“People do not eat species, they eat meals” (Sherratt 1991).The consumption of food in the past from both nutritional and social perspectives, indicating by the use of selected examples how they might be recognised archaeologically.
The preparation and consumption of food plays an important role, not only in providing sustenance but has significant cultural significance. It is, however, the cooking of food which may be seen as a skill unique to humans. Food, in the form of meals, can provide social cohesion as well as sustenance and can define membership and social status within social groups and communities. As Fernandez-Armesto (2001:5) states the process of food preparation “is not just a way of preparing food but of organizing society around communal meals [it is] more constructive of social ties than mere eating together”. The meal became an important symbol of creating social interactions and the reinforcing of social values such asocial relations, social groupings and reciprocity rather than simply the fulfilling nutritional needs (Wright 2000:89). As Gumerman (1997: 124) states “The medial is actively involved in creating, establishing and maintaining social relations[and its variables]are imbued with symbolism that structures social behaviour,” hence the construction of meals does not merely construct the human body but also is actively involved with the construction and definition of human relationships. Eating is an inherently social act and there are variations of consumption such as the deliberate nonconsumption of particular types of food for example vegetarianism, which can indicate membership of certain social and economic groups and separation them from others. The complexity of a society is mirrored in the complexity of its food whose culinary rules of preparation and consumption “are socially patterned” (Gumerman1997:105:108).
Subsistence is the most vital of all necessities hence the quest for food the most vital of human activities. The study of food is archaeologically well developed and documented and is investigated by the finding and analysis of waste products from food preparation of both animal and plant. Much of the data referencing early subsistence of humans concerns consumption remains. An investigation of the use of animals within human society and the use of plants indicates the process of domestication. In addition there are significant archaeological research developments in the study of human remains, especially human bones to give the indications concerning the variabilities of diet and the subsistence of people at any particular time. Meals imply specific consumption at a particular instance, while diet indicates a pattern of consumption over time (Renfrew 2006: 275). The sources of information for meals include the remains of foodstuffs, representations in art and written records. The remains of food can be found from environmental investigation for instance from charred grains and residues in cooking receptacles and ovens, traces of animals in human stomachs and fecal remains. Vegetable remains rarely survive well as diet indicators, likewise neither do fish bones (Renfrew 2006: 275). Archaeologists are developing the tools to interpret biochemical investigations and to analyse the nutritional value of the subsistence and diets of past people, how they exploited the resources available to them and the nutritional value of such exploitation and the beneficial effect of such utilisation on the people’s health.
Isotopic Analysis
Much of the archaeological investigation and information on diet focuses on isotopic analysis which is an important source of data in the reconstruction of prehistoric diets. The technique involves the ratio analysis of the main isotopes which are preserved in the human bones. There are also traces of food indicators within the teeth and hair. Each food leaves it particular chemical signature in the skeletal remains and these traces are able to distinguish between the balance of terrestrial and marine food and also indicate the social differentiation within a society. The analysis of carbon 13 ratio differentiates people who had different quantities of c3 and c4 plants in their diets for example it can tell who had a maze dominated diet, as maize leaves have a different chemical signature in the bone collagen. Nitrogen isotopes can reveal the consumption of marine and freshwater resources as marine resources have higher n15ratios. While the analysis of bones is the usual technique to detect isotopic ratios the fortunate and rare archaeological hair preservations renders unique opportunity for a different sort of archaeological investigation which can shed light on the seasonality of the paleodiet. As Knudson et al (2007: 452) states, although it is necessary to have an archaeological site of “exceptional preservation,” the investigation of seasonal trends in paleodiet through the analysis of human hair is becoming a more utilised practice. Knudson looks at skeletal assemblages of human bones from the Chiribaya polity in southern Peru Pacific Ocean , were subjected to analysis. The carbon nitrogen isotopic evidence of the hair indicates there are seasonal differences in the nutrition obtained from a diet and that not all people were affected to the same extent by these variations of diet. Individuals buried at Chiribaya Alta demonstrated seasonal variability in their paleodiet of C4 plants such as maize and of marine products. Knudson (2007:453) holds that these variables might be the result of greater access to resources from diverse ecological zones or that Chiribaya Alta could be a burial site for those beyond its own inhabitants. At the El Yard site individuals display homogeneity of consumption during the period before death, however, there is one individual, who was shown to have consumed large quantities of marine products the few months before his death, despite being buried in an inland grave site, where most people demonstrated consumption of a terrestrial paleodiet. This individual could have secured paleodietry diversity and advantage by possessing a higher social status and therefore availability of a greater range of resources. the result exhibited in this paper demonstrate the importance of archaeological investigation of analysis beyond that of bones and teeth extending to hair follicles because this gives sociological insight beyond the bounds of bones and teeth analysis when examining the human skeletal assemblage.
