We Are What We Eat!

Pottery (ceramic vessels) is one of the most important inventions in human history. In spite of its importance, however, very few things about the use of pottery has been revealed: what did they cook in pots? Recent rapid development of pottery lipid analysis is starting to tell us how early pottery was used and what its role in the local societies was.

Diet is an integral part of who we are and can be a reflection of faith, culture and our place in the world. This talk introduces how scientific analysis of human and animal bones (stable isotopes) can be used to understand diets in the past. We will explore how this technique has revealed aspects of the lives of people living in the multi-faith society of Medieval Spain where Christians, Muslims and Jews coexisted for several hundred years.