After the harvest: investigating the role of food processing in past human societies

Abstract

Plant processing provides an essential framework forarchaeobotanical interpretation since practices of processinglie between the ancient acquisition of plants and thepreserved remains of archaeology. Crop-processing stageshave received much attention as they contribute towardsthe interpretation of plants recovered from archaeologicalsites, linking them to routine human activities thatgenerated these plant remains. Yet, there are many otherimportant aspects of the human past that can be exploredthrough food processing studies that are much less ofteninvestigated, e.g. how culinary practices may haveinfluenced resource selection, plant domestication andhuman diet, health, evolution and cultural identity.Therefore, this special issue of AAS on “Food ProcessingStudies in Archaeobotany and Ethnobotany” brings to-gether recent pioneering methodological and interpretivearchaeobotanical approaches to the study of ancient foodprocessing. This new research, which involves archaeobo-tany, ethnoarchaeology, ethnobotany and experimentalmethods, encompasses investigations into dietary choice,cultural traditions and cultural change as well as studies ofthe functional properties (i.e. performance characteristics)of edible plants, and the visibility as well as dietarybenefits and consequences of different food processingmethods.This volume builds on a history of experimental foodprocessing in archaeobotany that dates back almost40 years. Dennell (1972, 1976) was the first to modelexplicitly the importance of plant processing activities inshaping the archaeobotanical record. However, it wasHillman (see Willcox 2009; Hillman 1973, 1981, 1984)who, using an ethnoarchaeological approach, pioneeredmethods for linking the archaeobotanical record with thetypes of human plant-use activities that they potentiallyrepresent. As a result of his observations of the non-mechanised crop-processing techniques used by modernTurkish farmers, and his systematic sampling of the macro-botanical materials produced during each stage in the crop-processing sequence, Hillman found that each stageproduces a distinct plant assemblage that can be recognisedfrom the specific types and condition of the plant partsrepresented. Building on Hillman’s methods, Jones (1984,1987) applied similar methods in Greece and instituted theuse of quantitative methods to characterise the differentplant macro-remain assemblages produced in each stage ofthe crop-processing sequence. More recently, Jones, alongwith Amy Bogaard, Mike Charles and their colleagues (e.g.see Jones 1992; Jones et al. 2005; Bogaard 2005; Charles etal. 2003) introduced functional ecology methods (FIBS) tofurther explore the types of information that the biologicaland ecological attributes of weeds found in archaeobotan-ical assemblages can provide about ancient crop-husbandrypractices (crop sowing times, cultivation intensity and evenancient irrigation regimes). Such information is relevant toprocessing plants for food or other uses because crop-husbandry practices inevitably affect the composition andcondition of harvested batches of a crop as well as the