The food which a person consumes is to a large extent dictated by social, religious, ethnic, economic, age and gender groups to which they belong because of variables of ideological, political, social and economic factors. Not merely the consumption but the entire food chain process from planting to production, to preparation, to distribution and to discardation is implicit in the process of the food system. Food systems are tightly intertwined with all aspects of complex societies and food helps to define, maintain, solidify and strengthen, and at times used to work against, these social differentiation .(Gumerman1997)
Teeth
The study of the effects that some food materials have on the surface of teeth can provide insights about the types of foods which were consumed by and therefore available to a particular group of people. Molleson et al. (1993:455) examined microwear features found on molar teeth. Samples were taken from various “cultural horizons at Abu-Hureyra” a site in Northern Syria . Molleson (1994: 63) holds that the skeleton assemblages of Abu-Hureyra exhibited a large numbers of fractured teeth indicating a probable absence of sieves in the preparation of grain. Huge difficulties of processing cereal grains mean that people only become largely dependent on grains as a last resort. Increases in ground stone tools across the epipaleaolithic demonstrate the intensified use of these resources.
The Emergent Cooking
Investigating the origins of cooking, Wright (2004:33) finds a lack of systematic study by prehistorians and unanswered questions as to the emergence of cooking and its effects on human evolution. She points to the uncertainty of when Homo erectus fire control began for despite excavations revealing fire patches at Lower Palaeolithic sites in Britain, China and Hungary these cannot the definitively linked to human activation however, “unambiguous five features” first appeared in the Middle Palaeolithic connected with Homo sapiens, the evidential archaeological features being fire pits or flat fire places and occasionally pit hearths with stoned borders or rims potentially utilised for the blocking of drafts and for supporting items being heated or for heating stones to be transferred for heating containers or even pushing inside whole animals.
Distribution
Food distribution may occur through a market system of administrative and bureaucratic offices and its consumption involves both the quality and quantity of the food and its diversity but also exists within a social context dependent of the roles and status of the consumers. As Ross (1987:8) states variations in diet “characterises societies that are internally stratified into rich and poor, sick and healthy, developed an underdeveloped, overfed and undernourished.” In a complex society food production and preparation can occur outside the household and be distributed to individuals or to groups (Gumerman1997: 1057).Food distribution in complex societies indicated differentiation of allocation between elite and commoners. For instance in coastal Peru while the elite have access to costly resources such as cocoa, peppers chillies and llama, commoners utilise opportunist resources such as shellfish and wild plants (Gumerman1997:123).Gender relations may also affect the distribution of food as for instance for local population state employees who benefited from increased consumption of maize including maize beer (Gumerman1997:118)
Consumption of wine and oil in Bronze Age Crete .
A pertinent case study for the importance of food beyond the mere satisfaction of biological needs is the consumption of wine and oil in Bronze Age Crete. Hamilakis (1999:38) stresses that feasting and drinking transmute the symbols of material wealth into power. Olive oil production is expensive in terms of labour, risk and time, for instance the Olive tree bears a crop only every two years, and therefore was a practice of the elite and its consumption a sign of their wealth. Likewise the production of wine is an extremely expensive labour-intensive process. However, as Hamilakis (1999:44) points out that the grape-vine production, wine, has to be seen in terms of its psychoactive-social effects resulting from its intoxicating properties.” In ancient Egypt Egypt Crete . A large number of drinking cups discovered indicating ritualised consumption. The importance of olive oil is shown by a distinct pot type for its containment in the late Bronze Age and the suggestion of its undisputed use by the Linear B.tablets. As Hamilakis holds Wine and perfumed oil would have played key roles in this social process of consumption in the arena of political and social interaction in Bronze Age Minoan Crete.
