Contemporary theory on human interaction with the built environment focuses on the creation of place (“placemaking”). A place is defined as a given section of the environment to which humans have assigned appropriate feelings and behaviors. Using the Roman civic feast as a test case, this paper applies the model of placemaking proposed by Amos Rapoport to the built environment of Ancient Rome with the civic feast as a test case. I look to epigraphic, literary, visual, and archaeological evidence for the set of appropriate behaviors assigned to places of civic feasting (“Feasting Places”). This investigation involves laying out the theoretical framework, the physical circumstances of the Feasting Place, behaviors of Romans within it, and evidence for Romans distinguishing Feasting Places from other places. In conclusion, Romans do in fact distinguish between places by means of environmental cues, as evidenced by the case of the civic feast. / text

This paper evaluates the hypothesis that feasting among the Muiscas served for political centralization in a society where chiefly power was based on the control of fertile lands and labor. Based on the archaeological information regarding feastings at the site of El Infiernito, mainly bowls and jars, as well as on the analysis of the distribution of soils and demographic dynamics, it is concluded that, although feasting could have contributed to the prestige of chiefs, their power was not based on the control of fertile lands or labor. / En este artículo se evalúa la hipótesis de que los festejos muiscas servían como mecanismos de centralización política para una elite que había alcanzado el control de las mejores tierras y tenía acceso privilegiado a mano de obra. La información arqueológica vinculada con la realización de festejos en el sitio de El Infiernito se compara con la distribución de los suelos más fértiles y la población. La conclusión a la que se llega es que, si bien las festividades pudieron ser importantes para el prestigio de los caciques, el poder de estos no se basaba en el control de las tierras más fértiles o la mano de obra.

The purpose of this thesis was to identify the different patterns of food consumption across space and time at Liangchengzhen, a Longshan (ca. 2600-1900 B.C.) site located in Shandong Province, China. The primary hypothesis of the research contended that evidence of increasing social inequality with respect to food consumption would be found from early to late phases at Liangchengzhen. In addition, rice and meat from mammals, especially pigs, were hypothesized as the most likely types of prestigious foods for daily and ritual activities. Fish and marine foods in general were hypothesized to be foods that average households could obtain since Liangchengzhen was close to the sea and would not have as high a value as mammal meat. Pottery was sampled from Early Phase storage/trash and ritual pits as well as Late Phase storage/trash and ritual pits located in Excavation Area One. Pottery types included ding and guan, hypothesized for cooking meat, and yan, hypothesized for steaming vegetables and grains. Lipid residue analysis was performed using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GCMS) to quantify the amount of C15 and C17 alkane peaks in the pottery and compare these quantities to the amount of C15 and C17 alkane peaks in terrestrial and marine food reference sources. Results indicated that socially valued food consumption transitioned from marine food sources in the early phase ritual pits to rice and pig in the late phase ritual pits. Millet and plant residues were consistently present in storage/trash pits from both early and late phases. Findings also indicated that the use of pottery types for cooking were not limited to one source, i.e., marine, rice, millet and plant residues were found in all pottery types while pig residues were found in ding and yan pottery. Results of the lipid residue analysis provide partial support of increasing social inequality with respect to food consumption from early to late phases at Liangchengzhen, The findings from the lipid residue analysis in this thesis more closely resemble the distribution of integrative, communal consumption pattern in the early phase and a hierarchical consumption pattern during the late phase. Fish, more abundant in the early phase, was almost non-existent by the late phase. Pig and rice, hypothesized as preferred foods, were found only during the late phase, primarily in the ritual pit, H31. Millet and plant were conspicuously present during both phases, but had greater separation from ritual pits during the late phase. However, these findings are surprising since it does not match the material remains of rice and pig found in early phase pits or late phase storage/trash pits from Excavation Area One. It can be concluded that patterns of consumption at Liangchengzhen changed substantially from the early phase to the late phase with regards to food residues found in hypothesized ritual pits. Considering these data with the understanding that food in China has historically been used as a tool to wield influence and power, it can be hypothesized that a social hierarchy may have developed by the late phase that was not present during the early phase. However, participation in the activities held in late phase ritual pits may have been inclusive for all Liangchangzhen residents rather than exclusive for higher status individuals. The current research provides a starting point for further investigation into the foodways at Liangchengzhen. This thesis is the first systematic study of food residues from the interior of Neolithic vessels from ancient China that relates the results of the residue analysis to patterns of food consumption and social change.

