Kitchen Affairs: First Insights into the Intimacies of Food Plant Preparation at El Flaco, Northern Dominican Republic (XII–XV Centuries)

Summary

Ongoing investigations by the Nexus 1492 Synergy Project (Leiden University) at El Flaco archaeological site, has revealed the existence of an interesting Amerindian hamlet chronologically situated between XII and XV centuries. People who lived and died there, being carriers of the Meillacoid and Chicoid traditions, kept their kitchen areas extremely close to their houses, leaving noticeable remnants of their processing tools (shell scrapers, rudimentary grinding stones), cooking pots and griddles (made from stone and clay), serving implements (plates, bowls and ceramic bottles) and a key "crushing" tool used during food intake: human teeth. Residue samples from these plant-handling tools, recovered in one of the identified kitchens, has been subjected to ancient starch grain analysis aiming at knowing which were the main starchy plants prepared at these kitchens. Phytolith analysis was also done in soil samples from these areas to retrieve potentially important microbotanical remains from plants that are typically unnoticeable to other research techniques. This preliminary report present results from both analyses by discussing first some methodological issues on starch and phytolith studies in such contexts and offering later the first interpretations of the phytocultural dynamics attached to these spaces of identity expression.

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): 22186