Periodo di studio e ricerca presso la Freie Universitaet Berlin (Germania) relativo a progetto: Foodways in the development of inequalities

Congedo per motivi di studio. Consiglio di Dipartimento del 27/4/2016. richiesta di congedo uffici competenti sapienza protocollo 29086, 28/4/2016

The aim of the present research is to investigate the dynamics of development of institutionalised hierarchies and inequality in Greater Mesopotamia through the analysis of food politics. The first definitive appearance of social inequalities in this region can be attributed to the 5th millennium BCE Ubaid period, but it is in the 4th millennium, no later than 3300 BCE that the first centralised states were born. These states were based around institutions that controlled production and distribution of primary resources. The aim of my project is to investigate the process that brought the first social hierarchies to the point of being institutionalised, a development that lasted over a millennium. The period in question is the Late Chalcolithic (LC) specifically phases 1-4 (c. 4500-3300 BCE) preceding state formation in LC5. My project is centred around the theme of food. The analysis of food consumption and preparation can give us insights into commensal groups and socio-economic relations within communities, and thus be essential for the recognition of inequalities. With this in mind, the aim of the present research is to investigate food-related practices to understand how and when food relations became an element of social and political diversification employed as a means for defining and reinforcing differences.