Food Taboos and Biblical Prohibitions: Reassessing Archaeological and Literary Perspectives

Food Taboos and Biblical Prohibitions: Reassessing Archaeological and Literary Perspectives
Edited by Peter Altmann, Anna Angelini, and Abra Spiciarich

 

[Nahrungstabus und biblische Verbote. Eine Neubewertung archäologischer und literarischer Perspektiven.]

2020. VI, 158 pages.
forthcoming in June

Archaeology and Bible 2

eBook PDF

ISBN 978-3-16-159440-3

DOI 10.1628/978-3-16-159440-3

Open Access

Published in English.

This volume presents contributions from »The Larger Context of the Biblical Food Prohibitions: Comparative and Interdisciplinary Approaches« conference held in Lausanne in June, 2017. The biblical food prohibitions constitute an excellent object for comparative and interdisciplinary approaches given their materiality, their nature as comparative objects between cultures, and their nature as an anthropological object. This volume articulates these three aspects within an integrated and dynamic perspective, bringing together contributions from Levantine archaeology, ancient Near Eastern studies, and anthropological and textual perspectives to form a new, multi-disciplinary foundation for interpretation. 

Survey of contents

Peter Altmann/Anna Angelini/Abra Spiciarich: Introduction: Setting the Table – Peter Altmann/Anna Angelini: Purity, Taboo and Food in Antiquity. Theoretical and Methodological Issues – Stefania Ermidoro: Animals in the Ancient Mesopotamian Diet. Prohibitions and Regulations Related to Meat in the First Millennium BCE – Youri Volokhine: »Food Prohibitions« in Pharaonic Egypt. Discourses and Practices – Abra Spiciarich: Identifying the Biblical Food Prohibitions Using Zooarchaeological Methods – Jonathan S. Greer: Prohibited Pigs and Prescribed Priestly Portions. Zooarchaeological Remains from Tel Dan and Questions Concerning Ethnicity and Priestly Traditions in the Hebrew Bible – Deirdre N. Fulton: Distinguishing Judah and Philistia. A Zooarchaeological View from Ramat Raḥel and Ashkelon – Débora Sandhaus: Continuity, Innovation and Transformation in Cooking Habits. The Central and Southern Shephelah between the Late Fourth and the First Centuries BCE