Archaeological Review from Cambridge 20.2, 2005, Issues of Food and Drink, Editor Sarah Ralph, General Editors David Barrowclough and Mary Chester-Kadwell (original) (raw)
Related papers
Food, drink and 'the Other' in the Celtiberian city-state of Segeda I (Zaragoza, Spain)
Many of the Iron Age Iberian groups along the coast of Hispania are referred to in classical texts as togati and considered peaceful citizens of civilised lifestyles. The Celtiberians of the peninsula's hinterland, on the other hand, were generally regarded as primitive barbarians before their annexation by the Roman Empire. According to this ethnocentric and simplistic classical view, what different people consumed was closely linked to who they were and whether they could be considered civilised or no t. For instance, the consumption of acorns was thought to be characteristic of barbarians, whereas wheat was considered a basic element in the diets of the civilised citizens of the Mediterranean. Similarly, wine distinguished civilised peoples from barbarians, the latter being described as eminently beer drinkers. However, archaeological research from the Celtiberian site of Segeda I (Zaragoza, Spain) is providing us with a better understanding of the nutritional patterns of th...
Until recently, archaeologists have regularly connected a particular object with a certain function and meaning—especially with regard to eating and drinking practices—and have underestimated the transformative power of intercultural encounters. In my contribution to this issue, I explore the dynamic relationship between food “stuffs” and the objects and practices connected with their consumption. Adopting a transcultural perspective, I want to focus on the changeability of the relation between food “stuffs,” objects, and practices and individual objects’ biographies of usage. I will illustrate my methodological approach with case studies from the late second millennium BCE Eastern Mediterranean where objects for food consumption were widely distributed—and have thus far been interpreted as evidence for the spread of certain practices of consumption over the whole region. By analyzing regional processes of appropriation of these objects I will shed a light on the astonishing transformations of their functions and meanings.
Feasts were integral to pre-Columbian political economies in the Andes. The large feasts of the Inca Empire, which institutionalized asymmetrical relationships between subjects and the state, are the best known, and a point of comparison for many pre-Inca societies. It is therefore unsurprising that the feasts hosted by the Wari, an expansionist state in the central highland of Peru some 700 years earlier, are often assumed to have played a similar role. In this article, we argue that there were substantial differences between early Wari and Inca practices that reflect the different objectives of their hosts. The large feasts in Inca plazas emphasized the unbridgeable gap between ruler and subjects, while early Wari hosts strove to build interpersonal relationships between households in far more intimate affairs. To better understand the nature of Wari feasting, we discuss the acquisition, preparation, consumption and disposal of roasted camelid meat and hallucinogen-laced beer that were featured at the feasts of the Wari-affiliated settlement of Quilcapampa. The differences in feasting practices may relate to profound differences between early Wari and Inca statecraft that would narrow in Wari's final century, as the state matured.
Santa María and Belén vessels from the Late Intermediate Period (10th–15th centuries AD) in Northwest Argen-tina are strongly associated to funerary uses as " urns ". However, multiple recent findings of these vessels in domestic non-funerary contexts point towards diverse utilities. In this paper we carried out an exploratory analysis and selected two case studies of Santa María vessels and one of a Belén vessel, all recovered in household floors from three sites in Catamarca, Argentina. In order to enquire into the potential culinary uses of vessels, lipid residues were extracted from the ceramic matrixes and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) analyses were carried out to explore their origins. In all three vessels lipid residues were recovered and characterized. Two samples showed evidence of plant and animal lipid mixtures, while the third sample only had animal lipids. The culinary utility of these vessels was confirmed, and uses may have included storage or service of liquids or stews. These preliminary results provide insight into an alternative interpretation of Santa María and Belén vessel use.