The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of Diet

Humans are unique among animals for the wide diversity of foods and food preparation techniques that are intertwined with regional cultural distinctions around the world. The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of Diet explores evidence for human diet from our earliest ancestors through the dispersal of our species across the globe.

As populations expanded, people encountered new plants and animals and learned how to exploit them for food and other resources. Today, globalization aside, the results manifest in a wide array of traditional cuisines based on locally available indigenous and domesticated plants and animals. How did this complexity emerge? When did early hominins actively incorporate animal foods into their diets, and later, exploit marine and freshwater resources? What were the effects of reliance on domesticated grains such as maize and rice on past populations and the health of individuals? How did a domesticated plant like maize move from its place of origin to the northernmost regions where it can be grown? Importantly, how do we discover this information, and what can be deduced about human health, biology, and cultural practices in the past and present? Such questions are explored in thirty-three chapters written by leading researchers in the study of human dietary adaptations. The approaches encompass everything from information gleaned from comparisons with our nearest primate relatives, tools used in procuring and preparing foods, skeletal remains, chemical or genetic indicators of diet and genetic variation, and modern or historical ethnographic observations.

Examples are drawn from across the globe and information on the research methods used is embedded within each chapter. The Handbook provides a comprehensive reference work for advanced undergraduate and graduate students and for professionals seeking authoritative essays on specific topics about diet in the human past.

Julia Lee-Thorp, Professor Emerita, School of Archaeology, University of Oxford, M. Anne Katzenberg, Professor Emerita, Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Calgary

Julia Lee-Thorp obtained her PhD in Archaeology at the University of Cape Town in 1989, where she continued to work before her appointment as Research Professor of Archaeological Sciences at the University of Bradford in 2005. In 2010 she moved to the School of Archaeology, University of Oxford before retiring in 2019. She is best known for demonstrating the long-term integrity of stable isotopes in enamel, findings that opened opportunities to explore dietary ecology and environments in the distant and more recent pasts. She has carried out research across the globe, but her main focus remains in African archaeology and palaeoanthropology.

M. Anne Katzenberg completed her PhD in Anthropology at the University of Toronto in 1983. After teaching there for two years, she accepted a position at the University of Calgary where she remained until her retirement in 2019. Her research focused on past human diet and the interaction of diet, disease, and population dynamics. She contributed to early research on the use of nitrogen isotopes for determining the duration of nursing and to debates on the timing of maize cultivation and intensification in North America. Her research collaborations include documenting riverine dietary adaptations in Texas and exploring population dynamics in ancient Paquimé, Mexico.