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 most species find impossible or undesirable. So how did this strange and powerful behaviour come about?

Drawing on evidence from some meticulously recorded archaeological excavations, Martin Jones will explore 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, he will also tackle the question posed by the title, and suggest why our species has gone down this unusual path.

Martin Jones

Martin Jones has been George Pitt-Rivers Professor of Archaeological Science at the University of Cambridge since 1990, and in the previous decade held a lectureship at the University of Durham. Throughout his career he has been examining the fragmentary traces of ancient food from the archaeological record.

The focus of his research is the changing human use of plants as a source of food, and the relationships between the meal, the food quest and wider patterns of change in society and the human environment. His research group bring together methods from archaeology, biology, genetics, and chemistry, to explore a range of case studies spanning the globe. His current research projects include: an examination of early food sharing circles in the Upper Palaeolithic of Central Europe; an exploration of North Chinese farming origins and their impact on Asia and Europe; and a study of pathways of agricultural spread within Europe. His more recent publications include The molecule hunt: archaeology and the search for ancient DNA and Feast: why humans share food.

In association with Oxford University Press