Archaeological excavations in the northeast sector of the archaeological site of Pucllana exposed an accumulation of cultural debris lying on the surface of a door. The context of these findings and the analysis of the building sequencedemonstrate that these materials came from the upper part of a sunken plaza. The analysis of the artifacts shows that they were remnants of large-scale food consumption and the result of a complex sequence of ritual performances.According to this evidence, we propose that the plaza was ritually entombed. The events of interest belong to the Middle Horizon 1A, the height of Lima urban centers on the Central Coast of Peru. / Las excavaciones desarrolladas en el sector noreste del sitio arqueológico de Pucllana, expusieron una acumulación de desechos culturales que yacían sobre la superficie de un piso. La contextualización del hallazgo y el análisis de la secuencia constructiva indicaron que estos provenían de la parte alta de una plaza a desnivel. El análisis de los materiales demostraron que habían sido remanentes de varias actividades desarrolladas al interior de la plaza, entre los cuales se manifestaba la producción de artefactos como líticos y objetos ornamentales y el consumo de alimento a gran escala, acompañado de una compleja secuencia de actividades rituales.Teniendo en consideración esta evidencia se propone una representación de cómo se habría desarrollado el proceso de remodelación y clausura de una plaza ceremonial Lima, cada vez que culminaba con un ciclo de funcionamiento. Según la ubicación cronológica, estos eventos se habrían desarrollado durante la Época 1A del Horizonte Medio, en pleno auge de los asentamientos lima de la Costa Central.

A Swedish excavation took place in the settlement of San Giovenale between the years 1956 to 1965 to shed further light on Etruscan settlements. During the excavation, a great amount of bucchero was uncovered at the site. This study focusses on the forms of bucchero that were uncovered in the San Giovenale area and how these vessels might be connected to a broader network of the ware. By identifying the forms of bucchero found in the area and by bringing together all the earlier publications concerned with the bucchero finds from San Giovenale, this study tries to look at the bucchero material in its totality. By locating and counting the forms and context in which the bucchero was found, together with the other finds from the area, this study attempts to contextualize and uncover the status of the bucchero ware within the settlement and how this particular ware might be connected with the Etruscan banquets. By bringing all the material together from all the areas in San Giovenale, this study hopes to paint a clearer picture of the bucchero in San Giovenale in terms of form, amount, chronology and spread of bucchero. By studying the bucchero from the settlement of San Giovenale we might greatly enhance our understanding of the bucchero ware outside of the tomb context that it is usually found within.

Food is the foundation upon which societies are built. It is a means of survival, a source of wealth and prosperity and can be used as a means of social display. In Iron Age Atlantic Scotland, a wide range of food resources were open to exploitation. Among these, barley is likely to have been an important backbone to the system. Far from being at the mercy of the elements, the Iron Age population of Atlantic Scotland was able to extract surpluses of food from the landscape which could be manipulated for social, political and economic gain. One means through which this could be achieved is feasting, a practice considered significant elsewhere in the Iron Age. With such ideas at its core, this thesis examines the main arenas for consumption events in Iron Age Atlantic Scotland (dwellings) in detail, considering also the underpinnings of the system in terms of food production and accumulation, in particular the barley crop. The distribution of food processing and preparation between a dwelling and its associated ancillary buildings at Old Scatness provides insights into the organisation of life on the settlement.

The rise of Anglo-Saxon kingship has many influences, yet current scholarly discussion tends to focus on a select few. This thesis aims to analyze an oft-ignored factor in the development of kingship in Anglo-Saxon England. By discussing the influences of domestic production, international trade, food-based tribute, and royal feasting on Anglo-Saxon kingship from the fifth to the eleventh centuries, the role of food consumption in the development of kingship can be articulated. This thesis begins with a discussion of the practices of Anglo-Saxon domestic food production. Systems of agriculture and animal husbandry are analyzed, along with the various methods used to procure domestic prestige foods. This chapter explores the links between conceptions of land ownership and the legitimacy of kingly rule. A discussion of international trade in prestige food follows, analyzing the ways in which the developing relationship between Anglo-Saxon England and the European Continent shaped internal and external conceptions of kingship. Following this chapter, a discussion of the variant chronological forms of Anglo-Saxon kingship is pursued. This discussion culminates in a case study of the collection of food-rents throughout the Anglo-Saxon occupation of England, revealing the connections among land ownership, status goods, and long-distance organization in the rise of kingship. An analysis of the development of Anglo-Saxon feasting follows, displaying the links between the use of prestige foods and relationships based on systems of obligations in solidifying Anglo-Saxon kingship. A general discussion follows, during which the combined influences of production, trade, tribute, and feasting on Anglo-Saxon kingship are made manifest. Finally, an overview of this thesis' findings is presented, along with suggestions for further study.

