Eating and drinking in the sanctuary of Poseidon
The triangular area of the dining deposit from around 165 BC. C. Mauzy.
The excavation outside the SW corner of Building D revealed an unusual feature. A large amount of broken pottery, small finds, animal remains and carbonised material were concentrated in a triangular area, purposely arranged for the enclosure of these materials. The deposit was carefully excavated, and the remains were collected by hand and by water flotation of several soil samples. The recording was detailed and special attention was paid to issues of taphonomy and distribution. The finds were analysed and the synthesis of the results led to the formulation of the following narrative which is a possible interpretation of the function and nature of the archaeological finds which once were a part of a particular event taking place in the sanctuary.
At around 165 BC a very large feast was held at the sanctuary of Poseidon: more than two hundred people ate and drank there together. They consumed meat of kids, lambs, veal and pork, probably of animals which had been sacrificed before the feast. The menu also included eggs, birds and a panorama of marine creatures, from rocky fish, tunas and gray mullet to limpets and top shells. Vegetable foods were also eaten during this feast, and fruits and nuts completed the meal. The food was boiled or stewed rather than roasted in a variety of small and large, deep and shallow cooking pots. Drinks, perhaps wine, were consumed during the meal. When the feasting meal was over, all pots and pans, cups and pitchers were broken. Some of the resulting refuse was thrown away but a part of it was deliberately heaped outside Building D, in a confined triangular space and covered by soil preventing any spoiling and disturbance of these remains either by humans or by animals.
Fish bones and limpet shells from the dining deposit.
This imagined scenario is fully supported by the archaeological finds. It generates, however, a series of questions. What was the event that prompted the feast? Was such a large feast a regular or extraordinary occurrence in the sanctuary of Poseidon in the 2nd century BC? Who participated in the feast? Was this feast part of the formal cultic practice in the sanctuary or did it have a more profane character? These are the type of questions we have set ourselves to solve in the course of our investigation of the sanctuary at Kalaureia.
DM
