Third Food Revolution? Setting the Bronze Age Table: Common Trends in Economic and Subsistence Strategies in Bronze Age Europe

Subsistence systems play a central role in the economic life of past societies due to the centrality of human nutritional requirements. This proceedings volume of the conference session "Setting The Bronze Age Table: Production, Subsistence, Diet and their Implications for European Landscapes"- held at the Graduate School "Human Development in Landscape" conference "Socio-Environmental Dynamics over the Last 12,000 Years: The Creation of Landscapes III" in 2013 in Kiel - was interested in hearing from researchers working at both ends of the societal-mundane scale of food studies about how everyday aspects of food production a_ected the larger social structures which drew upon them. While food is undeniably a necessity, the various types of food, preparation methods and the ways in which it is consumed are - to a great extent - social activities and often linked to cultural ideas. Acceptable diets or ways of cooking and serving food are culturally contextualised to this day. We only need to think of knives and forks as compared to chopsticks to realise that di_erent societies adopt di_erent, culturally-specific means of solving the same issues related to food. The synthesis of the contributions to these proceedings describes a probable "Third Food Revolution" within the onset of the Late Bronze Age. This "food revolution" is only one part of a wider range of changes that occurs from the beginning to the end of the second millennium and implies societal transformation along with dietary and agricultural changes. The term "food revolution" will hopefully stimulate further research and discussion about the ancient foodscape . time to set the Bronze Age table!