Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Award: Chemical Analysis to Determine Container Content

University Of Florida, Gainesville FL

Investigators

Abstract

Circumstances surrounding the use of pottery among hunter-gatherers continues to be a compelling archaeological topic. The makers and users of North America’s oldest pottery figure prominently in archaeological perspectives on how and why hunter-gatherer societies worldwide responded to changing environmental conditions and novel social situations through the use of durable, highly adaptable technologies. However, despite knowing when, where, and how such pottery was used, archaeologists do not know what these early ceramics were used for. There is currently no direct evidence available for the types of foods processed with this innovation. To address this gap the goal of this project is to analyze the residues preserved within such pottery walls. This research marks the first attempt to chemically analyze the resources to document changes in foodways attending the shift from mobile to sedentary settlement which occurred. The results of this research have the potential to illuminate the connection between settlement practices and foodways that affect sustainable land use. In places across the globe, archaeologists are collaborating with Indigenous communities to document and revive ancient foodways to help improve and sustain food security. This potential is hampered where colonial histories of forced removal of Indigenous people disrupted traditional land use and foodways. Among those with ancestral ties are descendants of the Cherokee, Chickasaw, and Creek. Building on existing Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) relations with the Seminole Tribe of Florida, descendants of the Creek, the results of this project will be incorporated into the curriculum of a developing graduate certificate program in Indigenous Archaeology at the university of Florida. In this doctoral dissertation research project the graduate student is conducting pottery organic residue analyses spanning the transition from mobile to sedentary settlement. Focusing on this transition, organic residue analysis will be conducted on samples of ceramic sherds from multiple sites to determine the types of foods processed with pottery vessels both before and after communities were sedentary. Structuring the organic residue analysis is the hypothesis that diversification of vessel form over this transition reflects increased specialization in vessel use, notably changes in the types of foods processed therein. In support of analyses of archaeological residues, the proposed research includes controlled experiments in indirect-heat cooking. These baseline reference data enhance the interpretation of changes in foodways registered in archaeological organic residues that, when placed into broader contexts, contribute to the growing biomarker database of hunter-gatherer pottery worldwide. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.