2017 - Jan : Maria João Valente - Bon Apétit !
Eating in Roman and Medieval Islamic times in Southern Portugal:
Comparing zooarchaeology and literature sources.
Comparing zooarchaeology and literature sources.
Zooarchaeology focuses on the study of animal remains in archaeological contexts. But how does the obtained data compare with literature sources? In this talk we aim to show that day-to-day human behavior, as portrayed by the archaeological records, didn't always follow the official doctrine displayed in the written documents.
We'll look into the fringes of the Mediterranean diet and examine what the Roman and Islamic people living in Southern Portugal were herding, hunting and eating. Which were their favorite meats and seafoods? What were the food taboos and were these always obeyed?
Did urban civilians eat the same as soldiers living in military enclosures? How did the rich people’s diet compare with the diet of the less fortunate ones? Finally, how closely did recipe books represent real life meals?
Let’s take a walk into the past and see what our ancestors considered “bon appétit!”
Maria João Valente has been a Professor of Archaeology at the Universidade do Algarve since 1999. She specializes in zooarchaeology and is mostly interested in the usage of animal resources in past human diets.
She has published many articles on that subject, from the Paleolithic to Medieval periods. Currently she is organizing the first Iberian Zooarchaeology Meeting (EZI2017), to be held at the Universidade do Algarve next April.
We'll look into the fringes of the Mediterranean diet and examine what the Roman and Islamic people living in Southern Portugal were herding, hunting and eating. Which were their favorite meats and seafoods? What were the food taboos and were these always obeyed?
Did urban civilians eat the same as soldiers living in military enclosures? How did the rich people’s diet compare with the diet of the less fortunate ones? Finally, how closely did recipe books represent real life meals?
Let’s take a walk into the past and see what our ancestors considered “bon appétit!”
Maria João Valente has been a Professor of Archaeology at the Universidade do Algarve since 1999. She specializes in zooarchaeology and is mostly interested in the usage of animal resources in past human diets.
She has published many articles on that subject, from the Paleolithic to Medieval periods. Currently she is organizing the first Iberian Zooarchaeology Meeting (EZI2017), to be held at the Universidade do Algarve next April.
