Susan Pollock (Ed.), Between Feasts and Daily Meals. Towards an Archaeology of Commensal Spaces, Berlin: Edition Topoi, 2015

Abstract

The centrality of commensality – eating and drinking together in a common physical and social setting – in people’s everyday lives makes it a particularly important location from which to explore social relations and the working of politics. The recent focus in archaeology and related disciplines on feasting and other special commensal occasions needs to be balanced by attention to daily commensality, in which crucial elements of social reproduction take place. I highlight two particular forms of commensal practices, hospitality and provisioning, that resonate with many of the cases discussed in the papers in this volume. Finally, I point to a largely neglected area of study in archaeology, that of hunger and its implications for the politics of commensality.

Content

7–28 Susan Pollock, "Towards an Archaeology of Commensal Spaces. An Introduction", in: Susan Pollock (Ed.), Between Feasts and Daily Meals. Towards an Archaeology of Commensal Spaces, Berlin: Edition Topoi, 2015, 7–28
29–61 Paul Halstead, "Feast, Food and Fodder in Neolithic Bronze Age Greece. Commensality and the Construction of Value", in: Susan Pollock (Ed.), Between Feasts and Daily Meals. Towards an Archaeology of Commensal Spaces, Berlin: Edition Topoi, 2015, 29–61
63–85 Katheryn Twiss, "The Complexities of Home Cooking. Public Feasts and Private Meals Inside the Çatalhöyük House", in: Susan Pollock (Ed.), Between Feasts and Daily Meals. Towards an Archaeology of Commensal Spaces, Berlin: Edition Topoi, 2015, 63–85
87–110 Francesca Balossi Restelli, "Eating at Home and 'Dining' Out? Commensalities in the Neolithic and Late Chalcolothic in the Near East", in: Susan Pollock (Ed.), Between Feasts and Daily Meals. Towards an Archaeology of Commensal Spaces, Berlin: Edition Topoi, 2015, 87–110
111–141 Maria Bianca D'Anna, "Between Inclusion and Exclusion. Feasting and Redistribution of Meals at Late Chalcolithic Arslantepe (Malatya, Turkey)", in: Susan Pollock (Ed.), Between Feasts and Daily Meals. Towards an Archaeology of Commensal Spaces, Berlin: Edition Topoi, 2015, 111–141
143–179 Jason Kennedy, "Commensality and Labor in Terminal Ubaid Northern Mesopotamia", in: Susan Pollock (Ed.), Between Feasts and Daily Meals. Towards an Archaeology of Commensal Spaces, Berlin: Edition Topoi, 2015, 143–179
181–204 Walther Sallaberger, "Home-made Bread, Municipal Mutton, Royal Wine. Establishing Social Relations during the Preparation and Consumption of Food in Religious Festivals at Late Bronze Age Emar", in: Susan Pollock (Ed.), Between Feasts and Daily Meals. Towards an Archaeology of Commensal Spaces, Berlin: Edition Topoi, 2015, 181–204
205–223 Adelheid Otto, "Defining and Transgressing the Boundaries between Ritual Commensality and Daily Commensal Practices. The Case of Late Bronze Age Tall Bazi", in: Susan Pollock (Ed.), Between Feasts and Daily Meals. Towards an Archaeology of Commensal Spaces, Berlin: Edition Topoi, 2015, 205–223
225–241 Tamara Bray, "Ritual Commensality between Human and Non-Human Persons. Investigating Native Ontologies in the Late Pre-Columbian Andean World", in: Susan Pollock (Ed.), Between Feasts and Daily Meals. Towards an Archaeology of Commensal Spaces, Berlin: Edition Topoi, 2015, 225–241
243–276 Christine Hastorf, "Steamed or Boiled. Identity and Value in Food Preparation", in: Susan Pollock (Ed.), Between Feasts and Daily Meals. Towards an Archaeology of Commensal Spaces, Berlin: Edition Topoi, 2015, 243–276
277–288 Elliott Shore, "Modern Restaurants and Ancient Commensality", in: Susan Pollock (Ed.), Between Feasts and Daily Meals. Towards an Archaeology of Commensal Spaces, Berlin: Edition Topoi, 2015, 277–288