No vanilla at Megiddo?

ARCHAEO-BIOCHEMISTRY: Did These Ancient Juglets—Found in a Bronze Age Burial in Israel—Contain Vanilla? The finding suggests vanilla was being used 2,500 years earlier and half a world from where we thought, but vanilla experts are skeptical on the findings (Jason Daley, The Smithsonian). There are "vanilla experts?" Of course there are.

Some of these experts have raised objections to the idea that the vanillin compound found in the jars in Megiddo Cave 50 shows the use of vanilla as flavoring. This in response to recent media reports on the ASOR paper presented by Vanessa Linares in November. But Ms. Linares defends her position. The actual research is not even published yet, so it's best to keep an open mind.

Background here.

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