Food for thought. On the culture of food and the interpretation of ancient subsistence data

Abstract

The study of ancient food habits often includes scientific or technical analyses of some sort, e.g. osteological, plant macrofossil, bone chemical or organic chemical analyses. Quite a lot of effort is put into understanding the formation processes and post-depositional changes such as decomposition and taphonomy. The cultural aspects of the formation of these materials are often not considered at all. This paper presents a food culture model and considers some of its consequences for the interpretation of subsistence data based on ancient material remains.