Data from: New approaches to ceramic use and discard: cooking pottery from the Peruvian Andes in ethnoarchaeological perspective
Cite this dataset
Hildebrand, John A.; Hagstrum, Melissa B. (2021). Data from: New approaches to ceramic use and discard: cooking pottery from the Peruvian Andes in ethnoarchaeological perspective [Dataset]. Dryad. https://doi.org/10.6076/D1DW2C
Abstract
Ethnoarchaeological data from contemporary Wanka villages in the Mantaro Valley of the Peruvian Andes provide new perspectives on the use and discard of ceramic cooking vessels. We present a regional survey of ceramic vessel use and discard with household consumption as the focus of study. A mathematical model determines vessel uselife from the age distribution of in-use vessels. We examine the number of vessels per household, their volume, their uselife, and their reported discard. A typical Wanka household cooking vessel assemblage consists of four or five ollas, two large ollas, one chata, and one tostadera. As family members are added to a household, the number of household ollas slightly increases, as does olla volume and the overall rate of olla discard. Large families have fewer chatas, and the rate of chata discard is uncorrelated with household size. Large and small families alike have only one tostadera, but in large families, a shortened tostadera uselife increases their discard rate. Distributing the same population into small or large households will result in significantly different rates of total sherd accumulation. Bulk sherd accumulation is a better indicator of the number of households rather than of the total number of persons. Household size can be estimated from the relative proportions of discarded ollas, chatas, and tostaderas.
Methods
A ceramic use and discard survey was conducted in the Mantaro Valley of the Peruvian Andes in 1984-1986 by Melissa Hagstrum. Data on cooking and storage vessel usage and discard were collected for both ceramic and metal pots. These data were used to derive vessel uselife and characteristics of how vessel size and type vary with household size.
A total of 18 villages were included in the survey and within each village a number of households were visited. The use survey and discard survey were conducted at different times so not all the same households were visited for each survey. The actual data collection was undertaken by Señor Andres Moya of Atari, Peru.
Usage notes
Data were obtained both on ceramic vessels and metal pots. In general, files pertaining to ceramic vessels end with the letter 'b' (barro or clay) and files pertaining to metal end with the letter 'm'.
Pottery Classes for cooking vessels:
First letter is type of pottery
o = olla
c = chata
d = tostadera
f = fiesta (used for special occasion)
k = alternate for chata
r = tetera (tea pot)
x = unknown
Second letter is size
c = chico (small)
m = media (medium)
f = familia (family)
g = grande (large)
x = unknown
Classes for water transport and storage jars - Porongos:
First letter is the type of jar:
p = porongo (narrow mouth jars)
u = ulpus (medium mouth jars)
t = tinajas (wide mouthed jars)
n = unknown
blank line means household lacked porongos
Second letter is size
c = chico (small)
m = media (medium)
g = grande (large)
x = unknown
Classes for blades - buckets:
First letter
b = balde (bucket)
Second letter
m = metal
p = plastic
Directories:
use has use survey data
discard has the discard survey data
Files within use directory
______________________________________
uollab = use of ollas de barro (clay)
format:
village house-in-village cumulative-house number-vessels type-vessel age comment
01 01 001 02 of 1.00
01 01 001 04 of 0.08
01 01 001 02 cx 1.50
uollam = use of ollas de metal
format same as above
01 01 001 01 rc 3.00
01 01 001 01 og 2.00
01 02 002 01 rc 3.00
01 02 002 03 fg 15.00
01 03 003 01 om 6.00
01 03 003 02 og 6.00
01 04 004 01 rx 1.00
upor = use of porongos, these are ceramic water storage jars, same format as for ollas
01 01 001 01 um 6.00
01 01 001 01 tg 3.00
01 02 002 01 pg 20.00
01 02 002 01 um 3.00
01 02 002 02 tm 4.00
01 03 003 03 pc 12.00
ubal = use of metal or plastic buckets for water storage and carrying, same format ..
ufam = family information 199 total
village house-in-vil cum-house in-kitchen female age cook type-fuel cummensal-number
i=in f=female l=straw, wood or dung?
e=ext. m=male k=kerosene
g=gas
01 01 001 i f 50 y lxx 06
01 02 002 i f 60 y lxx 03
01 03 003 e f 48 y lkx 07
ufambset = best families 96 total
families where information was collected from the cook(female)
inside the kitchen(i) and they used only straw, wood or dung? fuel
Files within discard directory
_____________________________________
dollab = discard of ollas
Format of file:
Village Household CumHousehold PotType Size Age HOWBROKE USED MEMO
o=olla c=chico yrs a=accident b=basura
m=medio s=wear u=used
f=familila
g=grande
01 01 001 01 og 12.00 a b *drunken fiesta**no location
01 01 001 01 dc 1.83 s b *mucho uso**no location
01 02 002 01 cg 20.00 a b *wind blew kitchen roof down**left in place
01 02 002 01 of 2.00 a b *wind blew kitchen roof down**left in place
01 02 002 01 oc 1.00 a b *wind blew kitchen roof down**left in place
dporo = discard of porongos
1 1 1 01 0.00 *no rompo todavia mis poronguitos
1 2 2 01 pc 15.00 a b *kitchen fell in in wind breaking all pots; left in the heap
1 2 2 01 nc 12.00 a b *as above
dfam = discard by family
VILL HOUSE TTL In-Kitchen SEX AGE Primary-Cook FUEL-USED
f=female l=wood??
m=male k=kerosene
g=gas
01 01 001 + f 43 ? lxx
01 02 002 + f 78 y lxx
01 03 003 + f 25 y lxx
01 04 004 + m 40 n lkx
01 05 005 + f 36 y lxx
01 06 006 + f 51 y lxx
01 07 007 + f 20 y lxx
01 08 008 + f 48 y lxg
01 09 009 + f 72 y lxx
In the discard survey data,
01 12 012 01 cc 2.00 a b *grandson broke**no location
01 12 012 01 oc 1.00 a b *broke wasing**no location
01 13 013 01 og 15.00 a b *robber stole grains and broke ollas**in corral
The sixth column is the age of the vessel at the time of breakage.