Heat of the moment: Experimental paleoethnobotany combining starch grain analysis in order to better understand the results of archaeological starch grain analysis in the Caribbean

Food and its preparation are part of everyone’s daily life, and the interaction and usage of plants has always been deeply imbedded in human history. Therefore, by gaining a better understanding of how plants were processed and prepared, we can gain a better understanding of the daily lives of peoples of the past. To reconstruct the dietary practices of peoples of the past, different parts of the diet and their proxies, such as animal remains, faunal lipids, botanical lipids, isotopes and botanical macro- and microfossils can be analysed. Additionally, historical and ethnographical accounts may prove useful as a basis for these researches. However, as historical accounts are often incomplete or less clear due to the lack or prior knowledge of native plants and their preparation and consumption, these accounts could better be used as a basis for further research. One of the microfossils that can be analysed are starch grains. They are considered the only type of botanical microfossil...Show moreFood and its preparation are part of everyone’s daily life, and the interaction and usage of plants has always been deeply imbedded in human history. Therefore, by gaining a better understanding of how plants were processed and prepared, we can gain a better understanding of the daily lives of peoples of the past. To reconstruct the dietary practices of peoples of the past, different parts of the diet and their proxies, such as animal remains, faunal lipids, botanical lipids, isotopes and botanical macro- and microfossils can be analysed. Additionally, historical and ethnographical accounts may prove useful as a basis for these researches. However, as historical accounts are often incomplete or less clear due to the lack or prior knowledge of native plants and their preparation and consumption, these accounts could better be used as a basis for further research. One of the microfossils that can be analysed are starch grains. They are considered the only type of botanical microfossil remains which can be directly correlated with both the usage as well as the preparation of plants by humans from the past. The grains can be identified to species level based on their specific characteristics. However, he preparation of food and beverages by, for example, heating, grinding or fermenting starchy plants can damage the starch grains within. These preparation techniques do leave specific damage types however, which may be used to identify damage patterns in the archaeological record. It is therefore important to gain an understanding of these damages. This thesis aimed to research these damage patterns through conducting experiments on two crops native to the Americas, maize (Zea mays), and manioc (Manihot esculenta), and to get an answer to the research question: To what extent is it possible to identify the cultural processes involved with ancient food preparation in the circum-Caribbean area through recreating these processes and subjecting the residues to starch grain analysis? The experiments were based on ethnographic and ethnohistoric sources mentioning the foodways after the arrival of the Europeans to the New World. The results were then compared to previously published experiments, as well as archaeological starch grain analysis from two sites at the Dominican Republic. It was assessed that even though heating starch grains in humid or dry environments obscures certain damage types, some characteristic damage types could be observed. These types of damages were also encountered in the archaeological case studies, showing preparation techniques not mentioned by the ethnographic and ethnohistoric sources. This therefore shows the importance of conducting more experiments to gain a better understanding of food processing techniques in the past. More research will help with gaining a better understanding of past foodways and subsequently the daily life’s of peoples of the past.Show less

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Heat of the moment: Experimental paleoethnobotany combining starch grain analysis in order to better understand the results of archaeological starch grain analysis in the Caribbean