The Menial Art of Cooking: Archaeological Studies of Cooking and Food Preparation

304 Pages·2012·2.27 MB·English

by  Sarah R. Graff

The Menial arT of Cooking

edited by Sarah R. Graff and
Enrique Rodríguez-Alegría
the
M e n i a l

ar t of
Cooking
Archaeological
Studies of Cooking
and Food Preparation
University Press of Colorado
Boulder
© 2012 by University Press of Colorado
Published by University Press of Colorado
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of Denver, Regis University, University of Colorado, University of Northern Colorado, and West-
ern State College of Colorado.
This paper meets the requirements of the ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (Permanence of Paper).
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
The menial art of cooking : archaeological studies of cooking and food preparation / edited by
Sarah R. Graff and Enrique Rodríguez-Alegría.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-60732-175-0 (hardcover : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-60732-176-7 (ebook)
1. Cooking—History. 2. Cooking—Social aspects—History. 3. Cooks—History. 4.
Cookware—History. 5. Food habits—History. 6. Social archaeology. 7. Ethnoarchaeology. 8.
Archaeology and history. I. Graff, Sarah R. II. Rodríguez-Alegría, Enrique.
TX645.M46 2012
641.509—dc23
2011051661
Design by Daniel Pratt
21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents

List of Figures    vii
List of Tables    xi
Acknowledgments    xiii
Contributors    xvii
Introduction: The Menial Art of Cooking    1
Enrique Rodríguez-Alegría and Sarah R. Graff
1. Culinary Preferences: Seal-Impressed Vessels from Western Syria as
Specialized Cookware    19
Sarah R. Graff
2. Food Preparation, Social Context, and Ethnicity in a Prehistoric
Mesopotamian Colony    47
Gil J. Stein
3. The Habitus of Cooking Practices at Neolithic Çatalhöyük: What Was the
Place of the Cook?    65
Christine A. Hastorf
v
Contents
4. Cooking Meat and Bones at Neolithic Çatalhöyük, Turkey    87
Nerissa Russell and Louise Martin
5. From Grinding Corn to Dishing Out Money: A Long-Term History of
Cooking in Xaltocan, Mexico    99
Enrique Rodríguez-Alegría
6. Cooking for Fame or Fortune: The Effect of European Contact on Casabe
Production in the Orinoco    119
Kay Tarble de Scaramelli and Franz Scaramelli
7. Crafting Harappan Cuisine on the Saurashtran Frontier of the Indus
Civilization    145
Brad Chase
8. Vale Boi: 10,000 Years of Upper Paleolithic Bone Boiling    173
Tiina Manne
9. “Hoe Cake and Pickerel”: Cooking Traditions, Community, and Agency at a
Nineteenth-Century Nipmuc Farmstead    201
Guido Pezzarossi, Ryan Kennedy, and Heather Law
10. Great Transformations: On the Archaeology of Cooking    231
Kathleen D. Morrison
Index    245
vi
Figures

