The Archaeology of Food and Foodways: Emerging Trends and New Perspectives
Part of: Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)
This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "The Archaeology of Food and Foodways: Emerging Trends and New Perspectives" at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.
This electronic symposium presents a cross-section of emerging trends and new perspectives on the archaeology of food and foodways. Ancient food studies comprise a field of inquiry that touches on all specializations in archaeology, including artifacts, biochemical and microbotanical residue analysis, archaeobotany, zooarchaeology, isotope analysis, studies of features and activity areas, experimental archaeology, and ethnographic research. Significant advances in environmental archaeology and archaeological science have enabled us to view and study human relationships with food in more depth and detail than ever before. Meanwhile, novel interpretive approaches have rendered new foodways visible and changed our understandings of food, a substance deeply imbued with cultural, economic, spiritual, and political significance. Scaffolding from this work, scholars and culinary specialists alike have applied archaeological findings to such domains as public policy (e.g., agricultural sustainability), culinary arts (e.g., the revitalization of food traditions), and dietary regimes (e.g., the decolonization of diets). In this symposium, we explore diverse perspectives on ancient foodways, from a number of geographical regions, material analyses, and interpretive approaches.
Other Keywords
Subsistence and Foodways •
Paleoethnobotany •
Neolithic •
Ceramics •
Zooarchaeology •
Experimental Archaeology •
Millet •
Woodland •
Bronze Age •
Medieval
Geographic Keywords
Japan (Country) •
Democratic People's Republic of Korea (Country) •
Republic of Korea (Country) •
North America (Continent) •
Kyrgyz Republic (Country) •
Asia (Continent) •
Mongolia (Country) •
Republic of India (Country) •
People's Republic of Bangladesh (Country) •
Union of Myanmar (Country)
Resources Inside This Collection (Viewing 1-7 of 7)
- Documents (7)
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Exploring Plant Exploitation and Food Practices in the Loess Plateau, China: A Comparative Microbotanical Analysis in Urban and Rural Settings during the Late Neolithic Period (2024)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "The Archaeology of Food and Foodways: Emerging Trends and New Perspectives" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. During the late Neolithic period in the Yellow River region (ca. 5000–4000 cal BP), a significant wave of urbanization unfolded, marked by the rapid development of settlement hierarchies, social stratification, and interregional interactions, which laid the foundation for the emergence of early state-level...
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From Terrace to Tray: Agriculture and Foodways at a Thirteenth-Century Alqueria (2024)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "The Archaeology of Food and Foodways: Emerging Trends and New Perspectives" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The preparation of a meal begins with the acquisition of ingredients—and for much of our human past, this has meant growing or gathering. Thus, food production through farming is a natural starting point for investigating foodways, especially for communities that are self-sufficient or have limited access to...
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Grain Size Variation and Culinary Traditions: Insights into Prehistoric Food Globalization in Eurasia (2024)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "The Archaeology of Food and Foodways: Emerging Trends and New Perspectives" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Over the past 15 years, research into prehistoric food globalization has shed light on the timelines, routes, and tempos of crop diffusion across the Old World. This diffusion not only involved the spread of plants but also the reproduction and transformation of cultures, technologies, and ideologies associated...
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Materialities of Boiling and Steaming: SEM Microscopic and Experimental archaeological Study on East and Southeast Asian Cooking Technologies (2024)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "The Archaeology of Food and Foodways: Emerging Trends and New Perspectives" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Archaeological and ethnographic data indicates that East and Southeast Asian cuisines have long been characterized by diverse boiling and steaming repertoires and techniques. These practices and resulting flavors and texture of foods are imbued with rich sociocultural meanings. This paper explores charred food...
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On Taro, Tridacna, and Turtles: Using a Multiproxy Method to Explore Food, Fishing, and Agriculture on Pingelap, a Micronesian Atoll (2024)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "The Archaeology of Food and Foodways: Emerging Trends and New Perspectives" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Pingelap Atoll, located in Pohnpei State, Federated States of Micronesia, has been home to humans for approximately 1,700 years. At 1.8 km2 and 70 km from its nearest island neighbor, food procurement has traditionally relied on marine fishing and hunting as well as intensive management of the coral island...
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Prehistoric Millet Cuisine: Diversity across Eurasia (2024)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "The Archaeology of Food and Foodways: Emerging Trends and New Perspectives" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum) was first domesticated in northern China and spread both to east and to west during the mid-Holocene. Recent developments in biomolecular analytical techniques have enabled archaeologists to investigate prehistoric millet cuisines by examining the organic residues absorbed by...
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Rekindling Ancestral Choctaw Cuisine: A Collaborative Application of Archaeology for Community Consumption (2024)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "The Archaeology of Food and Foodways: Emerging Trends and New Perspectives" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Pine Hills of Mississippi is an understudied research area in archaeology with even less work done in collaboration with Indigenous descendant communities (both resident and removed). The current project was undertaken in collaboration with the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma to better understand earth-oven...