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

291 Pages·2003·13.37 MB·English

by  Tamara L. Bray (auth.), Tamara L. Bray (eds.)

The Archaeology and Politics
of Food and Feasting in
Early States and Empires
The Archaeology and Politics
of Food and Feasting in
Early States and Empires
Editedby
Tamara L. Bray
WayneStateUniversity
Detroit,Michigan
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Contributors
TamaraL.Bray • WayneStateUniversity,Detroit,Michigan48202
AnitaG.Cook • CatholicUniversity,Washington,D.C.20064
MichaelDietler • UniversityofChicago,Chicago,Illinois60637
JoanM.Gero • AmericanUniversity,Washington,D.C.20016
MaryGlowacki • FloridaStateUniversity,Tallahassee,Florida32304
PaulS.Goldstein • UniversityofCaliforniaatSanDiego,LaJolla,California
92093
JuliaA.Hendon • GettysburgCollege,Gettysburg,Pennsylvania17353
SarahMilledgeNelson • UniversityofDenver,Denver,Colorado80208
JanMarieOlson • UniversityofAlberta,Edmonton,Alberta,T6G2H4
SusanPollock • BinghamtonUniversity,Binghamton,NewYork13902
MichaelE.Smith • StateUniversityofNewYork,Albany,NewYork12222
StuartTysonSmith • UniversityofCalifornia,SantaBarbara,California93106
JenniferB.Wharton • StateUniversityofNewYork,Albany,NewYork12222
v
Contents
Chapter1.TheCommensalPoliticsofEarlyStatesandEmpires ..... 1
TamaraL.Bray
PARTI.OLDWORLD
Chapter2.Feasts,Funerals,andFastFoodinEarlyMesopotamian
States........................................................... 17
SusanPollock
Chapter3.Pharaohs,Feasts,andForeigners:Cooking,Foodways,
andAgencyonAncientEgypt’sSouthernFrontier.................. 39
StuartTysonSmith
Chapter4.FeastingtheAncestorsinEarlyChina................... 65
SarahMilledgeNelson
PARTII.NEWWORLD
Chapter5.ToDineSplendidly:ImperialPottery,CommensalPolitics,
andtheIncaState................................................ 93
TamaraL.Bray
Chapter6.FromStew-EaterstoMaize-Drinkers:TheChicha
EconomyandtheTiwanakuExpansion ............................ 143
PaulS.Goldstein
Chapter7.Pots,Politics,andPower:HuariCeramicAssemblages
andImperialAdministration...................................... 173
AnitaG.CookandMaryGlowacki
vii
viii Contents
Chapter8.FeastingatHome:CommunityandHouseSolidarity
amongtheMayaofSoutheasternMesoamerica..................... 203
JuliaA.Hendon
Chapter9.AztecFeasts,Rituals,andMarkets:PoliticalUsesof
CeramicVesselsinaCommercialEconomy......................... 235
MichaelE.Smith,JenniferB.Wharton,andJanMarieOlson
PARTIII.CONCLUDINGREMARKS
Chapter10.ClearingtheTable:SomeConcludingReflectionson
CommensalPoliticsandImperialStates............................ 271
MichaelDietler
PARTIV.EPILOGUE
FeastingandthePracticeofStatelyManners....................... 285
JoanM.Gero
Index............................................................ 289
1
Chapter
The Commensal Politics of
Early States and Empires
TamaraL.Bray
Foodandfeastingareincreasinglyrecognizedashavingplayedaprominentrolein
theemergenceofsocialhierarchiesandthenegotiationofpowerandidentity(Clark
andBlake1994;Dietler1996;DietlerandHayden2001;Gero1992;Goody1982;
Gummerman1997;NielsenandNielsen1998;WiessnerandShieffenhovel1996).
The notion of ‘feasting,’ as used here, refers to a communal food consumption
eventthatdiffersinsomewayfromeverydaypractice(afterDietler1996).Given
theculinarynatureoffeasts,theuseofcontainersforbothfoodpreparationand
consumptionisgenerallyinvolved,afactthatincreasesthearchaeologicalvisibility
ofsuchevents.Thepapersinthisvolumeutilizeculinaryequipmentasawindow
intothecommensalpoliticsofearlystatesandempires,focusingonthequestionof
whetherandhowfoodandfeastingfiguredinthepoliticalcalculusofarchaicstates.
UsingbothNewandOldWorldexamples,theassembledpapersofferparticular
case studies that serve as the basis for a comparative assessment of the role of
feastingintheemergenceandexpansionofearlystates.
