Developing an integrated, large-scale approach to the archaeological study of food: A pilot study of Iron Age and Roman Cambridgeshire

Foodways are deeply integrated into society, and, by extension, the archaeological study of foodways can be revealing of sociocultural and political features of ancient societies. This paper presents the results of a proof-of-concept trial of a new methodological approach for the study of foodways based on archaeological evidence. The aim is to enhance the quality of the conclusions that can be drawn about food in the ancient world. This approach relies on an improved system for the collection, organization, and storage of data-an extensible relational database dubbed the Roman Food Database-which facilitates the large-scale, integrated analysis of the remains of edible plants and animals. This system enables the application of novel analytical methodologies to data that would otherwise be too disparate and variable to consider holistically. The methodology was tested using evidence from Iron Age and Roman Cambridgeshire, for which there is much high-quality data available, making it possible to assemble one of the most extensive integrated datasets of archaeobotanical and zooarchaeological information to date. Preliminary analysis has allowed for the integrated exploration of topics such as production intensification and the use of wild resources. Results suggest that this approach is a productive way forward for the archaeological study of foodways.