Archaeology of Food

Catalog description

Food pervades all aspects of people's lives, from the most basic task of acquiring and consuming food to the intricate social meanings and political roles that we give to food in different social settings. Food is a requirement for life, yet it is always transformed by social meanings in specific cultural contexts. We will look at the theoretical and methodological tools that archaeologists use to study food and foodways in ancient societies from a global anthropological perspective. Together, we will explore how studying food and ancient foodways tells us more than just the methods and techniques of food acquisition, preparation, consumption, and discard, but also gives us a window into economic, symbolic, historic, and political realities of past peoples. This course will focus on the social contexts in which specific food practices occur and the social and cultural meanings that are ascribed, created, and reproduced in those contexts. Topics include why humans share food, feasting, politics, and power; food and identity; cannibalism, transitions in food systems; culture contact and exchange.