The transformation of food ingredients into meals corresponds to complex choices resulting from the interplay of environmental and cultural factors: available ingredients, technologies of transformation, cultural perceptions of food, as well as taste and food taboos. Project PLANTCULT (ERC Consolidator Grant, GA 682529) aims to investigate prehistoric culinary cultures from the Aegean to Central Europe by focusing on plant foods and associated food preparation technologies spanning the Neolithic through to the Iron Age. Our paper offers an overview of the lines of investigation pursued within the project to address plant food preparation and related stone tool technologies. The wide range of plant foods from the area under investigation (ground cereals, breads, beer, pressed grapes, split pulses, etc.) suggests great variability of culinary preparations. Yet, little is known of the transformation technologies involved (e.g., pounding, grinding, and boiling). Changes in size and shape of grinding stones over time have been associated with efficiency of grinding, specific culinary practices and socioeconomic organisation. Informed by ethnography and experimental data, as well as ancient texts, PLANTCULT integrates archaeobotanical food remains and associated equipment to address these issues. We utilize a multifaceted approach including the study of both published archaeological data and original assemblages from key sites. We aim to develop methods for understanding the interaction of tool type, use-wear formation and associated plant micro- and macro- remains in the archaeological record. Our experimental program aims to generate (a) reference material for the identification of plant processing in the archaeological record and (b) ingredients for the preparation of experimental plant foods, which hold a key role to unlocking the recipes of prehistory. Plant processing technologies are thus investigated across space and through time, in an attempt to explore the dynamic role of culinary transformation of plant ingredients into shaping social and cultural identities in prehistoric Europe.

中文翻译：

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史前欧洲的植物性食物、石器和食物制备：ERC 资助项目 PLANTCULT 背景下的综合方法

食物成分转化为膳食对应于环境和文化因素相互作用产生的复杂选择：可用的成分、转化技术、食物的文化观念，以及口味和食物禁忌。PLANTCULT 项目（ERC Consolidator Grant, GA 682529）旨在通过关注从新石器时代到铁器时代的植物性食物和相关的食物制备技术，研究从爱琴海到中欧的史前烹饪文化。我们的论文概述了该项目中为解决植物食品制备和相关石器技术而进行的调查。来自被调查地区的各种植物性食物（磨碎的谷物、面包、啤酒、压榨葡萄、豆类等）) 表明烹饪准备的变化很大。然而，对于所涉及的转化技术（例如，捣碎、研磨和煮沸）知之甚少。随着时间的推移，磨石大小和形状的变化与磨削效率、特定烹饪实践和社会经济组织有关。受人种学和实验数据以及古代文献的启发，PLANTCULT 整合了考古植物食物残骸和相关设备来解决这些问题。我们采用多方面的方法，包括研究已发表的考古数据和关键遗址的原始组合。我们的目标是开发方法来了解考古记录中工具类型、使用磨损形成以及相关的植物微观和宏观遗骸之间的相互作用。我们的实验计划旨在生成 (a) 用于鉴定考古记录中的植物加工的参考材料和 (b) 用于制备实验植物食品的成分，这对于解开史前食谱起着关键作用。因此，人们对植物加工技术进行了跨越空间和时间的研究，试图探索植物成分的烹饪转化在塑造史前欧洲的社会和文化身份方面的动态作用。