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The Archaeological Signature of Stews or Grease Rendering in the Historic Period

Experimental Chopping of Long Bones and Small Fragment Sizes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 January 2017

Adam R. Heinrich
Adam R. Heinrich*
Affiliation:
Department of History and Anthropology, Monmouth University, 400 Cedar Avenue, West Long Branch, NJ 07764 (arh7878@hotmail.com)
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Abstract

Small bone fragments have often been interpreted as the residues of stews or grease extraction. In international historical archaeological research, stew interpretations have often focused on enslaved or underclass groups or on those who had limited access to sufficient amounts of food or faced nutritional deficiencies. These analyses have widely been uncritical, and the small fragment sizes can be better explained as the products of taphonomic processes such as weathering, trampling, and carnivore scavenging. This work presents results from experimentally chopped long bones from cows, sheep, goats, and pigs that identify butchery and fracture patterns that can be used to evaluate past stew interpretations and provide comparative models for future analyses.

Los fragmentos pequeños de huesos muchas veces se han interpretado como residuos de estofados o como producto de la remoción de grasas. En las investigaciones internacionales realizadas por la arqueología histórica, la interpretación de los estofados se ha sobre cargado de imágenes relacionadas con grupos esclavizados o marginales, o con aquellos que tenían un acceso limitado e insuficiente a ciertos alimentos, o que padecían deficiencias nutricionales. Estos análisis no han sido lo suficientemente críticos y el tamaño pequeño de los fragmentos óseos se puede explicar como el resultado de procesos tafonómicos, tales como la intemperización, la compactación y la depredación. Este trabajo presenta los resultados experimentales de los cortes realizados a los huesos largos de vacas, borregos, cabras y puercos que evidencian destazamiento y patrones de fractura que pueden usarse para evaluar las interpretaciones pasadas en torno a los estofados y que proveen, además, modelos comparativos para la realización de análisis futuros.

Type
Research Article
Information
Advances in Archaeological Practice , Volume 2 , Issue 1 , February 2014 , pp. 1 - 12
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 2014

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