Lizard used to be in the Arab diet?

Muslims are forbidden to eat reptiles. However, a new study shows that people living in deserts in Saudi Arabia have "consumed" this food.

According to research co-author Herve Monchot, animal archaeologist of Sorbonne University (Paris), although historical and anthropological documents have mentioned the taste of dishes from this species, the The recent study is the first evidence to confirm the presence of lizards in the Arab diet. The reason they eat them is because they are "a very rich source of protein " Monchot said.

Just as Judaism has rules about foods that are allowed to eat, Islam also has its own laws for foods called 'halal' (allowed to eat) and 'haram' (banned or guilty if eaten. ). Animals such as snakes and lizards do not bleed when chopped, so they are considered 'haram'.

Some proverbs of the Prophet Muhammad mentioned that the Bedouin nomadic tribe ate lizard meat while Islam was growing. Although Muhammad did not eat lizard meat, he did not criticize this publicly.

The dendritic lizard named Uromastyx aegyptia.(Photo: livescience.com)

A 11th-century document by Nasir Khusraw, a Persian who used to go on ancient trading routes also recorded his companions catching lizards and eating them.

Later European travel documents also mentioned that lizard skin was used to make cigarette packs and preserved butter, as well as their meat consumed by local people.

Monchot and colleagues unearthed a desert oasis in Saudi Arabia named al-Yamama , a place once inhabited since the second century AD until the 1800s. The archaeological site was part of a mosque complex, and there are many layers of fossilized food mixed with goat bone and camel bone.

In this bone, scientists discovered 145 bone fragments of a dendritic lizard named Uromastyx aegyptia . This lizard species can reach 70cm in length and is found throughout the deserts of the Middle East. Their bones were found in places where humans had lived for a long time, and a cut on the leg bone also showed that they had been cut into knives.

The people living in the desert may have made meat and eaten these lizards for 2,000 years.

A recent study of nomadic peoples and oasis farmers in Oman also indicated that they often hunted lizards by digging into caves and taking them out or trapping nets to catch them. They also often cut their heads and legs first, thus creating cuts similar to those found in archaeological sites.

However, this does not mean that lizard meat is a popular food in Arab diets.

"It needs to be made clear that Bedouin people are still eating lizard meat while traveling in the desert because it is a source of easy-to-find proteins, but urban people don't eat them," Monchot said.