Feasting, particularly on pork, is attested by excavated remains of animal bones.

BBC: Discovering Britain��s prehistoric stone circles

Jim DeMint, a senator from South Carolina, wants his colleagues to adopt a voluntary ban on earmarks, a form of pork-barrel spending particularly reviled by fiscal hawks.

ECONOMIST: Congress

They also included LDP-style patronage and pork as an electoral and governing strategy, particularly in rural districts.

ECONOMIST: Banyan

But the bill now has a good chance of going through, particularly given the fact that it is well-larded with domestic pork spending.

ECONOMIST: Iraq