Social foodways with biomolecular archaeology: examples from the eastern Baltic

Public lecture by Professor Ester Oras, University of Tartu

Abstract

The talk focuses on different biomolecular archaeology methods used in ancient dietary reconstructions. I will introduce the main analytical approaches used for studying past foodways from archaeological pottery and skeletal remains. Thereafter, different case studies from the eastern Baltic will be used to exemplify dietary divergencies across different social groups, archaeological contexts and source materials, and emphasise the importance of multi-proxy and multi-analyte research agendas.

The lecture is part of the School of Archaeology Lecture Series.

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After the lecture, we invite you to join us in our new premises (South Campus, room 12-4-58) for a glass of wine and snacks.

Bio

Ester Oras is an archaeochemist bridging humanities and natural sciences through combining analytical chemistry, ancient material culture studies and social archaeology. Her main field of research is biomolecular archaeology (lipids, proteins) for ancient dietary and health reconstructions, but she has also worked on isotope-based migration studies and the analysis of inorganic materials. Ester is the founder and director of the Archemy Lab and research group at the University of Tartu, Estonia.