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Sylvia Rose

Gold-of-Pleasure: Bronze Age Crops

Gold-of-pleasure (Camelina sativa) plant is a member of the mustard family Brassicaceae. By c. 2000 BCE it's a popular crop for lamp and household oil. In Switzerland evidence of Neolithic seeds and oil use is found in an alpine cavern.


Read: Cult of the Fire God - Bronze Age Quest Adventure


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The Chalcolithic or copper age yields C. sativa finds at Pefkakia in Greece and Sucidava-Celei, Romania. During the Bronze and Iron Ages, camelina is an important agriculture crop in northern Greece, where the climate doesn't support olive trees.


Read: Cult of the Fire God - Bronze Age Quest Adventure


It's shown to be grown during the Roman Empire. By c. 600 BCE, it's intentionally sown in the Rhine River Valley, after developing for some time as a weed in flax fields. From its interaction with flax crops it's often called false flax or wild flax.


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The gold-of-pleasure plant has an especially high level of omega-3 fatty acids, uncommon in vegetable sources. Content may be up to 45%. Seeds contain 38 to 43% oil and 27 to 32% protein. The oil is golden yellow, giving the plant its colloquial name.


Over 50% of the fatty acids in cold-pressed camelina oil are polyunsaturated. The oil is also abundant in natural antioxidants, such as tocopherols (active in vitamin E). A highly stable oil, it's resistant to oxidation and rancidity, important for travel and trade.


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The vitamin E content of camelina oil is approximately 110 mg/100 g. It's used as a cooking oil for its almond-like flavor and aroma, and as a natural source of nutrients for humans and other animals.


To extract oil a cold-press method is used. Heat corrupts the quality and flavor of the oil. Cold-pressing or expression is the physical process of crushing the essential oil glands in the seeds to release the oil.


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Cold pressing is used for most vegetable based oils, including flax seed, canola, castor oil, and oils of sesame and sunflower seeds. The plant matter is ground to a pulp, from which the oil is squeezed out or otherwise removed.


Read: Cult of the Fire God - Bronze Age Quest Adventure


Even with basic equipment found in the landscape, the people of the Neolithic and Bronze Ages can extract quantities of oil to burn in lamps, use in cooking or keep skin supple. In lamps, vegetable based oils don't create soot as animal fat does.


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Simple curved stone oil lamps are found dating before c. 10,000 BCE. They're also created by Inuit of Canada, who traditionally use seal oil. Tending the lamp is the role of the matriarch.


The gold-of-pleasure is an ideal plant for Bronze Age cultivation. It's hardy even in poor soils and doesn't need much water. It resists insect, bacterial and fungus infestations, as well as the plant disease Alternaria brassicae. In lamps, vegetable based oils burn without soot.


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A. brassicae affects members of the mustard family including broccoli, cabbage and rapeseed (canola). The disease kills off seedlings and younger plants and, causes yellow to brown leaf spots on older plants.

In flax fields where C. sativa seeds are winnowed out, camelina proves to adapt by producing seeds similar in size to those of flax. Today it's often grown as a rotation crop or mixed crop with cereals.


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Medicinal benefits are similar to fish oils. Camelina is seen as a good vegetable-sourced alternative. It can help lower blood pressure by reducing the level of stress hormone, cortisol. In this way it also can calm anxiety.


In humans, camelina is considered to have benefits for the heart. It's thought to reduce inflammation. Like other vegetable oils camelina improves hair luster and skin health with regular use. Oils seal in moisture to help stop skin drying, especially in hot climates.


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In the ancient world Egypt is famous for the love of oils and perfumes, to scent the living and embalm the dead. Olive oils of Bronze Age Levant and Mediterranean countries are traded through the known lands. Gold of pleasure oils are most plentiful in northern Europe.


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