Isotopic studies show that people in ancient Syria ate mostly grains, grapes, olives and only a small amount of dairy and meat. If that sounds familiar, well it’s essentially what many scientists recommend today as the “Mediterranean diet”. And it’s widely thought to be one of the healthiest eating patterns available to us. Studying an ancient cityThe findings come from the ancient site of Tell Tweini, located in modern-day Syria. Tell Tweini is now identified as the ancient city of Gibala, which was a major harbor of the Ugaritic Kingdom. Gibala was inhabited continuously for thousands of yea…