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FASA Colloquium
September 30, 2016 @ 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm
FASA would like to invite you to this week’s colloquium.
Date: Friday, September 30th
Location: Turlington 1208
Time: 3pm
Speaker: Michelle Eusebio
Exploring Cuisine and Community Identity in Neolithic and Metal Age Southeast Asia: Organic Residue Analysis of Pottery
This presentation is based on my dissertation research, which will focus more on its archaeological component. It investigates the culinary practices in Southeast Asia during the Neolithic and Metal Age (3000 BC-AD 500) by analysis of food residues recovered from earthenware pottery. With a focus on southern Vietnam, it addresses how the preparation and/or consumption of food varied between four different sites – Rạch Núi, An Sơn (Neolithic), Lò Gạch, and Gò Ô Chùa (Metal Age) – to explore change and continuity of cuisine between succeeding time periods in the same region and community identities based on shared cuisine. Organic residue analysis was conducted on sampled pottery vessels from four archaeological sites to identify former food contents (terrestrial animals and plants, aquatic resources). Data assayed include lipid biomarker compound distributions, compound-specific carbon isotopes of palmitic (C16) and stearic (C18) acids, as well as bulk carbon and nitrogen isotopes. The results indicate that the people who inhabited these sites in prehistory probably belonged to different communities of practice and may have distinct community identities based on their culinary practices. Despite this distinctiveness, there is a possible continuity of culinary practices involving the usage of earthenware pottery vessels to prepare and serve plant and aquatic food sources from Neolithic to Metal Age. This continuity is also demonstrated by the usage of pottery for preparing and serving a common plant food source available within the vicinities of three inland sites. This research is the first microregional and diachronic survey of food residues in Southeast Asia that aims to explore identity based on shared practices. Since this research ‘concludes’ as exploratory, further plans will also be mentioned and inputs from the audience are welcome.