Investigating Diet And Foodways In Post-medieval Ireland Using Organic Residue Analysis

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "FoodCult: Food, Culture and Identity in Ireland, c.1550-1650", at the 2023 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Organic residue analysis is commonly used to investigate prehistoric vessels to determine diet and animal management strategies worldwide. The technique allows the differentiation between various foodstuffs, including non-ruminant and ruminant carcass fats, dairy, aquatic and plant products. However, it is less commonly used to explore historic period foodways and has never before been attempted on post-medieval pottery.

Here, we carried out a large-scale study of absorbed lipid residues from 165 vessels selected from a range of different sites across Ireland, including Carrickmines Castle, Merchant’s Road, Galway, Killegland, Naus and Dunboy, Cork. Preliminary results confirm a dominance of ruminant meat (cattle, sheep and goat) cooking in vessels, with dairying only taking place in meaningful quantities at Carrickmines Castle. Lipid analysis of different vessel forms from both local and imported wares is also beginning to yield tantalising results.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2023   •
• FoodCult: Food, Culture and Identity in Ireland, c.1550-1650

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Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow