Investigating Organic Residues on Prehistoric Cooking Technologies in the Aleutian Islands

Summary

Stone bowls and griddle stones were in use in the Aleutian Islands for the past 9.000 years. People invested great time and effort into the manufacture and maintenance of these artefacts which insinuates their importance in prehistoric Aleutian food processing practices. A sudden increase in stone bowl occurrence around 3.500 years ago emphasizes their importance during this particular time. What was it that made these artefacts so important? We believe the answer to this question lies in their function.

Despite their importance these artefacts have never been thoroughly investigated and mention of them is mostly absent in the literature. Exceptionally well-preserved organic residues found on the surfaces of stone bowls and griddle stones offer the opportunity to investigate function through molecular and chemical analysis. Using GC-MS and GC-c-IRMS we identified organic residue origins and were able to carefully suggest function for both artefact groups. Additionally we explored environmental change in the light of artefact function as a factor in the sudden change of stone bowl occurrence during the Margaret Bay phase (4.000-3.000 cal BP) on Unalaska Island.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 19933