Preliminary communication
https://doi.org/10.33254/piaz.42.1.4
A spoonful of stew: dietary practices of the Lasinja culture population in Eastern Croatia revealed by organic residue analysis of ceramic spoons from Čepinski Martinci
Mateja Hulina
orcid.org/0009-0007-6026-6707
; Institute of Archaeology, Zagreb, Croatia
*
Hrvoje Kalafatić
; Institute of Archaeology, Zagreb, Croatia
Cynthianne Spiteri
orcid.org/0000-0003-1773-3895
; Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
* Corresponding author.
Abstract
Cutlery and kitchen utensils can provide a wealth of information about the diet of past communities. Ceramic spoons are among the typical forms of the Lasinja culture. They consist of a recipient, a socket for the handle, and an organic handle, and were used for manipulating or consuming food or beverages in liquid and/or mushy form. Analyses of organic residues, most often absorbed into the ceramic walls of vessels, are a common part of archaeological research today and can reveal information about the use of the vessels, as well as details about the diet of past communities, the exploitation of natural resources (plants and animals), and aspects of medicine, cosmetics, and funeral rituals. In this paper, five spoons of the Lasinja culture from Čepinski Martinci – an Eneolithic settlement in eastern Croatia – were analysed to determine the types of contents that were manipulated with them and how this data, together with previously known zooarchaeological and archaeobotanical evidence, can contribute to our understanding of the Lasinja community’s diet at that site and more broadly in Croatia.
Keywords
Eneolithic; Lasinja culture; ceramic spoons; organic residues; diet
Hrčak ID:
335550
URI
Publication date:
19.9.2025.
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