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Food is both a biological necessity and a social necessity. Sharing food builds and maintains social relationships, expresses identity, and is often a component of ritual practice. This course uses archaeological methods to study food in the distant and recent past, from the relationship between food and the evolution of our hominin ancestors to contemporary foodways. We'll  address major themes in anthropological research on food including: food and human evolution; food acquisition among hunter-gatherer-fisher communities; the inception and spread of agriculture; feasting; and food and identity.