Exploring the intersection between the archaeology of religious ritual practices and social food archaeology

This volume draws together the joint worlds of social food archaeology and the archaeology of ritual and religion-areas of research that have both seen a significant rise in intellectual investment in recent years.Sitting at the intersection of the two fields, the papers presented in this volume demonstrate the way ritual food practices can be approached from diverse methodological perspectives.Unlike with broader examinations of foodways, the remit for this volume constrained the authors to focus only on evidence that could address questions relating to ritual and religious practices.As this can be more ephemeral in the archaeological and historical record, it adds a layer of difficulty to the research it emphasises more than ever the importance of rigorous methodological practice and interdisciplinary perspectives.Religious ritual food practices, while the primary focus here, are of course inextricably linked with other socio-cultural aspects, as the papers in this volume demonstrate.Belief is a prime motivator for many food-related decisions, such as how food is prepared, who interacts with food in different stages of its life cycle, and the acquisition of certain types of food.In building on the religious ritual dimension of social food archaeology, we can provide a stronger overlapping database from which to make interpretations about ancient life.Food plays a central role in religious ritual practices as a powerful semiotic instrument-the act of eating itself stimulates all the senses simultaneously (Hamilakis et al. 2002: 124).These universal sensory experiences take unique forms in different cultural practices: crumbling communion wafer washed down with sweet wine; sticky iftar dates during Ramadan; praying with soft modak to Ganesha; nutty halva for the dead; baked challah on the Sabbath; the bitterness of omiki to speak with the gods; or syrupy red Fanta for spirit wishes, among innumerable others.Such sensory qualities contribute deeply to the meaning and exploring the interseCtion Between the ArChAeology of religious rituAl prACtiCes And soCiAl food ArChAeology