The archaeology and politics of food and feasting in early states and empires The Commensal Politics of Early States and Empires Tamara L. Bray Feasts Funerals and Fast Food in Early Mesopotamian States Susan Pollock Pharaohs Feasts and Foreigners: Cooking Foodways and Agency on Ancient Egypts Southern Frontier Stuart Tyson Smith Feasting the Ancestors in Early China Sarah Milledge Nelson To Dine Splendidly: Imperial Pottery Commensal Politics and the Inca State Tamara L. Bray From Stew Eaters to Maize Drinkers: The Chicha economy and the Tiwanaku Expansion Paul S. Goldstein Pots Politics and Power: Huari Ceramic Assemblages and Imperial Administration Anita G. Cook and Mary Glowacki Feasting at Home: Community and House Solidarity among the Maya of Southeastern Mesoamerica Julia A. Hendon Aztec Feasts Rituals and Markets: Political Uses of Ceramic Vessels in a Commercial Economy Michael E. Smith Jennifer B. Wharton and Jan Marie Olson Clearing the Table: Some Concluding Reflections on Commensal Politics and Imperial States Michael Dietler Feasting and the Practice of Stately Manners Joan M. Gero Food and feasting are increasingly recognized as having played a prominent role in the emergence of social hierarchies and the negotiation of power. Given the culinary nature of feasts the archaeological visibility of such events is increased by the use of containers for both food preparation and consumption. The papers in this volume examine the commensal politics of early states and empires and offer a comparative perspective on how food and feasting have figured in the political calculus of archaic states in both the Old and New Worlds. The contributors provide important new insights into the strategies of early statecraft and the role of pots as political tools by focusing on questions such as: What was the nature of the relationship between food power status and identity in the context of early states Was feasting a universally important element in the construction of state power How do archaeologically discernible patterns of state feasting compare cross culturally and through time