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In this paper we investigate local foodways and ritual consumption in Iron Age Sicily through a study of cooking pots, integrating contextual, archaeozoological, archaeobotanical and chemical data. We focus on material from the central cult site of the settlement of Monte Iato, located in the hinterland of western Sicily, in order to explore the interaction between food, people, bio-/artefacts and environments as a process of formulating and reformulating social relationships and local power dynamics within specific social spaces and settings. We reveal different foodways and consumption practices within the same cult site, characterized on the one hand by long-standing traditions, with more or less constant and unchanging dishes, and on the other by the integration of external stimuli. We discuss the emergence of foreign- (Greek/Phoenician-) style cooking pots and ingredients as markers of an haute cuisine, developed with the aim of social differentiation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Phoenician pottery findings from Greek settlements constitute a significant source of data to understand cultural interactions in Archaic Sicily, whose investigation in the past was strongly suggested by major scholars and was systematized for the first time only in 2014. This extensive study was conducted within the framework of a contextual analysis, which gave to the material recorded an added value and new research insights. Nevertheless, within the set of contexts previously analysed, those related to the ritual sphere acquire a specific value, as they well express the ontological primacy of material engagement. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to analyse cultural interactions between Phoenicians and Greeks in Sicily through an update and a new understanding about Phoenician pottery findings from ritual contexts, also by taking into account new important discoveries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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