Multiple perspectives on culinary traditions in 2nd millennium BCE northern Po Plain

What is currently known about subsistence, diet, and food processing in the Northern Po Plain during the 2nd millennium BCE? To what extent are different proxies analysed collectively in the current published literature? How can data obtained from diverse proxies be most effectively integrated? How can research in this field be advanced through the integrated analysis of multiple datasets? This contribution aims to address these questions by proposing a two-step research path. Taking the Northern Po Plain in the 2nd millennium BCE as a case-study, our first goal is to provide a comprehensive review of published data on the following proxies: 1) food-related objects; 2) structures and facilities associated with food processing; 3) archaeobotanical datasets on edible plants; 4) zooarchaeological datasets on edible faunal resources; 5) isotopic data obtained from human and animal remains. As a second step, we propose an integrated analysis of the mentioned datasets in the case-study region, aiming to understand if a specific characteristic or change detected in one of the explored fields has implications in one or more of the others. For example, is there a correlation between the introduction of a new crop and the material culture? Does the succession in archaeological cultural aspects manifest in changes in the type of diet? The goal of this research is to develop a method for gaining a deeper understanding of this crucial part of human history, which we believe can only be understood through the integration of knowledge. This will not only contribute to establishing a common ground that will refine the interpretation of archaeological contexts in field research, but also lead to the formulation of new research questions that expand our knowledge of the lives of people in the past. This work is in collaboration with the ERC CoG project GEODAP (Geoarchaeology of Daily Practices).