The focus on the political implications of culinary equipment and the role
offeastinginimperialstatecraftarisesattheintersectionofseveralcurrenttrends
inarchaeology,anthropology,andsocialtheory.Withtheascentofvariouspost-
processualapproachesinarchaeology,wehaveseenanincreasedemphasisonex-
ploringthespecificityofsocialstructures,themeaningfulbasisofhumanaction,
and the active nature of material culture (e.g., Gero and Conkey 1991; Hodder
TamaraL.Bray • DepartmentofAnthropology,WayneStateUniversity,Detroit,Michigan48202
TheArchaeologyandPoliticsofFoodandFeastinginEarlyStatesandEmpires,
editedbyTamaraL.Bray.KluwerAcademic/PlenumPublishers,NewYork,2003.
1
2 TamaraL.Bray
1982a,1982b,1987;ShanksandTilley1987).Ratherthanemphasizinguniversal
tendenciesandpursuingprehistoryatthelevelofmacro-evolutionaryprocesses,
thereisagrowinginterestinthe“micro-politics”ofancientsocietiesasnegotiated
inthearenaofeverydaylife.Theauthorsinthisvolumebuildontheseideasbyex-
amininghowthebroaderpoliticalagendasofearlystatesandempireswereplayed
outonthegroundthroughthemediumoffood,feasting,andservicevessels.With
theirfocusonthesocialsignificanceofstateculinaryequipment,thesepapersfol-
lowanotherimportanttrendinthedisciplinethatinvolvesamovementawayfrom
typology-based approaches to archaeological ceramics that treat these materials
primarilyasindicesofethnicity,interaction,andtimeperiod(Braun1983;Blitz
1993;ClarkandBlake1994;Potter2000).
THEANTHROPOLOGYOFFOOD
The authors in this volume draw upon the theoretical insights of a specific
genre of anthropological works that focus on food. The study of foodways has
a long and venerable history in the annals of anthropology. Like sex, food has
stoodatthecenterofsomanystudiespreciselybecauseitissofundamentaltothe
reproduction of society. From early functionalist concerns with physiology and
nutrition(FortesandFortes1936;Richards1932,1939),tostructuralistinterests
inthemeaningandsymbolismoffood(Douglas1966,1975,1984;Levi-Strauss
1966, 1969, 1978), to more recent explorations of the power of food to shape
social identities, behavior, and relations (Adams 1990; Counihan 1988; Dietler
1996;Goody1982;Mintz1986;Weismantel1988),anthropologistshaveamply
demonstratedthatafocusonfoodoffersanimportantpointofentryintothestudy
ofhumanrelationsonmanydifferentlevels.
Within this genre, a number of works highlight the political dimensions of
foodpreparationanddistributionandthewaysinwhichculinarypracticesreflect,
respond to, and invoke political change. As Goody (1982) suggests in Cooking,
CuisineandClass,socialhierarchiesareoftenmaintainedthroughdifferentialcon-
troloverandaccesstofood.InherethnographicstudyoftheZumbaguaIndiansof
Ecuador, Weismantel (1988) details how cooking, serving, and eating constitute
importantdailyvenuesforassertingandnegotiatingidentityandstatus.Otherstud-
ies have demonstrated how gender disparity is constructed through food. In The
SexualPoliticsofMeat,forinstance,Adams(1990)arguesthatmaledominanceis
symbolizedandcelebratedthroughtheeatingofmeat.Theseandnumerousother
worksunderscorethefactthatfoodhistoricallyhasbeenabothastrongcompo-
nentandmarkerofclass,ethnicity,andstatus.Theyalsosuggestthatcookingand
cuisineconstitutefertilegroundforthegenerationofsymbolsusedintheideolog-
ical and political discourse of any given society (see also Dietler 1996; Hayden
1990,1996).
TheCommensalPoliticsofEarlyStatesandEmpires 3
FOODANDIDENTITY
Recognizingthatidentityisnotanessentialpropertyofindividualsandgroups
butrathermulti-faceted,dynamic,andsituationalleadstoaconsiderationofhow,
where,whenandwithwhatidentityisnegotiated.Givenitscontingentnature,iden-
tityisunderstoodtoberootedinongoingdailypracticeandhistoricalexperience
but also seen as subject to transformation and discontinuity (Jones and Graves-
Brown1996).Asnumerousscholarshavesuggestedinrecentyears,consumption
andmaterialgoodsareintimatelyinvolvedinthecreation,maintenance,andma-
nipulation of identity (see, for example, Bourdieu 1984; Miller 1985; Friedman
1994).
