Ancient Indigenous Cuisine: Multiproxy Investigations of Food Choice and Cooking

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The application of pottery function analysis alongside analysis of adhered food residues on ancient pottery offers new insights into past foodstuff selection and cooking methods, aka cuisine. Identification of phytoliths and starches present in carbonized food residues provides evidence of specific plant species processed in ceramic cooking vessels, while modes of cooking can be inferred from use-alteration pottery analysis, specifically the characterization of carbonized food residue patterns on interior vessel surfaces. These approaches were collaboratively applied to pottery collections from various Middle and Late Woodland sites in the Northern Great Lakes of North America, revealing diachronic variation in exploitation of plant resources and changing styles of food preparation over time. When these data are assessed in context with chemical food residue analyses, macrobotanical and faunal remains, and ethnographic and ethnohistoric information, additional insights into regional culinary traditions are revealed. Collectively, this study serves as the basis of a model for investigating ancient cuisine in contexts from around the world.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 35885.0