Pottery A Hallmark of Prehistoric Agriculturalists

The appearance of pottery coincides could have taken advantage of these boiling to make seeds and grains edible. with the rise of farming in many parts of properties of clay to make pots, and yet Stone boiling was not the best technique the world, which suggests a strong func- for years they didn’t. In fact, they al- because seeds and grains require cooking tional link between the two. This link is ready had containers that served them at low heat for a long time before they not inevitable; some cultures that have well. For storage, preserved foods were are palatable. That’s where ceramic pots never farmed used pottery jars for water kept in baskets or skin bags, and liquids come in. or preserved foods. But for the most were held in skin bags or in gourds. For part, pots were—and still are—used for cooking, meat was roasted over a fire or Now We’re Cooking cooking. boiled along with roots and greens in a Normally we don’t think about clay skin bag to which water and hot stones The earliest pots probably were used pots as tools, but that’s exactly what they were added. for stone boiling. The thick pottery were. The third definition of “tool” in When large amounts of food needed sherds found at the Nebo Hill site, just my dictionary is “anything that serves as to be cooked, an earth oven was built. across the Missouri River north of Kan- a means to get something done.” Pottery An earth oven consisted of a large, shal- sas City, Missouri, are the remains of the vessels served both as storage tools and low pit in which a fire is built. As the earliest pottery known in the region and cooking tools. But the process of making fire turned to hot coals, a layer of stones are around 3,000 years old. The thick, pots had to be developed and perfected was laid down. Bundles of food, often porous pots represented by these sherds before they were widely adopted. wrapped in leaves, are laid on the stones would perform poorly over an open fire. For a long time people knew that then covered with soil to cook slowly. Their thickness and open pores would certain clays become hard and hold These cooking techniques worked well insulate the food inside the pot from the shapes permanently when exposed to for centuries. fire. On the other hand, they would be high temperatures. Fired clay figurines About 2,000 years ago people began great for stone boiling because the insu- and beads have been found in Kansas to eat more seeds. At first they probably lating properties of those thick, porous sites that are 5,000 years old. People roasted the seeds and then ground them walls would keep the heat of the boiling to make a paste or flour. Some of the stones in with the food. seeds may have found their way into As people continued to make pottery, they tinkered with the process, and as a This article is the third and final article in a stone-boiled soups. Boiling seeds helps series on prehistoric agriculture prepared release the nutrients they contain, but as result the pots became harder, thinner by State Archeologist Bob Hoard. we all know, it can take a fair amount of and less porous. Not coincidentally we

5 (Left) The illustration shows the boiling stone method of cooking foods, used before the development of pottery cookware. Food was roasted over a fire in a skin bag along with water and hot stones.

(Below) A fired clay figurine from the 5,000 year old William Young site. find that these later pots sometimes have pands, causing the pot to crumble. Re- the charred remains of food on the in- cent archeological experiments suggest side, an indication that some high-tem- that potters learned to control this prob- perature cooking was going on. These lem by adding salt to the clay, regulating thinner pots were filled with food and set firing temperatures, or denying air to the on the fire to simmer. This technique is pot when it is being fired, all of which exactly what we would expect for people help to control this problem. Clearly, cooking seeds and grains. Once people prehistoric potters were astute observers started growing seed and took care in their craft crops, clay pots became a to strike a balance between more attractive cooking the problems and the ben- option. In the past two issues of Kansas Preservation, we’ve heard efits of adding shell to As time went on, about the first farmers in Kansas and about the tools they pottery. potters continued to refine Archeologists have their craft. People using made to plant, nurture, harvest, and process the foods they noticed that there are pots every day probably grew. In this issue, the focus turns to the most important tool many more sites when had their favorites. They associated with early farming – the ceramic cooking pot. farming comes on the noticed that some clays scene – an indication of made a stronger pot than larger populations. They others – an important consideration is because fired shell breaks into thin also find more evidence of malnutrition. when dinner is on the line. Some addi- little platelets. When a new pot is fired, Apparently a wild diet offered more of tives worked better, too. Clay with large the clay bonds tightly to these platelets, what people need. So why the apparent gravels added to it tended to crack after and they serve to stop the microscopic population increase? It may be that gru- going through several cooking events of cracks that form when a pot is heated els made from cultivated plant seeds heating and cooling, but sandy clays held and cooled repeatedly. Another advan- cooked in clay pots were used to wean up better. tage to shell temper is that it makes babies earlier, allowing for larger fami- People added lots of things to clay to sticky clays easier to work. It’s no acci- lies. So in the end, there are more try to improve the properties of their dent that once shell temper caught on, people, albeit less healthy individuals. cooking pots: plant fibers, sand, crushed we find a larger variety of vessel shapes. The next time you fire up the crock granite or limestone, crushed and fired Shell-tempered pots are an interest- pot for a twelve-hour cook down, think mussel shell. Even broken pots were ing case, because adding shell to clay about the potters from a thousand years crushed and added to the clay of new also causes serious problems. If the shell ago. That crock pot is a continuation of pots. Some of these additives, called gets too hot during firing or cooking, it the technology that came along with temper, were better than others. Clay turns to lime. Upon cooling, the lime farming and transformed the way people that has fired, ground shell added to it absorbs moisture from the air and ex- lived forever. makes a very thin, very strong pot. This

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