Cooking with Rocks the Hopewell Way: Experimenting with Earth Oven Efficiency Tessa R
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Proceedings of GREAT Day Volume 2017 Article 2 2018 Cooking with Rocks the Hopewell Way: Experimenting with Earth Oven Efficiency Tessa R. Horn SUNY Geneseo Follow this and additional works at: https://knightscholar.geneseo.edu/proceedings-of-great-day Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. Recommended Citation Horn, Tessa R. (2018) "Cooking with Rocks the Hopewell Way: Experimenting with Earth Oven Efficiency," Proceedings of GREAT Day: Vol. 2017 , Article 2. Available at: https://knightscholar.geneseo.edu/proceedings-of-great-day/vol2017/iss1/2 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the GREAT Day at KnightScholar. It has been accepted for inclusion in Proceedings of GREAT Day by an authorized editor of KnightScholar. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Horn: Cooking with Rocks the Hopewell Way Cooking with Rocks the Hopewell Way: Experimenting with Earth Oven Efficiency Tessa R. Horn Sponsored by Paul Pacheco ABSTRACT My research generates data to show which attributes make an earth oven successful and ecient. To answer this question, I built earth ovens of dierent size, shape, and depth. Athermocouple was used to monitor the temperatures throughout each cooking event. is allowed me to compare the eectiveness of the dierent ovens using temperature vs. time graphs.e size of the ovens and the quantity of rocks used were extrapo- lated from archaeological data from three Ohio Hopewell habitation sites: Balthaser Home, Brown’s Bottom #1, and Lady’s Run. By recreating earth ovens of varying shapes, sizes, and depths, I attempt to explain how dierent combinations of variables aect the eciency of earth ovens by comparing how these dierences are reected in the archaeological record. My continued research uses data from previous trials to go a step further and predict temperature outcomes of earth ovens. INTRODUCTION EXPERIMENTS AND RESEARCH Cooking food and the processes by which it is made ON HOT ROCK COOKING edible is an important part of every culture around Black, Ellis, Creel, and Goode (1997) present an in- the world. Hot rock cooking is a technology that depth analysis of hot rock cooking throughout the nearly every hunter-gatherer socifty has used at one Great Edwards Plateau in Texas. ey discovered that point. Also known as earth ovens, hot rock cooking hot rock technology has been used for more than technologies have been found at archaeological sites 6,000 years in that region. Most of these earth ov- world-wide, dating back tens of thousands of years ens show evidence of multiple uses over long spans (Black & oms, 2014). In the United States, earth of time; however, it is hard to distinguish between ovens appeared within the last 10,000 years and some dierent periods of use (Ellis & Black, 1997, p. 9). ethnographers have described, in detail, the process Black et al. (1997) discuss who built earth ovens, why of creating one. I used ethnographies, experimental they were built, and who used them: a topic which I archaeology accounts, and data from archaeological will discuss throughout this paper. records to create an experiment in which I tested the eciency of earth ovens; this was based on tempera- Ellis (1997) argues that the emergence of hot rock tures reached in ovens of dierent widths and depths, technology is a form of niche construction, similar and the length of time the ovens remained at or above to the explanation of Smith (2007) for the develop- cooking temperatures. is data was then used to ment of agriculture. When humans cannot accom- create a second experiment in which I tested the pre- plish something using the world as it already exists, dictability of earth oven temperatures throughout the they are able to alter the state of their surroundings use of the oven. All of the ovens which I tested were using technology to accomplish goals: modeled after ovens created by the Ohio Hopewell in an eort to better understand the cultural implica- People often have goals or needs (purpos- tions of the cooking technology with the context of es) for which they lack a direct biologi- the Eastern Woodlands. cal capacity to achieve. As a result, they are forced to rely on extrasomatic means is work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. PublishedTessa by R. KnightScholar, Horn . 2018 1 Cooking with Rocks the Hopewell Way: Experimenting with Earth Oven Eciency. e Proceedings of GREAT Day (2017): 16-42. Proceedings of GREAT Day, Vol. 2017 [2018],e ProceedingsArt. 