The Beauty of "Ugly" Eskimo Cooking Pots

Abstract

Arctic Alaskan ceramics offer several interpretive challenges for the archaeologist. In contrast to most cross-cultural patterns, these cooking vessels were produced by hunter-gatherers living in a cool and humid environment and were used to cook meat rather than starchy seeds. Additionally, when compared to cooking vessels and techniques from other areas of the world, their shapes and textures are atypical and appear poorly suited for their intended use. At first impression, these vessels might appear to reflect simply a lack of technological expertise. However, we argue that when considered in relation to the local social and environmental context under which these vessels were produced and used, these apparent contradictions can be understood.

The Social Role of Technology in Coastal Alaska

“…Interestingly in the 1970s, several agencies promoted ceramic manufacture of non-traditional items on Nelson Island given their access to raw clays (Fienup-Riordan 1975). However, those involved in the shortlived industry were primarily Yup'ik men (Frink and Harry 2008).…”

“…Recent work demonstrates that these wares were an ingenious combination of complying with environmental demands, cultural constraints, and nutritional requirements (Frink and Harry 2008;Harry and Frink 2009).…”

How to Make an Unfired Clay Cooking Pot: Understanding the Technological Choices Made by Arctic Potters

“…Although most cooking pots associated with sedentary societies do have these characteristics, many such containers from mobile huntergatherer societies do not. This mismatch between our expectations and the attributes of hunter-gatherer pottery suggests that the performance characteristics most important to hunter-gatherers differed from those most important to sedentary agriculturalists (Frink and Harry 2008;Schiffer and Skibo 1987;Skibo et al 1989). Accordingly, it becomes important to study hunter-gatherer pottery in its own right and to develop models and middle-range theories specific to hunter-gatherer use of ceramic technology.…”

“…The technology of these later vessels differs in nearly every significant way from that exhibited by the typical clay cooking pot found in other areas of the world. In fact, these Arctic cooking pots break nearly every engineering rule about how a ceramic cooking pot should be constructed (see Frink and Harry 2008) and-at least for the unfired or…”

“…This paper represents one attempt to meet this goal. As such, it joins a growing body of research focusing on ceramic manufacture and use in hunter-gatherer societies (Eerkens 2003(Eerkens , 2004Eerkens et al 2002;Frink and Harry 2008;Reid 1989Reid , 1990Rodrίguez 1995;Roosevelt 1995;Sassman 1992Sassman , 1995Skibo and Blinman 1999).…”