Iroquoian Food Techniques and Technologies: An Examination of Susquehannock Vessel Form and Function
Open Access
- Author:
- Strauss, Alisa Natalie
- Graduate Program:
- Anthropology
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- April 17, 2000
- Committee Members:
- Dean R. Snow, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
Lakshman S Yapa, Committee Member
George Robert Milner, Committee Member
Kenneth Gale Hirth, Committee Member - Keywords:
- archaeology of Pennsylvana
ceramic vessel function
Susquehannock - Abstract:
- This study determines the functional ceramic typology used by the Susquehannock Indians, and Iroquoian people who lived in what is now central Pennsylvania from AD 1575-1665. This is accomplished though the use of three independent sources of data. The ethnoarchaeological record is examined to find functional ceramic classes recognized cross-culturally by peoples who make hand-built pottery vessels like those of the Susquehannock. The historic record is used to create an ethnohistoric description of the types of foods used by the Susquehannock and their neighbors as well as the vessels used in the preparation, consumption, and storage of these foods. Together, the ethnoarchaeological and ethnohistorical data are used to form a set of hypotheses about the functional classes of pottery existing in the Susquehannock collection. An examination of the sample of six hundred Susquehannock pots reveals several things. First, the stylistic ceramic typology used by archaeologists to assign temporal affinity is valid. Second, there is a strong correlation between lip diameter and total vessel volume for Susquehannock pots; this allows broken pots to be included in the analysis of function along with the almost four hundred whole or reconstructed pots. Finally, and most significantly, a functional typology is discerned within the Susquehannock pottery sample. The sizes of functional classes within the sample strongly correlate with the classes seen in the ethnoarchaeological and ethnohistorical records supporting the idea that they were used for the same purposes. An examination of the presence of exterior soot, interior food residues, and burial data all support this conclusion.