Archaeological ceramics are a rich source of ancient biomolecules and their analysis provides valuable information with regard to ancient diet. Traditionally, biomolecular analyses on archaeological ceramics have focused on lipid analysis, with milk, ruminant and non-ruminant adipose fats, plant resins, as well as both marine fish and marine mammals among the resources successfully identified. However, lipidomic analyses can underestimate the presence of lipid-poor resources (e.g. cereals and grains) and are usually less specific at tissue and taxonomic levels. Proteomic analysis can be complementary, allowing for the identification of a greater variety of resources and with increased specificity. Here, we analyse eight ceramic sherds from Tell Khaiber, a Sealand Dynasty (mid-2nd millennium BCE) settlement in modern day southern Iraq, using LC-MS/MS based shotgun proteomics. Our results provide the first proteomic evidence of soybeans from archaeological ceramics and confirmation of the early appearance of soybean products in the Middle East by the mid-second millennium BCE.

考古陶瓷是古代生物分子的丰富来源，它们的分析提供了有关古代饮食的宝贵信息。传统上，考古陶瓷的生物分子分析侧重于脂质分析，成功鉴定的资源包括牛奶、反刍动物和非反刍动物脂肪、植物树脂以及海洋鱼类和海洋哺乳动物。然而，脂质组学分析可能会低估脂质贫乏资源（例如谷物和谷物）的存在，并且通常在组织和分类水平上缺乏特异性。蛋白质组学分析可以是互补的，允许识别更多种类的资源并具有更高的特异性。在这里，我们分析了来自现代伊拉克南部西兰王朝（公元前 2 千年中期）定居点 Tell Khaiber 的八块陶瓷碎片，使用基于 LC-MS/MS 的鸟枪蛋白质组学。我们的结果提供了考古陶瓷中大豆的第一个蛋白质组学证据，并证实了到公元前 2000 年中叶，中东地区豆制品的早期出现。