1.1. Map of Sites in Western Syria Discussed in Chapter    23
1.2. Globular, Corrugated, Straight-Rim Jars from Qarqur and Ebla    24
1.3. Cylinder Seal Impression of Raised Arms from Hama    25
1.4. “Squatting Woman” Motif from Ebla     25
1.5. Animal Husbandry Scene on Seal-Impressed Jar from Tell Qarqur     26
1.6. Rosette Motif on Seal-Impressed Jar Rim from Tell Qarqur    26
1.7. Top Plan of Food Preparation Facility at Ebla    28
1.8. Globular, Corrugated, Straight-Rim Jar Fragment from Tell Qarqur     31
1.9. Calcite from Rosette Motif of Seal-Impressed Jar Rim     33
2.1. The Near East in the Fourth Millennium BC and the Main Sites of the
Uruk Colonial Network    49
2.2. Topographic Map of Hacınebi    50
2.3. Locations of Butchery Cut Marks on Sheep/Goat Skeletons at
Hacınebi    56
vii
Figures
2.4. Width of Butchery Cut Marks on Animal Bones in Local Late Chalcolithic
vs. Uruk Contexts    56
2.5. Local Late Chalcolithic and Uruk Storage Vessels    57
2.6. Local Late Chalcolithic and Uruk Serving Vessels    58
2.7. Local Late Chalcolithic and Uruk Cooking Vessels    59
3.1. A Daily Meal at Çatalhöyük    68
3.2. Looking South into a Çatalhöyük House    70
3.3. Aerial View of the Çatalhöyük Site    71
3.4. View of the Settlement at Çatalhöyük    72
3.5. Peopling Building 5 at Çatalhöyük    73
3.6. Storage Room in Building 5    76
3.7. The Cook by Building 5    78
3.8. Viewsheds of the Cook by Building 5     80
4.1. Map of Anatolia with Location of Çatalhöyük    88
4.2. Proportions of Major Mammalian Taxa at Çatalhöyük    89
4.3. Types of Cut Marks on Sheep-Size and Cow-Size Bones at Çatalhöyük    90
4.4. Fragmented Articulations from a Sweepings Deposit in Building 17    92
4.5. Mandibles from Space 181    94
5.1. Aztec Jar Rim, Xaltocan, Mexico    101
5.2. Mano and Metate Set, La Ventilla Project, Teotihuacan    102
5.3. Beveled-Rim Comales from Xaltocan, Mexico    103
5.4. Glazed Molcajete Rim from Tula, Mexico    104
6.1. Mapoyo Women Preparing Casabe    121
6.2. Stages in the Processing of Selected Manioc Products    125
6.3. Archaeological Sites in the Study Area    129
6.4. Eighteenth-Century Illustration of the Production of Casabe and
Cornmeal by Indigenous Women in the Orinoco    133
6.5. Percentage of Grouped Vessel Forms of Locally Made Pottery by
Period    135
6.6. Fragments of Ceramic Griddles (Budares) Found at Republican-Period
Sites    136
viii
Figures
6.7. Grater Made from Nail-Punched Flattened Cans Found at Palomo    137
7.1. Cities and Smaller Sites of the Indus civilization in Gujarat Mentioned in
the Text    147
7.2. The Site of Gola Dhoro    150
7.3. Comparative SEM Photographs of Cut Marks Produced with Stone and
Metal Tools    154
7.4. SEM Photographs of Cut Marks Produced with Metal Tools from Gola
Dhoro    156
7.5. Cut Marks on the Bones of Medium-Size Bovids from Gola Dhoro    160
7.6. Cut Marks on the Proximal Radius of Sheep and Goats from Gola
Dhoro    161
7.7. Cut Marks on the Bones of Cattle and Buffalo from Gola Dhoro    163
7.8. Cut Marks on the Bones of Pigs from Gola Dhoro    164
8.1. Location of Vale Boi and Other Upper Paleolithic Sites Discussed in
Text    175
8.2. Profile of Excavations at Vale Boi    180
9.1. Map of New England Showing Project Location in Grafton,
Massachusetts    203
9.2. Recovered Ceramic Vessels Categorized by Functional Category    211
9.3. Recovered Redware Vessels Categorized by Functional Category    211
9.4. Fragment of a Steatite Bowl Recovered at the Sarah Boston Farmstead
Site    213
9.5. Total Head and Feet Bones vs. Body and Limb Bones (NISP) for the Three
Major Domestic Mammal Taxa Recovered at the Sarah Boston Farmstead
Site    216
9.6. Skeletal Part Representation (NISP) for Cattle Bones Recovered from the
Sarah Boston Farmstead Site    218
9.7. Skeletal Part Representation (NISP) for Pig Bones Recovered from the
Sarah Boston Farmstead Site    218
9.8. Skeletal Part Representation (NISP) for Caprine Bones Recovered from
the Sarah Boston Farmstead Site    219
ix