Special Food On The Feasting Menu: Remains Of Archaeological Meals Served With Ethnoanthropological Aperitifs
Special Food On The Feasting Menu: Remains Of Archaeological Meals Served With Ethnoanthropological Aperitifs

Summary/Abstract: Even though food is a fundamental physiological necessity, its meanings and roles vary among cultures. Food is an essential factor in all social spheres for preserving the integrity of culture, even in cases when its consumption is taboo. This paper takes the standpoint of structuralism to examine the conditions in which certain foods become specific and significant. Ethno-anthropological cases are used as examples to indicate possible meanings of food in archaeological contexts. The study focuses on pork consumption in the contemporary funeral ritual of the islands of Papua New Guinea and animal domestication at the Çayönü site, going back to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic, but also looks at ethnographic and archaeological cases of cannibalism as an exceptionalmeal. Preparation, service, and food consumption depend on the social context, which is best gleaned through social events of a public character, such as rituals, feasts, and ceremonies. Food acquires its special status when it reinterprets social relations byturning a group of people into a community and creating a collective individual identity. Thinking in opposing pairs determined by food reveals contemporary and former metaphors regarding social, cultural and religious realities.

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