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The Civil Cooking Pot: Hominy and the Mississippian Standard Jarin the Black Warrior Valley, Alabama

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Rachel V. Briggs
Rachel V. Briggs*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, 19 TenHoor Hall, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0210 (rvbriggs@crimson.ua.edu)
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Abstract

Although the Mississippian standard jar, a specific vessel form found inmany parts of the Mississippian cultural world, has long been recognized asa utilitarian cooking pot, the important connection between this ceramicform and maize has largely been overlooked. By focusing on the Mississippiansite of Moundville located in the Black Warrior valley of west-centralAlabama, I propose that the Mississippian standard jar was not simply ageneral cooking pot, but instead a specialized culinary tool used tonixtamalize maize. As such, both the vessel and the plant were part of acohesive ancestral hominy foodway. This relationship is demonstrated in twoways: first, by articulating both the hominy foodway and the antecedent nutfoodway practiced between A.D. 1020–1260; and, second, by exploring changesin the morphology and use-alteration patterns of the MoundvilleMississippian standard jars recovered from contexts dating to the MoundvilleI-III phases(A.D. 1120–1520). The relationship between vessel and fooddemonstrated here suggests a practice- and taste-based model for thesynergistic relationship long recognized between maize and the emergence ofthe Mississippian civic-ceremonial center of Moundville.

Aunque la vasija estándar misisipiana, una forma específica de recipienteubicua en el mundo cultural misisipiano, ha sido reconocida por mucho tiempocomo una olla utilitaria, la importante conexión entre esta forma cerámica yel maíz ha sido ignorada en gran parte. Desde la perspectiva del sitiomisisipiano de Moundville; en el valle de Black Warrior en el centro-oestede Alabama, aquí propongo que la vasija estándar misisipiana no erasimplemente una olla de cocina de uso genérico, sino una herramientaculinaria especializada utilizada en la nixtamalización del maíz. Enconjunto, tanto el recipiente como la planta formaron parte de un hábitoculinario del mote, cohesivo y ancestral. Esta relación se demuestra de dosmaneras: primero, en la articulación de tanto el hábito culinario del mote,y el precedente hábito culinario de frutos secos practicado entre D.c.1020–1260; y segundo, a través de la exploración de los cambios en lamorfología y los patrones de alteración por uso en las vasijas estándarmisisipianas de Moundville recuperadas en contextos de las fases MoundvilleI-Ill (d.C. 1120–1520). La relación entre recipiente y alimento demostradaaquí sugiere un modelo basado en prácticas y gustos para la largamentereconocida relación entre maíz y el surgimiento del centro cívico-ceremonialmisisipiano en Moundville.

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Articles
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American Antiquity , Volume 81 , Issue 2 , April 2016 , pp. 316 - 332
Copyright
Copyright © 2016 by the Society for American Archaeology.

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