Call for papers International Meeting of the International Council for Archaeozoology (Ankara, September 2-7 2018)

Session: Identifying and interpreting food taboos: a zooarchaeological approach

Organisers: Veronica Aniceti, Idoia Grau-Sologestoa, Mikolaj Lisowski (U. Sheffield), Marcos García-García (U. Granada), Silvia Valenzuela-Lamas (CSIC-IMF)

This session aims to highlight the important role of zooarchaeology in assessing the presence of dietary taboos in faunal assemblages, and interpreting their socio-cultural, religious, and economic significance. The session is open to all zooarchaeological studies dealing with dietary taboos in different geographical areas and periods, from prehistory to contemporary times.

This session aims to highlight the important role of zooarchaeology in assessing the presence of dietary taboos in faunal assemblages, and interpreting their socio-cultural, religious, and economic significance. The session is open to all zooarchaeological studies dealing with dietary taboos in different geographical areas and periods, from prehistory to contemporary times.

Despite the considerable amount of animal bones and teeth recovered from archaeological sites, this valuable material is not often used to determine identities in past societies. Nevertheless, animal remains are often associated with food consumption, an important cultural identifier. When humans recurrently eat a specific food, this becomes part of their cultural roots, whatever the origin of such consumption practices.

Equally, the prohibition of some food products can be associated with specific cultural backgrounds. In the literature, the avoidance of eating certain foods (beef, pork, fish, etc.) is commonly defined as ‘food taboo’. This definition, however, does not only refer to the avoidance of consuming specific animal species, but also to the rules on how animal products were processed.

Please submit paper abstracts visiting http://www.icaz2018ankara.com before the 30th March 2018.