Uses of pre-Hispanic kitchenware from Central Nicaragua: implications for understanding botanical foodways
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ORIGINAL PAPER
Uses of pre-Hispanic kitchenware from Central Nicaragua: implications for understanding botanical foodways Andy J. Ciofalo 1
&
Natalia R. Donner 1 & Corinne L. Hofman 1 & Alexander Geurds 1,2
Received: 25 February 2019 / Accepted: 10 December 2019 / Published online: 7January 2020 # The Author(s) 2020
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. Keywords Nicaragua archeology . Archaeobotany . Starch analysis . Foodways . Culinary practices
Introduction Research on pre-Hispanic foodways in southern Central America has received differential attention. While extensive work has been conducted in Panama (Cooke and Jiménez 2008; Dickau 2005; Piperno 2009; Piperno and Holst 1998; Piperno and Pearsall 1998) and some research has taken place in Costa Rica (Blanco and Mora 1994; Cooke and Sánchez 2001; Hoopes 1994), paleoethnobotanical research in Nicaragua has been very scarce (exception Dickau 1999). There is an absence of published archaeobotanical investigations for central Nicaragua. Therefore, most descriptions of pre-Hispanic subsistence practices in Nicaragua rely primarily on a single sixteenth Century Spanish chronicle, which states
* Andy J. Ciofalo [email protected] 1
Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University, Einsteinweg 2, 2333 CC Leiden, Netherlands
2
School of Archaeology, University of Oxford, 36 Beaumont St, Oxford OX1 2PG, UK
that squash (Cucurbita sp.), beans (Phaseolus sp.), and maize (Zea mays L.) were the economic botanical foods for the Indigenous peoples of southern Central America (Fernández de Oviedo 1851 [1535]). The scarce evidence of this “trinity” of staple crops has added decisive commentary to the debate surrounding Mesoamerican spea
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