You and your friends are warmly invited to the first lecture of the 2008 Lent Term Gates Distinguished Lecture Series on Tuesday, February 19th. Come and learn something new about archaeological detective work and human social evolution!
The speaker, Professor Martin Jones, is the George Pitt-Rivers Professor of Archaeological Science at Cambridge University. He will be talking about the findings from his recent book, “Feasts: Why humans share food”, published by the Oxford University Press.
Why do humans share food?
Old Combination Room (OCR), Trinity College
Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2008
5:30-6:00 pm: Wine reception
6:00-7:00 pm: Lecture followed by Q&A
Is sharing food such an everyday, unremarkable occurrence? In fact, the human tendency to sit together peacefully over food is a rather
extraordinary phenomenon, and one which many species find impossible or undesirable. It is also a phenomenon with far-reaching consequences for the global environment and human social evolution. So how did this strange and powerful behaviour come about?
Drawing on evidence from some of the most meticulously recorded archaeological excavations, Martin Jones will argue how humans came to
share food in the first place and how the human meal has evolved through time. Comparing meals shared in different millennia, both by modern humans and by hominids, he will also tackle the question posed by the title, and
suggest why our species his gone down this unusual path.
