MELTING POT: Food and Identity in the Age of the Vikings

该项目将使用尖端的生物考古学和材料科学技术，对维京时代英国社会关系中食物和烹饪的作用进行首次系统和跨学科的研究。虽然在考古学和当代政策制定中，食物经常被视为纯粹的营养因素，但它对身份的产生至关重要，特别是在移民和文化接触的背景下，因此在维京时代的研究中，食物是一个重要但被忽视的因素。对这一时期的理解是研究后世和当代文化的基础；它是英国乃至整个欧洲社会的社会、经济、政治和宗教的熔炉。我们需要明白：1；物质文化在烹饪中的作用。是否有可能第一次将特定的容器形式与特定的功能或食物联系起来？烹饪实践受变化和创新影响的程度，在时间和空间上是否存在可变性，这是否可以在个别地点确定？移民、城市化和商业扩张对当地美食的影响。在约克和伊普斯维奇的世界主义entrepôts消费的美食与当代农村地区的美食有显著不同吗？食物与地方政治之间的关系：在政治上截然不同的地区，如英格兰北部和东部的“丹麦法”定居点，或盎格鲁-撒克逊人统治的英格兰南部地区，或丹麦的斯堪的纳维亚“故乡”，是否可以识别出独特的美食？使用尖端的科学技术来识别制造技术，磨损分析来表征使用模式，并分析脂质残留物来确定容器内容物，我们将战略性地记录，取样并分析大量来自不列颠群岛和斯堪的纳维亚半岛分层良好的地点的陶器。我们的工作将分为四个工作包。每个工作计划将评估不同特征的变化，根据环境考古学和文献历史的证据，并得到成功的试点研究的支持。工作包1将比较不同陶瓷和容器形式的残留物分析结果，具有不同的使用磨损和损坏特征。这将告诉我们，特定形式的容器是否被选择性地用于储存、运输、加工、呈现或消费特定的食物，以及物质文化在烹饪中扮演了什么角色（Obj 1）。工作包2将考虑站点内部的变化，通过对在时间和空间上分离的多个上下文的碎片进行可控的比较。这将告诉我们，在任何给定的地点，烹饪实践在多大程度上受到变化和创新的影响（Obj 2）。工作包3将比较来自不同地点的陶瓷残留物分析结果。这将告诉我们，在约克和伊普斯维奇的世界性entrepôts消费的美食是否与当代农村地区的体验有显著不同（Obj 3）。工作包4将比较来自丹麦、英格兰南部和斯堪的纳维亚南部遗址的陶瓷残留物分析结果。这将告诉我们，在政治上不同的地区，是否可以识别出独特的美食（Obj 4）。我们的研究结果将通过开放获取的期刊文章、会议报告、博物馆展示材料、带有博客的网站、相关的社交媒体以及可供公众和兴趣团体（童子军、女童军和青年考古学家俱乐部）下载的资源和活动来传播。该项目将有利于维京时代的学术研究，以及更广泛的食品研究。将其应用于儿童和当地社区的活动和资源将有助于提高对当今全球流动和文化接触世界中复杂的身份表达的理解。

This project will use cutting-edge bioarchaeological and materials-science techniques to undertake the first systematic and interdisciplinary study of the role of food and cooking in forging social relationships in Viking-Age Britain. Though often seen in purely nutritional terms - in both archaeology and contemporary policy making - food is central to the production of identity, particularly in contexts of migration and culture contact, and is thus an important but overlooked element in the study of the Viking Age. Understanding of this period is fundamental to the study of later and contemporary culture; it was the social, economic, political, and religious crucible of English and wider European society. We need to understand:1. The role of material culture in cuisine. Is it possible to associate for the first time particular vessel forms with particular functions or foodstuffs?2. The degree to which culinary practice was subject to change and innovation, was there variability in time and space, and can this be identified at individual sites?3. The impact of migration, urbanisation and commercial expansion on local cuisines. Were the cuisines consumed in the cosmopolitan entrepôts of York and Ipswich significantly different to those experienced in contemporary rural sites?4. The relationship between food and local politics: may distinctive cuisines be identified in politically disparate areas such as the 'Danelaw' settlement of northern and eastern England, or the southern areas of England governed by Anglo-Saxon Wessex, or the Scandinavian 'homelands' of Denmark?Using cutting-edge scientific techniques to identify manufacturing techniques, wear analysis to characterise mode of use, and analysis of lipid residues to establish vessel contents, we will strategically record, sample, and analyse a large quantity of pottery from well-stratified sites across the British Isles and Scandinavia. Our work will be organised into four work packages. Each WP will assess variation in different traits, informed by evidence from environmental archaeology and documentary history, and supported by a successful pilot study.Work package 1 will compare the results of residue analyses on ceramics of diverse ware and vessel form, with various characteristics of use-wear and damage. This will tell us if particular forms of vessel were being used selectively in order to store, transport, process, present, or consume particular foodstuffs, and thus what role was played by material culture in the making of cuisines (Obj 1).Work package 2 will consider intra-site variation, through controlled comparison between sherds from multiple contexts separated in time and space. This will tell us the degree to which culinary practice was subject to change and innovation at any given site (Obj 2).Work package 3 will compare the results of residue analyses on ceramics from sites of diverse character. This will tell us if the cuisines consumed in the cosmopolitan entrepôts of York and Ipswich were significantly different to those experienced in contemporary rural sites (Obj 3).Work package 4 will compare the results of residue analyses on ceramics from sites in the Danelaw, southern England and southern Scandinavia. This will tell us whether distinctive cuisines can be identified in politically disparate areas (Obj 4). Our results will be disseminated via open access journal articles, conference presentations, museum display materials, a website with blog, associated social media, and downloadable resources and events for the public and interest groups (Scouts, Girlguides and Young Archaeologists' Club). The project will benefit the scholarly study of the Viking Age, and of food studies more generally. Its application in events and resources for children and local communities will aid the effort to improve understanding of the complex expression of identity in today's world of global mobility and culture contact.