Elite Food Between the Late Middle Ages and Renaissance: Some Case Studies from Latium

Abstract

© Association for Environmental Archaeology 2021. The study of plant and animal remains from archaeological sites provides important evidence about past human diets and habits: this includes species selection, food preparation, consumption and disposal practices. Furthermore, such information may also provide inferences about social status. Data from refuse disposal features identified in some elite contexts in central Italy–a high-status residence in Celleno Vecchio (Viterbo) and the Baglioni-Santacroce castle in Graffignano (Viterbo), both in northern Latium, as well as the Santi Quattro Coronati ecclesiastical complex in Rome–allow to explore, using archaeobotanical, archaeozoological and genetic data, some of the different ways in which people expressed wealth by means of food during a period between the late Middle Ages and Renaissance.