The grand Mycenaens, the first Greeks, who inspired the legends of the Trojan Wars, The Iliad and The Odyssey, used portable grills to cook meat during their picnics, more than 3000 years ago.
This civilization, which thrived around 1700 BC, has abruptly declined around 1200 BC.
The Mycenaeans left behind amazing palaces and gold-littered tombs at sites like Pylos and Mycenae, but in these places, archaeologists also have found less glamorous artifacts, such as souvlaki trays and griddles made from gritty clays.
The souvlaki trays were rectangular ceramic pans that sat underneath skewers of meat.
Archaeologists are not sure whether these trays would have been placed directly over a fire, catching fat drippings from the meat, or if the pans would have held hot coals like a portable barbeque pit.
The round griddles, had one smooth side and one side covered with tiny holes, which would have been facing up during cooking.
They found that the souvlaki trays were too thick to transfer heat when placed over a fire pit, resulting in a pretty raw meal and placing the coals inside the tray was a much more effective cooking method or to keep the cooked meat hot to serve.
As for the griddles, bread was more likely to stick when it was cooked on the smooth side of the pan. The holes, however, seemed to be an ancient non-sticking technology, ensuring that oil spread quite evenly over the griddle.