Content:
Studies on ancient diet and cooking practices are well developed and help shedding light on various aspects of social and daily past life. Some issues are still to be unraveled in the scholarly debate: to overcome regional and chronological specialisations; to reach a broader perspective; to discern the resources used in food preparation and the use of food-related tools. Additionally, there is an increasing need for the examination of resources as salt, milk, products derived from cereals and legumes, dairy products, natural sweeteners, and other minor ingredients. With this session we aim at bringing together researchers working on different areas and periods, to share methods, contextual and diachronic perspectives, artifacts’ studies, including pottery typology and technology, use of tools, petrographic and residue analysis, as well as experimental activities, actual recipes, and palaeobiological dataset.
We intend to: examine the material characteristics of artefacts, structures, and facilities for food production; uncover the tools employed in the creation of food products; explore the allocation of settlement areas for food production and the production itself. The extensive chronological and geographical scope considered allows us to elucidate how these practices change in tandem with economic and social structures from the Neolithic to the Iron Age. Methodologically, we will adopt a multidisciplinary approach, welcoming contributions in archaeology, archaeometry, functional analysis (use-wear and residue), experimental archaeology, and ethnographic comparison.
The session is the output of the collaboration of two research groups: Elisa Dalla Longa (CNR-ISPC, IT), Alberta Arena (OeAI, AT), Florencia Inés Debandi (DISCI-UniBO, IT), Juan Francisco Gibaja (IMF-CSIC, ES), Giulio Lucarini (CNR-ISPC, IT); and Emanuela Alberti (SAGAS-UniFI, IT), Bartłomiej Lis (IAEPAN, PL), Jerolyn Morrison (Baylor University, US), Evgenia Tsafou (AEGIS Group, UC-Louvain, BE).
According to the number of participants and the themes of the presented papers, the session may be subdivided into distinct sub-sessions.
Keywords:
Food production, Ancient diet, Food resources management, Food-related tools, Food-related structures
Affiliations:
1. CNR-ISPC (Institute of Heritage Science - National Research Council of Italy)
2. SAGAS Department, University of Florence
3. Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften / Österreichisches Archäologisches Institut
4. Université catholique de Louvain