping.

Ancient Condiment This ancient jar, recovered from a 2,400-year-old shipwreck, bore the traces of an unknown plant from the Pistachia genus.

[bmwcyle]

Another Sinko Demayo.

[Pistolshot]

Pass the croutons please.

[TruthShallSetYouFree]

Good one!

[Red Badger]

Heck, I’ve got salad dressing in my fridge that’s older than that!............

[maine-iac7]

Don’t eat the mayo.

[Rebelbase]

Must be the supplier for the tightwad Greek-guy’s restaurant down the street.

[Disturbin]

I’ll pass on the 2,400 year old feta cheese too!

[BubbaJunebug]

Was it found off of the Thousand Islands?

[Proud2BeRight]

Might be good on some salmonella tomatoes.

[CarrotAndStick]

Why were these containers made that way? Wouldn’t a flat base help avoid an extra stand? Or does it have something to do with collecting sediments at the pointed bottom?

[elcid1970]

I ordered retsina wine at a Greek place. Yuk! Like drinking turpentine.

I read later that adulterating (denaturing?) wine with pine resin made it exempt from some Ottoman excise tax.

[Natchez Hawk]

“olive oil infused with fragrant herbs”

Great, now I’m starving.

[chrisser]

Why were these containers made that way? Wouldn’t a flat base help avoid an extra stand? Or does it have something to do with collecting sediments at the pointed bottom?

I wondered the same thing.

Here's a link to the NYT about them:

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9905EFDB1E3FF937A2575BC0A9679C8B63

Relevant quote:

". In fact, the long, pointed bottom of the typical amphora gave it an excellent shape for stacking against a ship's hull, according to Dr. Shelley Wachsmann, a nautical and biblical archaeologist at the Institute of Nautical Archaeology at Texas A&M University.

''If you visualize three or four amphorae next to each other with the sides touching, there is a hole in the middle where the circles meet,'' he explained. ''If they are stacked in layers, an amphora in the next layer would rest in that hole.'' "

[Liberty2007]

I don't even want the words "geek" and "tossed salad" in the same sentence.

[DannyTN]

Sam and Ella’s salad dressing by any chance?

[Liberty2007]

grrr. the words “greek” and “tossed salad”