The Archeology of Food

Prehistory of Food. This course explores how and why humans across the globe began to domesticate plant and animal resources approximately 10,000 years ago. The first half of the course presents the types of archaeological data and analytical methods used to study the "agricultural revolution." The second half examines case studies from the major centers of domestication in order to investigate the biological, economic and social implications of these processes. Special emphasis will be placed on exploring the relationship between agriculture and sedentism, food and gender, the politics of feasting, and methods for integrating archaeological and ethnographic approaches to the study of food.