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Brassicaceae seed oil identified as illuminant in Nilotic shells from a first millennium AD Coptic church in Bawit, Egypt

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Abstract

Burned greasy deposits were found inside shells of the large Nile bivalve Chambardia rubens, excavated in an eight- to tenth- century AD church of the Coptic monastery of Bawit, Egypt, and supposedly used as oil lamps. The residues were subjected to a combination of chromatographic residue analysis techniques. The rather high concentrations of unsaturated fatty acids, as analysed by gas chromatography (GC) in the methylated extract, suggest the presence of a vegetal oil. Analysis of the stable carbon isotopes (δ 13C values) of the methyl esters also favoured plants over animals as the lipid source. In the search for biomarkers by GC coupled to mass spectrometry on a silylated extract, a range of diacids together with high concentrations of 13,14-dihydroxydocosanoate and 11,12-dihydroxyeicosanoate were found. These compounds are oxidation products of erucic acid and gondoic acid, which are abundantly present in seeds of Brassicaceae plants. Liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry analysis showed low concentrations of unaltered triglycerides, but revealed sizeable amounts of triglycerides with at least one dihydroxylated acyl chain. The unusual preservation of dihydroxylated triglycerides and α,ω-dicarboxylic acids can be related to the dry preservation conditions. Analysis of the stereoisomers of the dihydroxylated fatty acids allows one to determine whether oxidation took place during burning of the fuel or afterwards. The results prove that the oil of rapeseed (Brassica napus L.) or radish (Raphanus sativus L.) was used as illuminant in early Islamic Egypt, and that not only ceramic lamps but also mollusk shells were used as fuel containers.

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Acknowledgements

This text presents research results supported by the Interuniversity Poles of Attraction Programme of the Belgian Science Policy (IPA V/09), by the Concerted Action of the Flemish Government (GOA 02/02) and by the Research Foundation-Flanders (FWO G.0245.02 and G.0152.04).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Surface Chemistry and Catalysis, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Kasteelpark Arenberg 23, 3001, Leuven, Belgium

    Kerlijne Romanus, Sabina Accardo, Ive Hermans, Pierre Jacobs & Dirk De Vos

  2. Department of Archaeology, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Blijde Inkomststraat 21, 3000, Leuven, Belgium

    Marc Waelkens

  3. Centre for Archaeological Sciences, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Blijde Inkomststraat 21, 3000, Leuven, Belgium

    Kerlijne Romanus, Wim Van Neer, Elena Marinova, Dirk De Vos & Marc Waelkens

  4. Department of Gastrointestinal Research, University Hospital Leuven, Herestraat 49, 3000, Leuven, Belgium

    Kristin Verbeke & Anja Luypaerts

  5. Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Vautierstraat 29, 1000, Brussels, Belgium

    Wim Van Neer

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  1. Kerlijne Romanus
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  2. Wim Van Neer
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  3. Elena Marinova
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Correspondence to Kerlijne Romanus.

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Romanus, K., Van Neer, W., Marinova, E. et al. Brassicaceae seed oil identified as illuminant in Nilotic shells from a first millennium AD Coptic church in Bawit, Egypt. Anal Bioanal Chem 390, 783–793 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-007-1704-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-007-1704-2

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