The Archaeology and Politics of Food and Feasting in Early States and Empires

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-viii

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2. The Development of Horticulture in the Eastern Woodlands of North America: Women’s Role

   1. The Commensal Politics of Early States and Empires

      • Tamara L. Bray

      Pages 1-13

3. Old World

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 15-15

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   2. Feasts, Funerals, and Fast Food in Early Mesopotamian States

      • Susan Pollock

      Pages 17-38

   3. Pharaohs, Feasts, and Foreigners

      • Stuart Tyson Smith

      Pages 39-64

   4. Feasting the Ancestors in Early China

      • Sarah Milledge Nelson

      Pages 65-89

4. New World

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 92-92

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   2. To Dine Splendidly

      • Tamara L. Bray

      Pages 93-142

   3. From Stew-Eaters to Maize-Drinkers

      • Paul S. Goldstein

      Pages 143-172

   4. Pots, Politics, and Power

      • Anita G. Cook, Mary Glowacki

      Pages 173-202

   5. Feasting at Home

      • Julia A. Hendon

      Pages 203-233

   6. Aztec Feasts Rituals and Markets

      • Michael E. Smith, Jennifer B. Wharton, Jan Marie Olson

      Pages 235-268

5. Concluding Remarks

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 270-270

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   2. Clearing the Table

      • Michael Dietler

      Pages 271-282

6. Epilogue

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 284-284

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   2. Feasting and the Practice of Stately Manners

      • Joan M. Gero

      Pages 285-288

7. Back Matter

   Pages 289-292

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Food and feasting are increasingly recognized as having played a prominent role in the emergence of social hierarchies and the negotiation of power. Given the culinary nature of feasts, the archaeological visibility of such events is increased by the use of containers for both food preparation and consumption. The papers in this volume examine the commensal politics of early states and empires and offer a comparative perspective on how food and feasting have figured in the political calculus of archaic states in both the Old and New Worlds.
The contributors provide important new insights into the strategies of early statecraft and the role of pots as political tools by focusing on questions such as:

-What was the nature of the relationship between food, power, status, and identity in the context of early states?
-Was feasting a universally important element in the construction of state power?
-How do archaeologically discernible patterns of state feasting compare cross-culturally and through time?

• Archaic period in North America
• Mesopotamia
• Vor- und Frühgeschichte
• archaic states
• manners

• Wayne State University, Detroit

  Tamara L. Bray

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