Hittite Cuisine: Fire Installations, Cooking Pots and Foodways in Central Anatolia during the Late Bronze Age

Food and cooking methods are crucial in defining group identity and social relations, as well as in examining domestic economies. This paper aims to study, from a functional and typological point of view, the fire installations and the kitchen wares widespread in central Anatolia during the Late Bronze Age (1650-1200 BC). The archaeological contexts of the main Hittite sites in the Anatolian Plateau have been considered. The analysis and the comparison of the cooking tools (fireplaces, ovens, cooking pots, and baking plates) allow us to obtain additional information about the “Hittite Cuisine”, namely on the cooking techniques and the types of food consumed in the core of Hittite kingdom. Archaeobotanical and archaeozoological data have been integrated with the aim of a better understanding of diets and cooking methods. In addition, some ethnographic observations are discussed, in order to compare ancient and modern cooking practices in Anatolia.