This is the second thematic special section stemming from our session at the 9th World Archaeology Conference (WAC-9), held in Prague, Czech Republic in 2022. The WAC-9 session was titled “Breaking Bread and Raising a Glass: Bridging Ethnoarchaeological and Archaeological Research on Food and Culinary Habits”, inspired by two essential elements of what people consume throughout the world: bread and alcohol. In this section, we are pleased to bring together five inspiring articles that geographically range from Vietnam, India, Senegal, and Peru, to Greece. These five articles in the Spring/Summer 2024 issue of Ethnoarchaeology vary in their culinary focus from Vietnamese fish stew to dishes from Northwest India to beer and wild pear syrup. Each article uses distinct methods to identify foods in the archaeological past, indicating the vast array of methods that researchers can implement to explore the ancient culinary experience.
Research by Michelle S. Eusebio and Fredeliza Z. Campos takes us to Southern Vietnam and the restaurants that prepare mouthwatering braised caramelized fish stews in specific ceramic vessels. The authors offer us a unique opportunity to observe how specific foodways and recipes can leave their chemical signature captured in the ceramic fabric of the cooking dishes, a fascinating observation when it comes to analyzing and interpreting archaeological ceramic dishes with characteristic residue remains that may indicate a diversified or specialized culinary use.
Ahana Ghosh and Sharada Channarayapatna allow us to enter the kitchens of the modern-day Dholavira village in Gujarat, India. Here, they explore food memories detailing the rich material culture and recipes that were handed down through the generations. They reveal how culinary technology and daily meals have changed due to geopolitical disputes, natural disasters, and individual life trajectories that have affected the meals people prepare in their household kitchens. Through this analysis of memory, we gain a deeper understanding of cultural changes and how food is such a powerful marker in our everyday lives.
Pauline Debels, Julien Vieugué, Thomas Pelmoine, Moustapha Sall, and Anne Mayor investigate beer houses and beer cooking areas in five Bedik villages in Senegal. They compare their ethnoarchaeological findings of beer vessels, houses, and hearths to a recently abandoned village. Their study finds that pottery types and use-alteration (interior attrition) are the most diagnostic attributes for identifying beer in the archaeological record. They compare cross-culturally their important findings to West African and other Sub-Saharan communities where beer research has been undertaken previously. After discussions with the authors, with all the cross-cultural comparisons throughout Africa and the world, where researchers are working on fermented beverages and pottery, we realize how crucial insights from ethnoarchaeology are in order to achieve a more comprehensive classification of pottery use-alteration attributes, especially in regard to the interaction of fermented foods and pottery.
The work of Donna Nash, Matthew E. Biwer, and Emilee Witte explores the intricacies of chicha beer production during the Wari Era (600–1100 CE) in Peru from the provincial center of Cerro Baúl. Through ethnoarchaeological and experimental research, they found that different recipes for brewing chicha beer are possible using combinations of maize and molle (Schinus molle), and they argue that chicha brewing was practiced as state-sponsored, specialized production rather than broadly practiced throughout the domestic sphere of Wari households.
In our last article for our special section, Soultana Maria Valamoti and Ioanna Mimi take us to northern Greece where they explore sweeteners in ancient Europe with a special focus on wild pear syrup. This groundbreaking ethnoarchaeological research on wild pear syrup in the village of Kosmati in western Macedonia describes the complete sequence of wild pear fruit processing to produce juice, syrup, and other sweets. Their research importantly considers the longitudinal perspective on wild pear trees and fruit that encompasses the changing landscape that integrates wild and cultivated lands.
We hope these articles inspire you, together with the four previous articles published in the December 2023 volume. We would like to wholeheartedly thank Brenda Bowser for her steady leadership in the publication of these two special thematic sections in the journal Ethnoarchaeology.