Between religion and consumption: Culinary and drinking equipment in Venetic ritual practice (ca. 725 BCE-CE 25)

Abstract

This chapter is an investigation of cultic practices in Iron Age and early Roman Veneto (Italy) through the analysis of inscribed utensils used for the preparation and consumption of food and drink in sanctuary sites. By drawing on anthropological research which has long recognised the importance of eating and drinking as powerful metaphors and practices of a paramount importance in the negotiation of a large range of socio-political and economic dynamics, my aim is to show how a capillary analysis of material culture specifically related to ritual drinking and food consumption can be an important tool to shed light on issues of gender, ethnicity, social interaction and power negotiation. Given the role of culinary equipment as a symbolic vehicle for the expression of social concerns regarding the relation with the supernatural as well as the negotiation of fundamental socio-political strategies via ritual food consumption, I argue that such categories of artefacts bear multifaceted meanings and deep social significance, and always deserve full attention in archaeological research.