Booze or Food? Experimental Archaeology of Low-Fired Pottery to Examine Tribochemical Processes

Summary

Ceramic ethnographic research from Africa shows that the fermenting of alcohol in low-fired pottery results in a variety of tribochemical processes, which cause pitting in the interior of the vessel. Jars and sherds from the Casas Grandes region (AD 1200-1450) have similar pitting, causing researchers to propose that either alcohol or hominy was made in these jars. To evaluate these hypotheses we created low-fired vessels and used them for boiling water, making hominy, fermenting corn (corn beer), and fermenting agave (pulque). We examine the residues and usewear from the various tribochemical mechanisms to determine if they cause the vessels’ walls to deteriorate differently (e.g., type of abrasion [pitting or shearing], erosion, corrosion). In particular we determine how hominy (an alkali food) and bacteria-induced fermentation (e.g., Zymomonas mobilis) deflates the interior wall. This research helps us better understand the mechanisms that might have resulting in the pitted Casas Grandes ollas.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage