Manipulating the Bones: Eating and augury in the Maltese Temples

Paper exploring the role of animals and food in the development of feasting ritual in Neolithic Malta "Few social occasions demand greater effort in terms of playacting and ritual behaviour than feasts. These may require clothes to demonstrate status and affil- iation, and the participants must play a role that is almost theatrical, employing special manners and rituals in the public consumption of food. The food served is also different, special and imbued with sym- bolic values through its presentation, preparation and the manner of its disposal. This chapter explores the nature of play in feasts and special celebratory meals and the multiple symbols used in the components of the feast, combined with the playacting involved in one context of European prehistory. The drama of formal eating involves not only the place and its paraphernalia (the space, table, dishes, cutlery, and lighting), but also the food (alive, dead and cooked) and its presentation. Much of the consumption is structured and organised as if part of a dramatic per- formance such as the order of the dishes and their ingredients (for example, soup, followed by fish and meat), the way they are served and the participation of the guests involved. There will be first feeders, high tables, and such formalities are the very stuff of drama and playacting, combined with ritual action in the mannered, repeated and deeply embedded order of action. Status is especially important for both the guest and the host, and dramatists and writers have long parodied dinner parties as mirrors of society in a given place and time. Patronius’ Satyricon and his" "depiction of “Dinner at Trimalchio” (Sullivan 2011) is just one splendid example of dramatic excess and pomp in the Roman world. For prehistory, insight into the tastes of a society is difficult, although plenty of evidence survives that might hint at the drama and play of competitive feasting."