Journal article
Uses of pre-Hispanic kitchenware from Central Nicaragua: implications for understanding botanical foodways
- Abstract:
- Archaeobotanical investigations in central Nicaragua are absent and preservation of organic remains is poor; therefore, we have applied starch analyses to samples from fragments of clay vessels excavated from layers dated to cal 1224 and 1391 CE at the Barillas site, Nicaragua. The approach to this dataset reveals the ways people interacted with edible plants in southern Central America. The scarcity of griddles recovered from ancient Nicaraguan archeological contexts has previously co-determined narratives on human mobility or cultural influence from the Mesoamerican culture area, due to the debatable presumption that this type of artifact necessarily entangles production and consumption of maize tortillas. In this article, we present results demonstrating evidence for the use of several starchy plants. The reconstructed culinary practices are vital for disentangling human–plant interrelationships and challenge earlier conceptions of ancient foodways in Central America. This research constitutes the first starch analysis in Nicaragua and the recovered plant remains belonging to manioc (Manihot esculenta Crantz), chili pepper (Capsicum sp.), and maize (Zea mays L.) have provided empirical evidence of ancient foodways. Concomitantly, these results have invalidated the preconception that griddles were tools used exclusively for the production of maize tortillas.
- Publication status:
- Published
- Peer review status:
- Peer reviewed
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(Preview, Version of record, pdf, 3.7MB, Terms of use)
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- Publisher copy:
- 10.1007/s12520-019-00955-9
Authors
- Publisher:
- Springer
- Journal:
- Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences More from this journal
- Volume:
- 12
- Issue:
- 1
- Article number:
- 13
- Publication date:
- 2020-01-07
- Acceptance date:
- 2019-12-10
- DOI:
- ISSN:
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1866-9557
- Keywords:
- Pubs id:
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pubs:1081622
- UUID:
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uuid:45330a18-95d6-4c83-9bbd-0349128f15f4
- Local pid:
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pubs:1081622
- Source identifiers:
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1081622
- Deposit date:
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2020-01-10
- ARK identifier:
Terms of use
- Copyright holder:
- Ciofalo, A et al
- Copyright date:
- 2020
- Notes:
- © The Author(s) 2020. Open Access. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder.
- Licence:
- CC Attribution (CC BY)
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