This article explores the Early Iron Age and Archaic pottery of the ancient polis Stratos and the Stratiké. Through an examination of this pottery it has been possible to discern how the diet and the preparation of food in the first half of the first millennium BC developed. Through the reconstruction of the shapes of the vessels I determine the functions of the vessels (drinking, eating, storage, pouring vessels and kitchen pottery) and their development. The pottery is representative of two settlements and a sanctuary and the long period from EIA to Archaic offers the possibility of a diachronical as well as a contextual examination of the shapes, their functions and nutrition patterns. Macroscopical research of the fabric and the surface give evidence of the production patterns and the technique of decoration, which complete the determination of the development of shapes and function of the pottery. The results of archaeozoological and archaebotanical research of Akarnania shows the ecological, cultural and economical interactions with the ceramics to illustrate a balanced impression of the nutrition patterns of the Akarnanians from the Early Iron Age to the Archaic Period.

Aus physiologischer Sicht ist Fleisch zwar kein vollkommen unverzichtbarer Bestandteil der menschlichen Ernährung, sein gemeinsamer Konsum und seine Verteilung nehmen aber einen besonderen Stellenwert im soziopolitischen Zusammenleben ein. Die vorliegende Untersuchung stellt Möglichkeiten und Methoden zur Diskussion, sich dem Stellenwert des Fleischkonsums innerhalb der Ernährung im geometrischen und archaischen Griechenland anzunähern. Im Zentrum stehen jedoch die sozialen Funktionen dieses Verhaltens [z. B. innerhalb von Machtverhältnissen und/oder Geschlechterverhältnissen] und eine Auseinandersetzung mit damit zu verbindenden Instrumenten, wie etwa Messern. In Fallstudien werden die konkreten Fundvergesellschaftungen von Messern und Tierknochen in griechischen Heiligtümern und Nekropolen analysiert, differenziert und mögliche Interpretationsebenen aufgezeigt. Zudem werden Reflexionen über Konsum und Verteilung von Fleisch in der zeitgenössischen Vasenmalerei und Literatur untersucht, besonders die Motive des Fleischverteilers / Opferherrn und der ab dem 6. Jhs. v.Chr. zu fassenden größeren Opfergemeinschaft. From a physiological point of view, meat may not be an entirely indispensable part of the human diet, but its communal consumption and distribution do occupy a special position in socio-political life. The present study introduces possibilities and methods for approaching the significance of meat consumption in the diet of Geometric and Archaic Greece. However, the main focus is on the social functions of such behaviours [e.g. as part of power or gender relations], as well as a discussion of the artefacts connected to it, such as knives. Case studies analyse the actual co-occurrence of knives and animal bone in assemblages from Greek sanctuaries and necropoleis, differentiate the patterns and demonstrate possible interpretative levels. In addition, reflections on the consumption and distribution of meat in contemporary vase painting and literature are examined, in particular the motifs of the meat distributor / offerant and of the sacrificial community, represented from the 6th century onwards.