Lifting the Lid

Abstract

In this paper we investigate local foodways and ritual consumption in Iron Age Sicily through a study of cooking pots, integrating contextual, archaeozoological, archaeobotanical and chemical data. We focus on material from the central cult site of the settlement of Monte Iato, located in the hinterland of western Sicily, in order to explore the interaction between food, people, bio-/artefacts and environments as a process of formulating and reformulating social relationships and local power dynamics within specific social spaces and settings. We reveal different foodways and consumption practices within the same cult site, characterized on the one hand by long-standing traditions, with more or less constant and unchanging dishes, and on the other by the integration of external stimuli. We discuss the emergence of foreign- (Greek/Phoenician-) style cooking pots and ingredients as markers of an haute cuisine, developed with the aim of social differentiation.