Hall(1986: 83-87)held that in agropastoral societies in South Africa cattle were used as objects of significance enabling social relations and relations of power between households that served to counterbalance the risks of their economic system .
Aztecs
Food can also figure prominently as symbolism in a society, as for instance maize for the Mesoamerican civilisations. The Aztecs had a number of deities, assigned to the devotion of maize and its growth, for example Centeotl which means “Corn God”, and Chicomecoatl (Smith 2003: 62) .Maize exists in a variety of types, as well as being a high-quality calorific staple and also a source of protein, which compensated for the lack of faunal protein available to dense Aztec populations. The maize seeds were addressed before planting and consumption as part of religious ritual that survives as folk rituals to this day. The symbolism assigned to the generation of maize, permeated throughout Aztec cosmology. Desirable human traits in Aztec society were associated with maize, for example, a person who had achieved honour was compared with reaching “the season of the green maize ear” (Smith 2003: 62).Another important food which the Aztec used as a veneration to deity was the amaranth plant. The seeds were ground on a grinding stone as corn and were shaped into small dough figures of gods and consumed during ritual occasions. The maguey plant was an important source of nutrition for the Aztec as its sap was made into their only alcoholic beverage consigned with its own patron deities.
Archaeological finds indicating the consumption of meat is rare and compares sharply with the civilisations of the Old World where animal domesticates were an integral part of their economy and subsistence. The Aztec plant resources such as maize therefore substituted for the lack of animal protein and the lack of milkable ungulates had to be substituted by maize or other crops such as beans. The Aztecs hunted wild game and fished and archaeological finds include bones of fish, rabbits, deer, iguana, turkey, dog and other animals (Smith 2003: 63). The Aztecs also, according to ethnohistory, consumed insects such as grasshoppers, ants, jumil bugs and maguey worms which were widely available, tasty and high in protein. Blue green alga, possessing high protein content grew abundantly and was gathered from the surface of the lakes with fine nets. A reconstruction of the Aztec diet indicates that it was nutritionally adequate contrary to much speculation of severe protein deficiency in the Aztec diet. However, there were periods when harvests failed and hence nutritional deprivation occurred. Clearly the diet of the commoners rather than the elites would have been most vulnerable to this circumstance (Smith 2003 60-63).
Gender and Social Organisation
An important aspect from which to study gender from the archaeological record is the tradition of cooking and the spaces occupied for both the preparation and consumption of food. Cooking is an important social process which plays an important role in many cultural contexts, Fernandez-Armesto (2001:5) points out that it is “not just a way of preparing food but of organizing society around communal meals.” It is important to examine features from the archaeological record to attempt to establish whether there is a potential relationship between food preparation and engendered social relations. According to Wright (2000:89) meals are highly significant in “social life, structuring daily social intercourse and reinforcing cultural values.” In her study of dining and cooking as social customs in early villages of Western Asia she studies a broad range of artefacts including ground stone artefacts, cachets, hearths, benches, platforms bins, pits and activity areas and their spatial analysis. Wright looked at the potential relationship between food preparation and engendered social relations and held that with the emergence of the production of food there were changes within the division of labour whereby adult females took the burden of the increased labour. Wright(2000: 116,117) holds that if women in the early and middle the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B were in charge of the activities of milling food preparation and storage then they would have been engaged in “an open social setting” because these activities were generally conducted near the house entrances. However, in the late PPNB when villages grew in size individual households had more control in privately centred preparation and storage and therefore “worked in relatively cloistered settings”
Çatalhöyük provides interesting insights into the social roles that both sexes took as an early agricultural society, and this site is of particular significance as it is “the largest known Neolithic settlement” (Hodder, 2005:35). One of the questions that Hodder (2005) seeks to address is that of the social differentiation between women and men with regards to access to food. Two sources of data come from the bones and teeth of the people who had lived at this site. Through the study of the isotope ratios in female and male bones it was determined that there was no significant difference between the two sexes. Similarly although it was found that women’s teeth had greater numbers of cavities, there was no greater wear than those of men. Hodder maintains that these two forms of evidence indicate that there was no gender inequity and therefore no social differentiation in relation to access to meat resources.
