diet & subsistence

Foodways

the cultural, social, and economic practices related to the production, distribution, preparation, and consumption of food

• Ingredients used

• Cooking techniques

• Dining rituals/traditions

• Social meanings of food

Reconstructing food ways help us understand diets/nutrition, social organization, trade networks, & technological innovations

Material remains

botanical & faunal remains, pottery, cooking, tools, and hearths

Spatial patterns

the clustered, uniform, or random arrangement of phenomena (points, lines, areas) across geographical space

Botanical remains

seeds, pollen, phytoliths, etc.

Faunal remains

animal bones, shells, fish scales, etc.

Substance residue

food left on pottery, plant material left behind, etc. in human remains

Features

hearths, storage pits, etc. where food is prepared, eaten, or disposed

Stable Isotope Analysis of Humans

1. the ratio of Carbon-12 & 13 is constant in earth’s atmosphere. During photosynthesis, plants alter this balance and the soil reflects this change. AKA you can determine the environment because of what plants were there.

• In other words, if you can determine the ratio of 12C to 13C that is stored in an animal's bones, you can figure out what the environment of the plants was like. 

• “You are what you eat”

Coprolite analysis

coprolites have remains of animal human remains. Analyzing them can help you determine what foods the humans ate and what animals lived in the human waste. The majority of the recognizable remains consist of partly/non-digested food

Residue Analysis

1. the residue of food on tools, pottery, etc. Traces of food can be absorbed into the clay or stone. This includes burned food, plant/animal remains, chemical compounds, and organic compounds.Methods include:

• Liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry

• Gas chromatography/mass spectrometry

• Stable isotope analysis

Zooarchaeology

1. the study of animal bones. Focuses on subsistence, hunting strategies, environmental change, and domestication. There must be a comparative collection with modern skeletons of various sexes, ages, and species. Methods of preparation include:

• Beatles

• Burial

• Boiling

NISP

Number of Identifiable Specimens, counts each bone fragment as a unit

MNI

Minimum number of Individuals, accounts for each animal as an individual unit

• Is based on the ability to identify left and right bones from a given species

MUI

Meat Utility Index is a tool used to evaluate how different animal parts were used based on the amount of edible meat the animal provided.

• This allows for inferences on butchering methods, site function, economic decisions (think of seeing butcher marks of dogs/horses), and social status.

Pastoralism

herding domestic animals, collecting or trading for plant-based foods

shifting cultivation

moving the rotation of crops (crop rotation, slash & burn) to promote plant growth