ARCAN Laboratory, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
UMR 8215 Trajectoires, CNRS, France.
PLoS One. 2024 May 29;19(5):e0295794. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0295794. eCollection 2024.
Because they hold information about cultural identity, foodways have been the focus of a variety of disciplines in archaeology. However, each approach documents different stages of culinary preparation and is constrained by the preservation specificities of each type of artefact and ecofact. Difficulties in achieving an interdisciplinary approach may explain the scarcity of such studies. In this paper, we propose a methodology that combines archaeozoological, carpological and microbotanical analysis of ecofacts retrieved in the sediment, with use-alteration, organic residue and microbotanical analysis carried out on pottery vessels, recovered during the excavation of a XXth century archaeological dump site in Lower Casamance (Senegal). The results demonstrate the strength of this multiproxy approach in reconstructing past foodways by characterising the importance of aquatic, terrestrial animals and plant products in the Diola Kassa diet. In addition, this study questions the modalities of food transformation by assessing the preparation techniques of animal and vegetal products (cutting marks, heating processes etc.) and the function of pottery vessels (transport, storage, cooking etc.). Aquatic products and rice were a significant part of the diet of the users of the dump (from archaeozoology, carpology, phytoliths and organic residue analysis) and wet cooking (boiling?), salty and acidic foods seem to have been particularly prevalent (from use-alteration). The absence of specific animal and plant parts in the archaeological record, as well as some pottery function, is also questioned. Beyond gathering the results of each approach, this study focuses on the interweaving of different research methods to depict past foodscape.
由于食物文化承载着文化身份信息，因此一直是考古学中诸多学科的关注焦点。然而，每种方法记录的都是烹饪准备的不同阶段，并且受到每种类型文物和生态文物保存特点的限制。难以实现跨学科方法可能是此类研究稀缺的原因。在本文中，我们提出了一种方法，将从沉积物中提取的生态文物的考古动物学、孢粉学和微体植物学分析，与在挖掘下卡萨芒斯（塞内加尔）一个 20 世纪考古垃圾场时，对陶器容器进行的使用痕迹、有机残留物和微体植物学分析相结合。研究结果表明，这种多指标方法在重建过去的饮食方式方面具有很强的优势，可以通过确定水生、陆地动物和植物产品在迪奥拉卡萨饮食中的重要性来实现。此外，本研究通过评估动物和植物产品的加工技术（切割痕迹、加热过程等）以及陶器容器的功能（运输、储存、烹饪等），对食物转化的方式提出了质疑。从考古动物学、孢粉学、植硅体和有机残留物分析可知，水生产品和大米是垃圾场使用者饮食的重要组成部分，而且可能采用了湿煮（炖煮？）方法，咸的和酸的食物似乎特别流行（从使用痕迹来看）。考古记录中缺乏特定的动植物部分，以及一些陶器的功能，也受到了质疑。除了汇总每种方法的结果外，本研究还侧重于不同研究方法的交织，以描绘过去的食物景观。
