Ester Oras
2025 - 2030 • Starting Grant
How has receiving an ERC grant influenced you as a scientist?
The ERC grant has given wings to my dreams. I believe it represents a newer way in research where natural sciences, history-archaeology, and modern computational approaches are merged to tackle societal questions.
Secondly, as I have always identified myself as a “proud peripheralist”, it has a huge impact on me as a female scientist from Eastern Europe. The ERC grant is a token of value and a proof of concept that what we are doing here in Tartu and in my amazing Archemy group deserves full international scientific attention and approval.
Photo: Argo Ingver / Delfi Meedia
Food identities: biomolecular archaeology reveals multiple and dynamic social identities
How are our identities shaped by our foodways? A major challenge in archaeological identity studies lies in the dynamic, multidimensional, performative, and contextual nature of identities, which are difficult to fully grasp through material remains alone. Investigating food as a social phenomenon—bridging both daily and special events, involving all members of a community, and spanning different social categories—may provide valuable insights.
FoodID aims to uncover how ancient dietary practices reflect individual and group identities by combining cutting-edge biomolecular dietary analysis with in-depth socio-archaeological contextualisation. The study focuses on eastern Baltic protohistory (AD 1000–1400), a sociocultural melting pot of multidimensional identity dynamics, marked by diverse foreign contacts, intensified social stratification, various religions, and political power games.
Result
The project is set to begin in September 2025, so it is not yet possible to report any results. However, Oras anticipates that systematic integration of well-established and novel biomolecular methods applied to human skeletal remains and pottery residues will uncover unique, high-resolution individual dietary portraits as well as intersectional social dietary profiles. Additionally, diachronic and synchronic inter- and intra-site comparisons are expected to shed light on the contextual and situational nature of identity negotiations.
FoodID aims to validate dietary practices as socially embedded, actively embodied, and performative phenomena that shaped multidimensional and dynamic individual and group identities in past societies. By building synergistic bridges between the humanities and natural sciences, the project will advance social dietary archaeology and emphasise the cultural legacy of food in identity formation, both historically and in contemporary contexts.
Impact
Oras aims to exemplify the essence of trans- and cross-disciplinary science. Utilising biomolecular methods to explore the ancient past, particularly the socio-cultural aspects of past societies, remains a relatively unconventional approach. By merging and bridging diverse scientific fields, this work has the potential to make significant contributions to broader developments in the educational system, fostering fluidity and integration of diverse disciplines in both basic and higher education. Oras firmly believes that the complex challenges of the 21st century demand cross-disciplinary and intersectoral solutions.
On a more focused scale, Oras seeks to shed light on the origins of our dietary habits and reveal how deeply social implications are encoded in our food choices, both historically and in the present. By imbuing the past with tangible qualities such as flavour, smell, and colour, this approach makes history more accessible and relatable to contemporary audiences.
Further reading