Food is the foundation upon which societies are built. It is a means of survival, a source of wealth and prosperity and can be used as a means of social display. In Iron Age Atlantic Scotland, a wide range of food resources were open to exploitation. Among these, barley is likely to have been an important backbone to the system. Far from being at the mercy of the elements, the Iron Age population of Atlantic Scotland was able to extract surpluses of food from the landscape which could be manipulated for social, political and economic gain. One means through which this could be achieved is feasting, a practice considered significant elsewhere in the Iron Age. With such ideas at its core, this thesis examines the main arenas for consumption events in Iron Age Atlantic Scotland (dwellings) in detail, considering also the underpinnings of the system in terms of food production and accumulation, in particular the barley crop. The distribution of food processing and preparation between a dwelling and its associated ancillary buildings at Old Scatness provides insights into the organisation of life on the settlement.

Inka Colonialism, the Chicha Consumption and the Feasting: A Perspective from the "Commensal Politics"This essay treats the "commensal politics" of feasting in the Inka state and its implications for understanding certain domains of political action and pre-Hispanic colonialism. State-sponsored feasts were usually political and ritual and comprised an important instrument in manipulating power relations and the public production and consumption of some food and drink. Some archeological and ethnographic implications of commensal politics also are discussed. / Este ensayo analiza el concepto de carácter de "banquetes políticos" de los festines o fiestas públicas en el Estado inka y sus implicancias con el fin de entender ciertos aspectos de la conducta política y el colonialismo prehispánicos. Por lo general, los banquetes auspiciados por el Estado son tanto rituales como políticos y constituyen un instrumento importante en el manejo de las relaciones políticas y del consumo de alimentos y bebida. Se discuten también algunas implicancias arqueológicas y etnográficas de los banquetes políticos.

In this chapter, I argue that developments characterizing the Late Moche Period in the Jequetepeque Valley, including both the adoption of highland artistic styles at San José de Moro and Huaca Colorada, as well as the proliferation of Moche religious architecture throughout the hinterland, were significantly influenced by interactions with highland societies, including Wari and Cajamarca. I support this thesis by examining the reconfiguration of the chicha-based political economy and the intensification of competitive feasting in the region that accompanied the ascendancy of the priestess cult in Jequetepeque. I also contend that a specific cosmological framework of coastal-highland opposition and gendered complementarity, evident at the time of the conquest, appears to have taken root in the Middle Horizon. In other words, culturally constructed and religiously mediated notions of geography, alterity, and interdependence can partly explain the tenor of Moche-highland relations and the subtle transformations of Moche ritual practices and political relations. The data suggests that the priestess cult may have been patronized by sierra polities, even if indirectly, for it conformed to emerging geo-cosmological and gendered understandings of coastal-highland dependencies. / En este capítulo, argumento que los desarrollos que caracterizan el Periodo Moche Tardío en el valle de Jequetepeque, incluyendo tanto la adopción de estilos artísticos serranos en San José de Moro, así como la proliferación de arquitectura religiosa moche a través del territorio, estuvieron significativamente influenciados por las interacciones con las sociedades serranas, incluyendo Wari y Cajamarca. Sostengo esta tesis examinado la reconfiguración de la economía política basada en la chicha y la intensificación de los festines competitivos en la región que acompañaron la ascensión del culto de la Sacerdotisa en Jequetepeque. También sostengo que un marco cosmológico específico, de oposición costa-sierra, basado en la complementariedad de los sexos masculino y femenino, evidente al momento de la conquista, aparenta haberse enraizado durante el Horizonte Medio. En otras palabras, nociones culturalmente construidas y mediadas de geografía, alteridad, e interdependencia, pueden explicar parcialmente el tenor de las relaciones moche-sierra y las sutiles transformaciones de las prácticas rituales y relaciones políticas moche. Los datos sugieren que el culto de la Sacerdotisa puede haber estado promovido por las organizaciones políticas de la sierra, incluso indirectamente, porque se conformaba a comprensiones geocosmológicas emergentes de las dependencias costa-sierra.