Abu Hureyra
The site of Abu Hureyra in Syria Euphrates Valley
Damage that grinding grain caused to different skeletal elements. An analysis of the data in the skeletal bones of mature females showed injury to knee, hip and ankle joints leading to arthritis and also toe and back injuries which indicated the process of grinding by hours of rocking backwards and forwards in a kneeling position, with its strain on knees and toes, pressure on hips, especially the lower back, while in the process of grinding seeds on saddle querns. Among other entreats the movement of grinding subjects the femurs to extensive bending stresses developing distinct buttress along the back countering the bending movements from the hip and knee during the swing. the need takes pressure from the pivot of the body thus enlarging the joint surfaces one defeat are also subjected to way too weighty pressures while the toes are enlarged and cartridged while in some cases gross osteoarthritis is caused .Molleson suggests that this is a clear indication of that there was a gendered differentiation in the procurement of food a in these early Neolithic people and that the men in Abu Hureyra hunted would have hunted, and with the transition towards agriculture, cultivated food plants, while women took the role of preparing grain, a task a great labour which consumed many and out of the day leading to need back and to injuries.
Molleson suggests that this does not imply and inequality between the sexes at this stage of human development, just differentiation in human activities.
Another example of the male-female pattern of the physical workload is the study by Miller (1984: 210) who holds that investigation of skeletal assemblages from the American Southwest, in Chavez Pass found that the elbow joints of female adults demonstrated degenerative joint disease which was attributed to “high stress loading on the auricular cartilage of the elbow joint [from] grinding with the mano and metate.”
La Florida
An important source of data can come from skeletal remains. Larsen (2005:99) explores the change in diet of Native Americans which came as a result of their interactions with Europeans in the fifteenth century. There is a variety of evidence to suggest what types of foods were consumed at this site. An important source of information comes from the reports of Europeans and priests whilst another comes from food remains. Through an analysis of the various isotopes found in the bones it could be established what food types were consumed before and after the arrival of Europeans to La Florida
The excavated wrought iron frame with from the second richer tomb of the Welwyn Gardens
Cannibalism
Cannibalism in the American Southwest.
Cannibalism, accounts of the consumption of human flesh by others, is rooted in superstition and ritual and has been regarded with both abhorrence and curiosity for many centuries. Accounts of cannibalism were relayed by European explorers to the New World and narrations of cannibals go back as far as those of Odysseus. Recent archaeological investigation has reignited fresh interest in this subject which is the ultimate to blue of Western civilisation. Billman (2000: 145) holds that “The existence of cannibalism has emerged as one of the most controversial issues in the archaeology of the American Southwest,” while White (1992: 52) states that “The best indication of prehistoric cannibalism now comes from the archaeological records of the American Southwest.” Skeletal assemblages of human bones with skull fractures, cut marks, burning and precaution breakages similar to assemblages of animals slaughtered for food, indicate cannibalistic signatures.
Assemblage of human remains from bone deposits with burning, cut marks skull fractures, and precaution breakages showing signs of violent deaths and similar to the bone assemblages of Hurlbut (2000: 6) holds that such fragmented signatured assemblages are signs of mutilation and violence not made in warfare but indicate “precaution breakage.”
In 1999 Turner et al published “Man Corn” a study of cannibalism in the prehistoric Southwest American the Four Corners area of Colorado
Turner held that the charnel deposits of cannibalize assemblages are distinguished from those receiving ritual mortuary practices, nor do they have associated grave goods (p 49).