While the old axiom “you are what you eat” is a physiological fact, the
statementencompassesasignificantsocialdimensionaswell.Howandwhatweeat
isoneofthefundamentalwayswedefineourselvesassocialbeingsandmembers
ofagivengroup.Assuggestedabove,foodandthemannerofitsconsumptionis
oneoftheimportantindicatorsofethnicityandclass.AsDietler(1996:91)notes,
the “potential of feasting and hospitality to be manipulated as a tool in defining
socialrelationsliesatthecruxofthenotionofcommensalpolitics.”Thoughonly
oneofmanypotentialfieldsofpoliticalaction,hegoesontosuggestthathospitality
isperhapsoneofthemosteffectiveatdisguisingtheself-interestednatureofthe
process(ibid.).
THEARCHAEOLOGYOFFOOD
Variouskindsofarchaeologicalevidencecanprovideinsightintothepolitical
dimensionsoffood,feasting,andculinarypracticesinancientsocieties.Hastorf
(1991),forinstance,hasanalyzedpaleobotanicalremainsandcollagenrecovered
fromhumanbonetoconsiderhowthedietsofmenandwomeninthecentralAndes
were affected by their incorporation into the Inca empire. Dunbabin (1998:98)
lookstothearchitectureofGreekandRomandiningroomsforinsightsintothe
commensalpoliticsofthesesocieties,suggestingthatformaldiningintheRoman
empirewasintendedtoexpressrankandhierarchy,whileanethosofegalitarianism
wasconveyedinthearchitecturalarrangementofGreekdining.Variousscholars
havefocusedonzooarchaeologicalremainstogetatquestionsofsocialclassand
thedynamicsofpower(e.g.,CraneandCarr1994;Gummerman2001,2002;Pohl
1985). Organic residues found inside ceramic vessels are being used to identify
ancientculinarytechniques(HastorfandDeNiro1985;Samuel1996),whilethe
artofancientsocieties,asseeninstudiesofEgyptiantombpaintings(James1984;
Romer 1984), Sumerian cylinder seals and plaques (Schmandt-Besserat 2001;
Collon1987),andMocheandNazcapottery(YacovleffandHerrera1934;Towle
4 TamaraL.Bray
1961), offers another source of information on banquets, feasting, and special
foodstuffs.
Thepapersinthisvolumefocusontheculinaryequipmentassociatedwith
earlystates.OneofthepointsofdepartureforthesestudiesisBraun’s(1983)piece,
“PotsasTools,”inwhichheurgedanalyststolookbeyondstyleandconsiderthe
functional significance of pottery as well. Several recent works demonstrate the
valueofsuchanapproach.Brumfiel(1991),forinstance,isabletogainimportant
insights into the impact of Aztec imperialism and local responses by directing
attention to the functional significance of pots; Blitz (1993) finds a correlation
betweenfeastingactivitiesandstatusinMississippiansocietybyfocusingonvessel
types, sizes, and distribution; and Potter (2000) similarly documents interesting
changesinthepoliticalsignificanceoffeastingthroughtimebyanalyzingpotsas
culinaryequipment.
As suggested above, food is a basic element in the construction and main-
tenance of social relations of power and inequality. Emphasizing the political
implicationsoffeastingandculinarypractices,thepremiseofthisvolumeisthat
the cooking and serving equipment of early states can provide unique insights
intospecificstrategiesofimperialexpansionandsocialcontrol.Theauthorslook
particularly at the types of vessels that comprised the feasting equipment of the
stateanditsrepresentativesandconsiderthefunctionalsignificanceoftheseforms.
Theylookatthefeaturesthatcharacterizedofficialstatewaresandconsiderhow
these differ from local or antecedent materials. And they consider the contexts
in which official culinary equipment is found and the locations of state feasting
events.Byfocusingonthefunctional,contextual,andstylisticattributesofceramic
vesselsassociatedwithearlystates,thesepaperscollectivelybroadentheinquiry
intothepoliticalandsociallivesofpotsandtheroleofcommensalpoliticsinearly
statesandempires.
ENGENDERINGTHESTUDYOFEARLYSTATECRAFT
Anothersourceofinspirationforthetheoreticalorientationofthepapersin
this volume is recent scholarship in the area of gender studies. As Dietler and
Hayden(2001)pointoutintheIntroductiontotheirrecentvolumeonfeasting,the
issueofgenderrelations,asymmetries,andtransformationsneedstobeaccorded
greateremphasisinstudiesthatfocusonfood,feasting,andthepoliticsofcuisine.
Severalofthepapersincludedherereflectthisconcernwithengenderingthestudy
offeastingandculinarypracticesinancientstates.
In the earliest works to experiment with engendering the archaeological
record,thestudiestendedtofollowtheconceptualandmethodologicalcontours
oftraditionaldisciplinarypracticesandgoals(c.f.,Braithwaite1982;Gibbs1987;
Spector1983).Notlongthereafter,however,feministscholarshipbegantoinspire