| dc.description.abstract | Identifying the ‘Lucanians’ has long been a complex issue. Myriad approaches
have sought to correlate the archaeological record with ancient Greek and
Roman narrative, while others have attempted to analyse aspects of warfare,
burial rituals, grave goods and architectural typologies from a ‘Lucanian’
perspective. However, one fundamental aspect of cultural identity has hitherto
been neglected: food-ways and the domestic food system in particular.
Within the discussion of household knowledge, Aristotle notes ‘men must all
have food, and the differences in their food have made differences in their way
of life’. Despite the incompatibility of hierarchical organisation and the city-state
model for ancient ‘Lucania’, the household remains the smallest unit upon
which socio-political organisation of any type is rooted; the analysis of food
preparation and cooking, beginning at the household level, is therefore essential
for the study of ancient identity. Utilising the domestic food system
methodology – spatial analysis on food preparation and cooking spaces, artefact
analysis related to food-ways and both zooarchaeological and palaeobotanical
evidence – this thesis reinvestigates 4th-2nd century BC habitation structures,
drawing previously unseen patterns to the fore: 1) a female domestic area
inclusive of food preparation, cooking and textile production; 2) an architectural
distinction between domestic and ritual food preparation and cooking areas;
and 3) communal dining that rejects elite banqueting rituals.
That the artefact is an integral dimension of culture is axiomatic. Yet, scholarly
approaches to ‘Lucanian’ cultural identity have failed to investigate the
behaviour patterns and social interactions imbued within the objects that form
the domestic food system. The intrinsic connection to identity encompassed in
cookware ceramics, zooarchaeological evidence and domestic assemblages –
and, in the relationships to both each other and to the interior space – creates a
cultural boundary that provides invaluable information for the study of
‘Lucanian’ identity and, further, facilitates comparative research with similar
groups of peoples. The domestic food system procures the baseline upon which
shifts in socio-economic and political organisation can be overlaid, thus
furthering the overall objective of this thesis: to recognise emerging patterns of
cultural resilience and identity related to food practices. | en |
