Session: #789

Session, made up of a combination of papers, max. 15 minutes each

Throughout human history, food has been – and still is – an integral part of life. In recent years, the importance of preserving knowledge about food and food practices of (sub-recent) past societies has been acknowledged not only by researchers from different fields, but also by UNESCO when food-related traditions were included in the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list. This acknowledgment of food, and the practices associated with it as intangible heritage, forms part of the acknowledgment that the study of food is a proper research field in its own right.When studying past food and alimentary practices, archaeologists consult and apply a range of methodologies from different disciplines, including but not limited to anthropology, biology, chemistry, history and physics. The fact that past food practices can be studied from a multitude of different disciplines, be it from the humanities, social sciences or natural sciences, may have a negative effect on the integration of research results.
This session focuses on bringing together research on past food practices, comprising of production, storage, procurement, preparation, consumption and deposition from studies examining evidence from across the globe. This session aims to encompass multiple different bioarchaeological methods, focussing on archaeobotany, zooarchaeology and the consumption of animals. We encourage papers showcasing results that show promising
findings for other specialists to incorporate in their own research projects.

Archaeology, Food, Archaeobotany, Zooarchaeology, Multidisciplinary

yes

no

yes

MA Merit Hondelink (Netherlands) ¹

Dr. Sarah Delaney (United Kingdom) ²
Louis Champion (France) ^3,4,5
Dr. Anne Mayor (Switzerland) ^6,7
Dr. Julien Vieugue (France) ⁸