From Ovens to Pots. Cooking and Consumption Patterns Between the Late Neolithic and the Chalcolithic in the Eastern Tigris Region
CAMPEGGI, Michael
This paper aims to explore patterns in food preparation and consumption between the Halaf and Ubaid periods (5500-4500 BCE) in the Eastern Tigris region in Mesopotamia through an integrated analysis of fire installations and ceramic vessels. Using the site of Helawa in the Erbil Plain as the main case study, it will review the different types of ovens and tannurs and their location within buildings. Subsequently, changes in vessel shape, technology, and spatial distribution will also be investigated to reconstruct the practices related to the consumption of food and liquids between the Halaf and the Ubaid period. Finally, the evidence from Helawa will be compared with Halaf and Ubaid contexts in the region to examine how the study of commensality may contribute to our understanding of the wider social changes which took place between the 6th and 5th millennium BCE across the Eastern Tigris.
Session 4. Crafting Identity and Clusters through Material Culture, Iconography and Texts [info]