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Pottery Vessel Function and Foodways at El Chorro de Maíta, Cuba

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Vernon James Knight  and
Roberto Valcarcel Rojas
Vernon James Knight
Affiliation:
72 Coventry, Tuscaloosa, AL 35404, (vknight@ua.edu)
Roberto Valcarcel Rojas
Affiliation:
Departamento Centro-Oriental de Arqueología, Cisat, Citma, Holguín, Cuba, (rvalcarcel@holguin .inf .cu)
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Abstract

Our approach assumes that pots are tools, containers whose performance characteristics are adjusted to their primary uses. Traditional agricultural peoples generally distinguish among multiple vessel shapes that have distinct intended uses. In this article, we present afunctional analysis of vessel shapes and sizes performed on a sample of 160 rim sherds from the site of El Chorro de Malta, Cuba. These were assigned to 13 defined vessel shapes, most of which displayed more than one size mode based on estimated orifice diameters. The majority of specimens from El Chorro de Malta are low-profile, composite-contour bowls made in medium and large size modes, followed in frequency by simple-contour bowls and plates. Late Ceramic Age peoples in the Greater Antilles are historically documented as participating in the manioc breadcake-cassareep- stewpot foodway common to much of the tropical lowlands of northern South America. Consequently, it should be possible to show how the container assemblage of El Chorro de Malta is adapted to the requirements of that foodway. We note that, ethnographically, the elaborate processing of bitter manioc itself to produce breadcakes as a staple food does not necessarily require pottery vessels at all. Nonetheless, common stewing as a key component of the foodway—including the production of the condiment called cassareep in the Guianas—can require several containers with potentially distinct performance requirements: one to collect the juice below the sleeve press, another to reduce the expressed juice to the thickened sauce over afire, and a third, the stewpot itself, adapted to simmering vegetable and meat stews. We provisionally suggest that some of the most common shape-size classes at El Chorro de Malta are suited to producing and serving stews and cassareep, the traditional complement to eating manioc breadcake.

Resumen

Resumen

Nuestro acercamiento asume que las alias son herramientas, recipientes cuyas características de fabricación se ajustan a sus usos primarios. Las comunidades agricultoras tradicionales generalmente distinguen entre múltiples formas de vasijas que tienen usos intencionales distintos. Un análisis funcional de formas y tamanos de vasijas de cerámica fue ejecutado usando una muestra de 160fragmentos de hordes del sitio El Chorro de Maíta, Cuba. Estas se asignaron a 13 formas de vasijas, gran parte de las cuales muestran más de un modo de tamano basado en los diámetros estimados para laboca. La mayoría de los especímenes de El Chorro de Maita son de perfil bajo, cuencos de contorno compuesto hechos en modos de tamano mediano y grande, seguidos enfrecuencia por cuencos de contorno simple y platos. En tanto se ha documentado historicamente a la gente de la Edad Cerdmica Tardia en las Antillas May ores cómo participantes en las prácticas alimentarias del pan de yucacassareep-vasija de guiso, comun a gran parte de las tierras bajas tropicales del norte de Suramérica, debe serposible mostrar cómo este conjunto de contenedores se adapta a los requisitos de esa prácticas alimentaria traditional. Nosotros notamos que etnográficamente el complejo procesamiento de la yuca amarga para producir tortas de casabe cómo una comida principal no necesariamente requiere de vasijas de cerámica. Sin embargo, elguisado comun, cómo un componente clave de la prácticas alimentaria, incluyendo la producción del condimento llamado cassareep en las Guyanas, eventualmente requiere varios recipientes con requisitos de funcionamiento distintos: uno para colectar el jugo debajo de la prensa para la yuca, otro para reducir, una vez colocado sobre elfuego, el jugo de yuca al nivel de espesado de la salsa, y un tercero, la propia vasija de guiso, adaptadapara cocer afuego lento verduras y estofado de came. Provisionalmente sugerimos que algunas de las closes de forma-tamano más comunes en El Chorro de Maita satisfacen los requerimientos de la producción y servido de guisos y cassareep, complemento tradicional para el consumo del pan de yuca.

Type
Articles
Information
Latin American Antiquity , Volume 26 , Issue 2 , June 2015 , pp. 260 - 278
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 2015

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