There is oral tradition to support the past existence of cannibalism violence and mutilation in the “legendary massacre area of Atwatovi” in a pueblo but this does not include an account of the eating of human flesh, however, because of the nature of the acts of violence including broken skulls and bones, Turner (1999: 71, 72) maintains this to be supportive of and indicative to the existence of cannibalism in Southwestern America. The charnel deposits exhibited signs of burning and roasting prior to the flesh being removed while fragments of bone splinters had a polishing, an indication of cooking in ceramic vessels. Bones had also been cracked open for nutritious marrow removal. Turner (1999: 482, 468) maintains that the elite of Chaco Canyon
Cannibalism in Aztec society
Ceremonial cannibalism was practised in Aztec society as part of a religious symbolic belief system. The Aztecs held that human sacrifice was an indispensable element for the continuance of the universe. The sacrificial victim was considered to become divine and hence those who consumed the flesh of a victim was consuming part of a sacred being, and therefore as Berdan(2005:123)holds human sacrifice and cannibalism were in complete harmony with their belief systems. As Duran (1971c1570, 1579: 191) states, “The flesh of all those who died in sacrifice was held truly to be consecrated and blessed. It was eaten with reverence, ritual and fastidiousness, as if it was something from heaven.” The archaeological evidence for the practice of cannibalism in Aztec society is seen in the excavations by Vaillant (1941: 63) in his excavations at Athezcapotzalco where he found in a pit where dishes and clay idols had been thrown after a great festive feast, a large yellow and red bowl containing the remnants of the hips and upper legs of a human being, “the most succulent portions for festive consumption.” Smith (2003: 218, 219) states the act of cannibalism was not of nutritional but sacred significance, a hallowed act and part of the religious ritual of sacrifice. The sacrificial victim was seen “as a symbolic kin relation of his captor and this act of cannibalism was a sacred part of the whole ritual of sacrifice.” The Aztecs act of eating human flesh was also done to close relatives with the purpose of honouring them and also incorporating their essence into their living relatives and hence, according to Smith (2003: 311), is an “ethnographic reality [which] contrasts sharply with the popular image of antagonistic cannibalism.”
Feasts
While faunal analysis can tell of the average food consumption over several years or a whole lifetime, specific consumption events such as feasts and ritual eating patterns of extreme importance in articulating social relations can in archaeological analysis can be distinguished and separated from the usual dining pattern of daily meals. As Wright (2004: 33) states, “Dining turned culture (food) into social life (meals), whereas cuisine changes meals into feasts, social life into a hierarchy.” Feasts may involve the feeding of many guests and the portions and types of food served redefine the status of the guest whether among commoners or elites. Gumerman (1997: 122, 123) holds that feasts are used as “communicative events meant for display and interaction” with the signifiers being variables of type and quality of food and the makeup and number of the guests, and its relevance and significant the maintenance and development of social and kin networks.
Aztec Feasts
In AD 1500 the Aztecs Empire was a sophisticated civilisation which had achieved the pinnacle of its cultural development with flourishing urban traditions and the burgeoning economic prosperity which benefited all classes but whose economy depended upon the toil of peasant field labour. The economic and political success which had brought peace and order to central Mexico was supported by a structure of powerful state religion and a system of Imperial tribute the acquisition of which tributes included foodstuffs (Smith 2003:157). Enough tribute was delivered each day to feed 2000 people with salts, tortillas, maize, chillies, cacao, squashes, beans and tomatoes (Berdan1982: 39)
Other displays of conspicuous consumption concerned status demonstrations within Aztec society .merchants who made a fortune would give a lavish feast or banquet for other principal merchants and lords both to add to his reputation and as a thanksgiving to the gods. These feasts were accompanied by offerings of flowers and in the sense and the banquet might last for three days. The food would consist of about a hundred chickens and 40 dogs served with maize, tomatoes, cacao, chilli and salt. Gifts of blankets and flowers will be distributed to the departing guests (Sahagun c 1569) (Fernández-Armesto2001:146). According to Berdan (2005: 38) such feasts were displays of generosity and wealth and an important means by which merchants could accumulate high esteem and power
Conclusion
As Wright (2004: 33) states “Cooking and dining, together with the ability to create and use symbols, distinguish human beings from other creatures.” Food is consumed in many different symbolic and social contexts and transcends the nutritional function of consumption.
Food customs are important in the many variables of social negotiation and power both in individual and group interaction. Food is essential to human functioning and existence but also can symbolise social identity and social status and can reinforce political and social authority of the elite. Eating is an inherently social act and there are variations of consumption which can indicate membership of certain social and economic groups and separation from others.
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