Food, meals, and daily activities:: Food habitus at Neolithic Catalhoyuk

We consider the daily practices of food preparation and consumption at the Neolithic Anatolian site of Catalhoyuk. We present the major food activities suggested from the archaeological evidence, including the timing and range of possible ingredients eaten by the residents of this thousand-year settlement. Plant, animal, and mineral resources, as well as the food production and preparation practices, are viewed in the context of the seasonal cycle. The food-related activities practiced at Catalhoyuk within each of the seasons are placed into five primary groups: production and procurement, processing, cooking, presentation, and eating. The daily household acts associated with these categories are discussed in detail. Using flora, fauna, micromorphological, lithic, cerantic, clay and architectural evidence, we present a picture of a community that was relatively healthy. The residents had a diet that relied heavily oil plant foodstuffs, with wildplants remaining all important and valuable part of the daily and seasonal food practices throughout. The people of Catalhoyuk ate a range of animal products, including meat obtained from domesticated sheep/goats, wild cattle, small and large game, and to a more limited extent, eggs and waterfowl. Their social life can be seen through these foodways.