anth 495a-001 advanced studies in anthropology - adv studies nutritional archaeology mike richards

ANTH 495A-001 Advanced Studies in Anthropology - ADV STUDIES

Nutritional Archaeology

Mike Richards

Outline of lecture

• Why study diet in archaeology and anthropology?• Theoretical approaches to understanding diet and subsistence (materialism, structuralism, cultural)

• Food taboos• What can we determine about diet from the archaeological record?

• Concepts to keep in mind throughout the course

Why study past diets?

• Diet and subsistence are key concepts underlying Archaeology and Anthropology

• The need to for food is a universal, but the way we obtain food, process food and consume food varies throughout the world and between cultures.

• There is a deep time depth to our food traditions

Diet in Archaeology

• The way that people obtained food is the main factor in classifying that society in archaeology

• We have early hunter-gatherer societies

• Wild plants and animals were obtained through active hunting, or scavenging, as well as collecting

Diet in Archaeology


• We then have intensification of the use of certain foods

• Repeat use of a resource in a specific area, such as seasonal dependence on fish, or wild plants

Diet in Archaeology• The way that people

obtained food is the main factor in classifying that society in archaeology

• We then have the first steps of the adoption of agriculture and animal husbandry

• Humans control the access to these resources, as well as the means of reproduction for these organisms

Diet in Archaeology


• Intensification of the use of resources leads to state societies

• Social differentiation in access to these foods

• Separation between production and consumption.

Diet in Archaeology


• These time periods are generally referred to as the Palaeolithic (hunter-gatherers)

• The Epi-Palaeolithic/Mesolithic (specialisation of wild resources)

Diet in Archaeology


• The Neolithic (adoption of agriculture and animal husbandry)

• The Bronze/Iron ages, as well as ‘civilisation’ (social differentiation, separation between production and consumption)

Diet in Archaeology


• The reason for the focus on diet and subsistence is that these are the ‘means of production’

• The underlying concepts for archaeology are essentially marxist

Diet in Anthropology

• In the study of living peoples food and the means of food production is also a key way of initially classifying cultures and societies (and sub-cultures)

• Much more information about social concepts of the importance of food

• Who can eat the food, and what foods can’t be eaten?

How to explain food choices?

• There are essentially two theoretical approaches used in archaeology/anthropology to understand the food choices and subsistence strategies that modern and past peoples made and used.

• Materialist, Structuralist and Cultural

Materialist approaches

• Usually uses the baseline dietary needs for humans as a starting point

• Then tries to explain human adaptations and even social rules about food using this as a starting point – looking for a ‘practical’ explanation.


• Seeks to explain the reason behind food choices, and even food taboos through practical, ‘scientific’ means.

• Often borrows from biology, and also includes evolutionary theory.


• A key concept used in materialist approaches is Optimal Foraging Theory

• First proposed in 1966 (MacArthur, R. H. and Pianka, E. R. (1966). On the optimal use of a patchy environment. American Naturalist, 100)

• Models predator behaviour• E/h (energy/handling time)• Predators choose prey with maximum E/h (most calories

per handling unit) which is therefore the most profitable.


• Optimal Foraging Theory is one of the main concepts used in archaeology, especially in hunter-gatherer studies.

• Determine the calories that an average person needs in a day

• Determine the food resources available • Calculate the minimum effort needed to obtain the maximum amount of calories (min-max)


• Evolutionary theory

• Explains human behaviour, and dietary adaptations, using Darwinian concepts of natural selection.

• Especially predominant in prehistory and palaeoanthropology (hunter-gatherers)

• Less successful in explaining dietary choices and behaviour in living peoples


• An extreme example of the use of materialism is to explain Aztec human sacrifice.


• Aztec human sacrifice:

• Cannibalism widely practiced. Some estimates put this at 1% of the population, which could be 1000 to 3000 people a year at the largest temples (Harner 1977).

• Michael Harner (1977) and others (Arens 1979) have applied a materialist approach to understand this phenomenon


• Aztec human sacrifice and cannibalism

• Aztecs nutritionally stressed, especially for protein

• This is because maize is deficient in some essential amino acids

• Therefore, human flesh could satisfy this nutritional deficiency



• Counter-arguments:• Other sources of protein!• Was cannibalism exaggerated by European chroniclers?



• Alternative explanations:• Ecological argument – need to limit population size so did not exhaust resources (also an argument for why there is widespread warfare at this time)

• Or, was it a form of social control, showing how the state had the ultimate power over the masses?

Structuralism

• Claude Levi-Strauss a key proponent

• Levi-Strauss (1966) The culinary triangle. Partisan Review 33: 586-595

• A structuralist, borrowing ideas from linguistics, looking for a universal underlying structure in all human behaviour

Structuralism

• Applied structuralism to diet and subsistence.

• Foods and food choices are social codes

• Identified three underlying, and universal, concepts that all humans use to describe food.

