A #ClassicalZooarchaeology Holiday Thread

As you gather with family & friends over a holiday meal, take a moment and recognize how much our food defines us. You probably think of the meal on your plate as timeless, traditions passed on through the generations

You are wrong
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While food has always been central to holiday celebrations, what we eat and how we celebrate has changed drastically

You think your Christmas turkey or Hanukah latkes are timeless?

Yup all those Biblical folks chowing down on fowl and taters
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Our holiday celebrations are framed as smaller, often family focused gatherings. And we’ve developed food production systems to generate all our frozen turkeys and chickens or our cured hams

But it wasn’t always this way
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You have to imagine away our world. No refrigeration or trucks. Much larger families. A different set of livestock, perhaps some cattle for plowing alongside sheep and/or goats for milk or wool and meat

Eating a holiday meal was a totally different event
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Can you imagine the holiday feast after a group of our ancestors spotted a herd of reindeer across the frozen tundra?

Luckily, we have archaeological evidence
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James Enloe shows the sharing of reindeer meat at the Ice Age site of Pincevent over 10,000 years ago

Refitting bones found scattered by different hearths show how these different family groups all shared their feast with each other
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In a pre-refrigeration society, anytime an animal was slaughtered, it was an event. A holiday sacrifice wasn’t just for family, it was for a larger community. After all, better to share and create social bonds rather than letting all that meat go to waste
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As these communities grew into wealthy cities, these holidays grew larger. Athens famously sacrificed a parade of cattle for Athena’s birthday, sharing out beef to all citizens

And it wasn’t just Athena’s birthday
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Holiday sacrifices where meat was shared with a larger community were so common in Athens, that Vincent Rosivach has estimated Athenian citizens (and their families) had access to sacrificed meat almost once a week on average
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This even shows up in the teeth and bones of these Athenians. It’s clear that communal holiday feasts had benefits for all

Isotope tests published by Anna Lagia show the average Athenian (men, women, and even slaves) ate more animal protein than their ancestors
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We can see a similar event in 19th c Cincinnati, aka “Porkopolis”

In 1851, Charles Cist wrote of the Christmas parade of animals, whose meat would be sold in butcher shops

It's a cool parallel to the parade of animals marching through ancient Athens for sacrifice
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But already there’s the impact of modern capitalism. While the parade is still a spectacle, the meat was available for private purchase in family-sized portions

This was no sacrifice, with meat available for all
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However, even in Classical Athens, there were grinches

We don’t know the name of the anonymous author of the short “Constitution of the Athenians,” but he’s so grumpy and conservative that scholars have nicknamed him The Old Oligarch
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He sneers on the Athenian democracy and its support for poorer citizens. He hates that public money is spent on these holiday feasts for the poor

Reminds me of all the Old Oligarchs out there today
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So, remember that holidays have always been about sharing food. With more than just close family and friends

Too many people are hungry today

Can you imagine a world where not barebone meals, but feasts are available for all? That’s a world we should be fighting for
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For citations to the images and research behind this thread, check below: https://twitter.com/FDibbleCitation/status/1210543434337079298

If you want to read more about my research into ancient Greek sacrifice, check out this thread below: https://twitter.com/FlintDibble/status/1032289489039835136?s=19