Application of Organic Residue Analysis for the Investigation of Foodways during the Angkorian-Early Modern Transition (12th–15th centuries)

Elara Ferguson-Coyles1*, Michelle S. Eusebio2, Vito C. Hernandez1, Martin Polkinghorne1, LENG Vitou3, PHON Kaseka4, and SUY Pov5

The application of organic residue analysis on archaeological ceramics has become a key technique in the investigation of ancient food and foodways. Understanding the lipids and other biomolecules preserved in matrices and interior surfaces of ceramics assists in uncovering information regarding food acquisition, processing, cooking, storage, and distribution, in association with daily life, ritual practices, medical traditions, and social identities. However, despite its growing application in other geographic areas organic residue analysis for addressing ancient cuisines remains largely underutilised in Southeast Asia. This could be due to the study of food beyond subsistence and environmental reconstruction has only recently gaining traction in the region, in comparison with other tropical regions. To contribute to the increasing applications of organic residue analysis in inferring the role of pottery in ancient cuisines of Southeast Asia, this paper discusses the developing study on the analysis of food residues on ceramics from occupation mounds in the Tuol Basan/Srei Santhor region to better understand ancient foodways of Cambodian societies during the Angkorian-Early Modern transition. Sherds from domestic contexts will be studied through existing lipid extraction methods and gas chromatography–mass spectrometric techniques. The findings will be integrated from other lines of evidence, such as from techno-functional analyses of the sherds, archaeobotany, zooarchaeology, ethnohistorical, ethnoarchaeology, and landscape studies. The results of the study will contribute to the limited understanding of Cambodian food related technologies and foodways.