2 of GREAT Day 2017 17 such as tools or instruments to meet these Cooking with earth ovens involves heating up rocks goals. (Black et al., 1997, p. 44) in a re and then burying food with the hot rocks be- neath the ground. Since the rocks can retain heat for In this case, the human goal was to exploit new re- a long period of time, the product is a slow-cooked sources. Black et al. (1997), however, are more inter- meal. ere are dierent types of earth ovens that can ested in the continued relationship between humans be utilized for dierent cooking purposes: some earth and their technology, particularly hot rock cooking. ovens are created by heating rocks on an open air When dierent groups started to use hot rock tech- hearth and then inserting the rocks into a pit, plac- nology, it began to change due to preference of style ing food on top, and covering the pit; other earth ov- and function, resulting in multiple, dierent forms ens are made by heating the rocks in situ, waiting for of technology utilizing hot rocks. Because of this, ar- the re to die down, and then adding the food. e chaeologists should be more aware of how they refer dierence between the two can usually be inferred to evidence of hot rock technology and try to explore from the archaeological context: ovens where rocks and explain the context and purpose of each type of have been heated in situ will contain layers of char- technology. coal beneath the rocks (Black & oms, 2014). An- Alston oms is one of the lead researchers on earth other type of earth oven involves leaving an opening ovens. He explained why earth ovens were such an to pour water into the pit so that the food is boiled important innovation: by the water heated from hot rocks (oms, 2008). As mentioned earlier, other uses for hot rock tech- 1. ey allowed communities to take nology involve heating rocks for grilling or hearths advantage of food resources that were but these are above ground technologies that do not previously unavailable and to support get covered with soil during the cooking process so larger populations of people (oms, 2009, I have excluded them when referring to earth ovens. p. 577). Since this generally meant that For a more in-depth examination of the large variety people would be able to exploit resources of hot rock cooking technology, one should consult that require long cooking times, oms Black et al.’s Hot Rock Cooking on the Greater Edwards (2009, p. 576) argues that earth ovens Plateau: Four Burned Rock Midden Sites in West Cen- will appear more frequently in areas where tral Texas (1997, 61–77). geophytes require longer cooking times to be rendered digestible as opposed to areas Fire cracked rock, or FCR, is a common term used with ora that do not require long cooking to describe the byproduct of earth oven cooking that times. According to oms (2009, p. 576), is found in the archaeological record. FCR typically earth ovens also allowed for geophytes to be signals the presence of an earth oven. Graesch, Di- processed in large quantities. Mare, Schachner, Schaepe, & Dallen (2014, p. 168) argue that this byproduct, which has higher rates of 2. Earth ovens are fuel ecient (oms, 2009, preservation than many artifacts and most ecofacts, is p. 576). Earth ovens were useful in areas understudied and can provide important information that lacked slow-burning fuel since it would about subsistence and cultural practices. ey (2014, require less fuel to heat up the rocks which p. 168) use the term “ermally Modied Rock,” or would then retain heat for many hours. is TMR, to describe the byproduct, rather than FCR, was more desirable as one would have to because results from their study performed on quartz- expel more labor to feed a re continuously ite and three dierent kinds of igneous rocks showed for the amount of time an earth oven could that it is not actually the re that causes the rocks to be used (oms, 2009, p. 576). crack but the rapid change in temperature. Graesch 3. Hot rock technology allowed for a wide et al. (2014) found that while rocks heated by re variety in cooking methods that included did tend to crack, they cracked at a higher rate when open air griddles, baking, steaming, and water was added to the pit of hot rocks, the way it even sweat baths (oms, 2009, p. 577). would be added for stone boiling. is caused the rocks to rapidly drop in temperature which Graesch is work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. https://knightscholar.geneseo.edu/proceedings-of-great-day/vol2017/iss1/2Tessa R. Horn . 2 Cooking with Rocks the Hopewell Way: Experimenting with Earth Oven Eciency. e Proceedings of GREAT Day (2017): 17-42. 18 The Proceedings of GREAT DayHorn: 2017 Cooking with Rocks the Hopewell Way et al. (2014) believe to be the reason for the increased tribute to the movement of dirt and artifacts into an rate of cracked rocks.