Tastes of Home: Food Cultures of Roman Britain Auxiliary Soldiers

Summary

This study addresses the influences that culture and ethnicity have on dietary patterns, specifically looking at the variances in food culture amongst the myriad of ethnicities comprising the ranks of the Roman Britain auxiliary troops. The following research correlates ethnic identity with food culture by analysing the variances in archaeological food remains from 15 Roman forts garrisoned by auxiliary troops and comparing these variances to other published archaeological work from throughout the Roman Empire. Faunal data is represented by the Number of Individual Specimens Present (NISP), Minimum Number of Individuals (MNI), and distinguishable butchery patterns. Floral data is represented by varying frequencies of species in the macrofossil plant record. Statistical and graphical representations of both the floral and faunal data test the significance and strength of the outliers and patterns. The results demonstrate statistically significant variations in the faunal data, along with unique patterns in the floral data, suggesting a direct correlation to the cultural regions from which the soldiers originated. This research ultimately demonstrates how the international identities of the Roman Britain auxiliary soldiers are represented through their food consumption patterns in the archaeological record, adding to contemporary food studies of dietary relations to culture and identity.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 20158