Plant silica, or 'phytolith' analysis has proven to be a valuable contribution to the study of prehistoric northern European culinary practices.

Spices can reveal a lot about culture and history.

Plant silica, or 'phytolith' analysis has proven to be a valuable contribution to the study of prehistoric northern European culinary practices.

Traces of phytoliths, found inside pottery dated between 58 hundred and around 6 thousand years old revealed that ancient people in modern-day Denmark and Germany probably used garlic mustard to flavor their meat and fish.

Due to a significant difference in the amount of phytoliths on the inside of the food vessels as opposed to what was found in the soot on the surface of the dig, it is apparent that the garlic mustard was indeed used for cooking.

As the garlic mustard is not calorie dense and has little nutritional value, the researchers concluded this is the earliest physical sign of spices used to flavor cooking in ancient Europe.

It has been difficult to present more ancient use of European seasoning as phytoliths can be undetectable when they are charred.

Conventional belief has been that pre and early Neolithic plants were used mainly for energy rather than for seasoning food.

This finding raises the question of whether the spicing resulted from a new practice of agriculture, or if it began in a hunter-gatherer society.