A Turkish field kitchen has been found on the Gallipoli battlefield, raising the question as to whether Australian soldiers on a diet of tinned bully beef were tormented by the smells of Turkish food wafting across the lines.
University of Melbourne archaeologist Tony Sagona says researchers have found what can best be described as an Ottoman kitchen with an oven at the site, showing Turkish troops sourced fresh food, most likely from outside the battle area, and cooked it locally.
In contrast, allied soldiers were eating mostly processed food, with a large number of old bully beef tins and jam jars on their side of the lines and none at all on the Turkish side.
Professor Sagona said no remains of Turkish food items had been found, although reports from Turkish archives indicate soup was on the menu.
But food smells would have reached allied soldiers, who often complained of the tedium of their diet.
''I guess it would depend on which way the wind was blowing,'' the professor said.
Historian Richard Reid said the Anzacs would certainly have been aware of curries cooked by Indian troops down in Mule Valley.
''Up on the heights at Russell's Top they could smell that and they went down. The light horsemen are recorded as having eaten chapatis and curry with the Indian troops,'' Dr Reid said.
''Whether they smelt the Turkish cooking coming from the other side, I can't say.''
Veterans Affairs Minister Warren Snowdon said a significant find this fieldwork season was an area known as Malone's Terraces, named after New Zealand Lieutenant-Colonel William Malone, whose men relieved Australian troops at the vital Quinn's Post in June 1915.
No area of the line was closer to Turkish trenches and a breakthrough would have imperilled the entire Anzac operation.
It was tenaciously defended and Colonel Malone's contribution was to construct the terrace area as accommodation for his men.
Like much of Quinn's Post, this was believed lost through almost a century of erosion.
Dr Reid said this was an exciting find as even Turkish experts believed they had long gone.
''This was the most critical part of the allied line. That's where the Ottoman army and the Anzacs faced each other across 10m of no-man's land. If either side had broken through, that would have been the end of the campaign,'' he said.
Mr Snowdon said the team also discovered several bones, which were reburied where found and reported to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, in accordance with procedures.
''We don't know if any of these bones were from the First World War era,'' he said.
This was the second round of the joint Australian, New Zealand and Turkish field investigation at Gallipoli, surveying trench lines in thickly vegetated areas and uncovering a variety of artifacts including three bullet-holed water bottles.
.gif)
