Archaeology of Food: Archaeology of Food

Karen Bescherer Metheny is visiting researcher of archaeology at Boston University. She is author of From the Miners' Doublehouse (2007) and co-editor of Landscape Archaeology (1996, with Rebecca Yamin). She has taught courses in the anthropology and archaeology of food, food history and food culture of New England, and method and theory in food studies. Her current research interests center on the use of food mapping and other visualization techniques, and the cultural significance of maize in colonial New England. Mary C. Beaudry is professor of archaeology, anthropology, and gastronomy at Boston University. She is author or co-editor of numerous published works including Findings (2006), Archaeologies of Mobility and Movement (2013, co-edited with Travis Parno), and The Oxford Handbook of Material Culture Studies (2010, co-edited with Dan Hicks). She currently teaches a course called Pots & Pans: The Material Culture of Cookery & Dining in which she has combined her interests in foodways and material culture to focus on technological and material change in the kitchen and at the table.

What are the origins of agriculture? In what ways have technological advances related to food affected human development? How have food and foodways been used to create identity, communicate meaning, and organize society? In this highly readable, illustrated volume, archaeologists and other scholars from across the globe explore these questions and more.

The Archaeology of Food offers more than 250 entries spanning geographic and temporal contexts and features recent discoveries alongside the results of decades of research. The contributors provide overviews of current knowledge and theoretical perspectives, raise key questions, and delve into myriad scientific, archaeological, and material analyses to add depth to our understanding of food. The encyclopedia serves as a reference for scholars and students in archaeology, food studies, and related disciplines, as well as fascinating reading for culinary historians, food writers, and food and archaeology enthusiasts.