New wine in old wineskins, or old wine in new wineskins?

Organic Residue Analysis to investigate the archaic consumption habits of Western Sicily

Abstract: 

Over the course of the past century, the tradition of classical archaeological research has produced a wide variety of terminologies relating to ceramic artefacts, most of which are associated with an assumed use of specific vessel shapes for particular purposes. These presumed functions have so far been difficult to verify, and even today such verifications are rarely carried out, despite the fact that the necessary methods are readily available.

In particular, the application of biochemical analytical methods to detect former vessel contents has developed considerably in recent years and is now capable of identifying a wide range of substances. The standard analytical procedure, involving gas chromatography and mass spectrometry, can provide information on numerous contents (such as fats, oils, and alcohol) and thereby reveal the actual use of the sampled vessel.

Especially with regard to the question of the consumption behaviour of the indigenous Archaic population on western Sicilian Monte Iato—a colonial contact zone shaped by interactions with Phoenicians and Greeks—the careless use of traditional terminology leads to an unintended “Hellenisation” of the observed consumption patterns when viewed through the lens of the vessel types encountered.

A strategic sampling of diagnostically significant vessels is now intended to reassess this picture.