ARC 404 – ARCHEOLOGY OF FOOD

This upper level course explores how food has been used in archeology to address cultural phenomena. The study of the archeological record (faunal remains, botanical data, pottery analysis) has traditionally provided an indirect evidence of food consumption, while it is only through the application of biomolecular techniques that we were able to determine directly what people ate in the past. This has changed the way we have used food consumption to define past cultures and has often challenged hitherto beliefs, from the so-called ‘revolutions’ of European prehistory to the feasts of Roman times. This course will compare and contrast different methodologies for studying food consumption in the past.

Pre-requisites: A level 300 course in Archeology or permission of the instructor.