Our Ethnozooarchaeology volume has several chapters that mention the use of animal fats. The paper on Sardinia is available online: https://www.academia.edu/3427496/A_week_on_the_plateau_Pig_husbandry_mobility_and_resource_exploitation_in_central_Sardinia

I believe that MacKinnon's Production and Consumption of Animals in Roman Italy has further info on the use of fats, especially pig fat.

As for things that you can do with animal fat  (some already mentioned), it can be used in leather treatment, grease, cosmetics, ointments, food preservation and flavouring, fuel, candles, and soap. The type of fat used will likely vary depending on the animals available, access to vegetable fats (like olive oil), and what the fat is needed for. 

Lastly, it's important to note that different types of animal fat have different properties. These vary between tallow (rendered cattle/sheep fat) and lard (pig fat) as well as between back fat (hard subcutaneous fat) and visceral fat.




---------------------------------------------------------

[  Dr Angela C. Trentacoste
[  Etruscan Foundation Research Fellow
[  University of Sheffield
[  Department of Archaeology
[  Northgate House, West Street
[  Sheffield S1 4ET
[  [log in to unmask]

On Nov 17, 2014, at 5:00 AM, ANCIENT-FOOD-TECH automatic digest system wrote:

> Date:    Sun, 16 Nov 2014 12:22:42 +0200
> From:    Barnea Levi Selavan <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: fat use and storage
> 
> Dear list members,
> 
> I am about to initiate research to write a paper on the earliest use and
> storage of animal and bird fats.
> 
> Currently I envision one section on prehistoric times, and then recurring
> again in the Late Bronze-Iron Ages.
> 
> Texts from different ancient cultures;
> evidence of the various processes and required utensils for rendering and
> storing fat;
> and detailing what the potentional uses were,
> are all issues I ask your help in.
> 
> There is medicinal use, working with tools, shield protection, as David
> laments for Saul and Jonathan; foodstuffs.
> Ancient ink, such as in the Qeiyafa ostracon, contained charcoal and animal
> fat. What else?
> 
> In terms of food- why would I use these fats? How long would they last? Are
> there animals that are preferred?
> For example, in some parts of Europe in recent centuries, goose fat was the
> favorite.
> And anyone in the Lower East Side of New York knew the words "chicken
> schmaltz."
> 
> I woudl appreciate your references to writings and lines of investigation.
> 
> 
> Yours
> 
> Barnea Levi Selavan
> MA Program
> Tel Aviv University


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