Pigs in Space (and Time)

Pork Consumption and Identity Negotiations in the Late Bronze and Iron Ages of Ancient Israel

Bibliographic Data

ID4831044
AuthorsAvraham Faust (0000-0001-7301-7135, corresponding author)
Year2018
Volume81
Issue4
Pages276-299
Publication date2018-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueNear Eastern Archaeology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1094-2076 • E-ISSN: 1557-5594
PublisherUniversity of Chicago Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.5615/neareastarch.81.4.0276
OpenAlexW2908145877
LanguageEN
Citations received12
References cited35

Pork consumption and avoidance became a major issue in the study of ancient Israel in the 1980s. Initial works associated massive consumption of pork with the Philistines and its avoidance with the Israelites, and despite the doubts cast by some later studies, the topic is still closely associated with the study of Iron Age ethnic identities. The extensive data that has accumulated over the years, however, show that the distribution of pork-consuming communities in space and time is not random and, when examined in tandem with the wider social background of this era, can reveal a great deal about Iron Age group interactions and boundary maintenance. It appears that the arrival of the Philistines was a watershed as far as pork consumption was concerned, and in subsequent centuries pork consumption and avoidance correlate closely with the changing strategies of boundary maintenance used by the different groups residing in the region

Ancient history · Archaeology · Art · Bronze Age · Ethnic group · Geography · Israelites · Negotiation · Political science · Social science · Sociology · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Archaeology and Historical Studies · Demography · History · Law · Mormonism, Religion, and History

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