The Role of Consumption In Social Change

University Of California-Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara CA

Investigators

Abstract

The goal of this project is to investigate wine consumption, social distinction, and identity in colonial and post-colonial contexts. Alcohol production and consumption have been an integral part of the human experience since ancient times, and the consumption of wine has long been linked to broader patterns of political and social activity. Archaeology is well suited to contribute to a growing body of literature on the special role of alcoholic beverages by considering the complex relationships between humans and alcohols across time. Alcoholic beverages tend to be subsumed under the general category of foodways or, in the case of valuable beverages like wine, grouped in the political economy with other luxury goods. But how does the consumption of this beverage transcend other kinds of food and luxury goods, particularly in the context of intercultural interaction and colonialism? Both today and in the past, wine consumption plays a special role in marking boundaries of group inclusion or exclusion—who drinks, when, and where are often representative of broader group identities and reflect how alcohols are incorporated into social worlds, a topic of broad relevance in the past and present day. Combining traditional ceramic analysis with chemical residue analysis the research team will add a novel case study in commensal politics that will add to the larger literature that emphasizes the special character of alcoholic beverages, particularly in the context of colonial frontiers. The investigators will study ancient wine from archaeological collections from two colonial sites. The long continuity of occupation at these sites is ideal for an examination of drinking across the ebb and flow of varying control over the region. This study of alcoholic beverages and drinking practices engages with larger archaeological and anthropological questions regarding the intersection of practices of drinking and the consumption of valuable foodstuffs, in this case wine, in the context of a colonial frontier. The research team’s exploration of additional biomarkers has the potential to enhance existing methods and identify the regionality of wine archaeologically. These topics, in combination with cutting-edge laser and computational techniques, lend themselves extraordinary well to outreach activities across countries, connecting researchers and students as well as capturing the interest of the broader public. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.