Remnants of curry dating back 1,800 years found on stone tools in Southeast Asia is oldest outside India

International team examines ancient stone tools in Vietnam and finds clues to ancient spice trade, including cinnamon from Sri Lanka and nutmeg from Indonesia

‘Curries were most likely introduced to Southeast Asia by migrants during the period of early trade contact via the Indian Ocean’: paper

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The story of curry’s migration from South Asia to Southeast Asia reveals much about the ancient spice trade, say researchers who have analysed 1,800-year-old stone tools in Vietnam. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 7:00am, 29 Jul 2023

An international team has uncovered the oldest evidence of curry outside India and shown the historical significance of the journey its spice ingredients took to get there.

The dish – known for its earthy, spicy taste, originally from South Asia and now popular around the globe – was probably brought to the Vietnamese table more than 1,800 years ago thanks to maritime trade networks, researchers from Australia, Vietnam and China have found.

By analysing stone grinding tools unearthed at an archaeological site in southern Vietnam, they detected traces of turmeric, ginger, clove, nutmeg and cinnamon, among other spices that remain key ingredients of today’s curry recipes, the team reported in Science Advances last week.

“Our study suggests that curries were most likely introduced to Southeast Asia by migrants during the period of early trade contact via the Indian Ocean,” said the study’s first author, Weiwei Wang, a PhD candidate at the Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra.

“Given these spices originated from various different locations, it’s clear people were undertaking long-distance journeys for trade purposes,” Wang said in a statement on the university’s website on Saturday.