Mesolithic Leftovers or Neolithic Culinary Revolution? Food in the 4th Millenium BC

Emilie Sibbesson supervised by

The Neolithic period is to a large extent defined by the development of new cuisines that involve domesticated plants and animals. Archaeological study of how Neolithic ways of life were introduced to the British Isles has in the last two decades become dominated by two opposing models, postulating either a gradual, internal transition or rapid changes brought about by the physical arrival of farming groups. Recent scientific data indicating a dietary shift at 4000 BC sparked much further debate. Yet despite the centrality of foodways in our characterisation of the period, we know curiously little about how, when, and where the new foods were consumed. This project brings these issues into sharper focus, through (1) a programme of lipid residue analysis of Early and Middle Neolithic pottery, and (2) integration of results with other lines of dietary information, mainly from human remains and ecofacts. The approach enables a move away from the increasingly unhelpful, conflicting versions of how the British Neolithic begun, to instead address a set of specific questions. For example, were domesticated resources used only in special circumstances, or were they staple foods from the onset? Did the use of pottery vessels enable new ways of cooking and eating? The social roles of new foods are explored, as well as the manners in which they transformed society at this crucial junction in prehistory.