• These are ‘Raw’, ‘Cooked’, and ‘Rotted’

Lévi-Strauss' Culinary Triangle (1966)

Cooked Rotten

Raw

Cultural Transformation

Natural Transformation

Natural Transformation

Claude Lévi-Strauss

Beardsworth & Keil, 1997

Structuralism

Structuralist Approach

looking at "deep structures": universal principles underlying human behaviour

Cookedsmoked

Rottenboiled/steamed

Rawroasted

Unprepared

Prepared

Structuralism

• With this ‘culinary triangle’ one can then explore how different societies subsistence practices fit within this model

• This can then be linked with other underlying structures, such as culture/nature, male/female to explain the nature of each society

• Food is not good to eat, but good to think

Cultural approaches

• Seeks to explain food choices and dietary adaptations in terms of social constructs

• Explores the role of ideology on food choices• Symbolism is key to understanding the social roles and constructs

• People choose food not for practical reasons, but cultural reasons following elaborate social codes

Food Taboos

• Food taboos are universal, and a number of theoretical approaches have been used to try and explain them

Food Taboos

• Example of the avoidance of the consumption of beef by Hindus in India.

• Cattle are sacred in Hinduism and slaughter and consumption of cattle is outlawed in many parts of India.

• Why?

Food Taboos

• Historical background

• Earlier texts (The Vedas, from 2000 BC) describe the slaughter of cattle, but mainly for religious purposes, but it is not outlawed.

• The Brahmins, the elite priestly class, specifically avoid killing cattle, and this practice becomes widespread in the population ca. 200 AD.

• By 1000 AD eating beef is forbidden for all Hindus.

Food Taboos

• However, foreigners and Muslims can eat beef

• The untouchables must remove dead cattle carcasses, as higher castes cannot touch the dead animal, or else they need to go through a purification rite

Food Taboos

• Marvin Harris is a key proponent of materialism and addressed this specific issue in a 1978 article in Human Nature.

• He rejects religious or even historical arguments in favour of an ecological approach.

Food Taboos

• The specific cattle in India are zebu (Bos indicus) which are much better at surviving drought and subsisting on poor quality plants than European cattle.

• Therefore, they survive the dry periods in India well

Food Taboos• Cattle provide milk and milk products that are widely used in Hindu

cooking

• However, this is not the main reason for the taboo on eating cattle.

• Instead, Harris considers their use as traction animals as their main importance, as they can survive on poor food and in the dry periods

• Additionally their dung is a source of fuel and the manure helps to fertilise the fields

• Therefore, they provide more in terms of calories and production as traction animals, sources of manure and milk than their meat can provide

Food Taboos

• In the 8th century AD there was an Islamic invasion of India.

• Muslims also consume beef, while Hindus eat pork, so there is likely a form of differentiation between these two groups manifested in food choices (the ban on beef consumption by Hindus occurred in 1000 AD).

Food Taboos

• Is this an example of social differentiation to separate out different sections of society? Does this help to reinforce the caste system?

• Was it originally instituted to show and reinforce the power and control that the Brahmin caste had?

• Muslims also consume beef, while Hindus (sometimes) eat pork, so there is likely a form of differentiation between these two groups manifested in food choices.

Understanding diet in archaeology

• The study of living peoples allows us to see the rich social rules and constructs around food

• This is mainly invisible to archaeology, but these two main concepts are still applied regularly to try and explain and understand diet in the archaeological record


• Indirect measures of diet• Zooarchaeology (archaeozoology)

• Palaeoethnobotany (archaeobotany)


• Indirect measures of diet

• Textual evidence

• Artifact studies

• Chemical analysis


• Direct measures of diet

• Human osteology

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13C

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Piscivore fish

Fish consumers

Herbivores

Omnivores

Carnivores

Shellfish

Fish

Piscivore fish

Marine mammals

Freshwater

Terrestrial

Marine

•Bone protein carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analysis.

•Long-term record of dietary protein.

•Carbon – marine vs. terrestrial foods.

•Nitrogen – source of protein, animal vs. plant.

Stable Isotope analysis

Concepts to keep in mind

• Humans generally need the same amount and type of calories and nutrients, so why are some foods considered to be worth more than others?


• Foie gras

• Is this expensive and highly prized because it is very fatty and calorie dense?

• Have we evolved to want foods like this, as they are so rare naturally?


• Foie gras

• Or is it expensive and highly prized because it is rare and difficult to produce?

• Does it show your wealth and social position if you can afford to eat it?


• McDonald’s french fries

• Why are they so popular with children?


• McDonald’s french fries

• Is it because they are very high in fat and calories and growing children need both? (materialist and evolutionary model)

• Or is it because of advertising and peer group pressure? (needing to fit in, cultural model)


• Fugu (Pufferfish)


• Food is an essential, so unlike other aspects of social behaviour there must be underlying biological constraints on the food choices we make

• This must have evolved

• So optimal foraging theory and evolutionary theories are good starting points…


• …however there are many examples where these theories cannot explain food choices and subsistence strategies

• So, think about both of these approaches through the course

Eating Christmas in the Kalahari

• Richard Lee’s fieldwork with the San in Southern Africa

• Led to the ‘Man the Hunter’ monograph and concept

• Also, the idea of the ‘affluent hunter-gatherer’

anth 495a-001 advanced studies in anthropology - adv studies nutritional archaeology mike richards

Documents

food choices

food traditions

importance of food

process food

archaeology intensification

cultural slide

consumption slide

means of food production