Ancient Pit Cooking in the American Southwest and Pacific Northwest

The potential of ancient pit ovens to yield important
information about the human past has been recognized
only recently in the U.S. Ovens implicate cooking
and diet as well as food procurement and construction
of large, complex features. Such behaviors are
directly referable to subsistence, mobility, and
labor organization, which are central to the tempo
and mode of evolutionary change in foraging
societies.
Most archaeological data about pit ovens
are hidden in cultural resource management reports.
These data are brought to light in this study s
exploration of archaeological patterning framed by
the ethnography of pit cooking and the people who do
it. Students and professional archaeologists will
benefit from the broad survey of an ancient cooking
technique in the American Southwest and Pacific
Northwest, and its utility for intensification
research at the theoretical level. Heritage
management specialists will value the study as a
useful guide for data collection in the field, and a
meaningful demonstration of the enduring value of
publicly funded archaeological research.

Autorentext
Pei-Lin Yu, PhD. Studied archaeology and ethnoarchaeology at Southern Methodist University. Over ten years of experience as a federal archaeologist in the American West. Currently Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Coordinator for Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act Compliance at California State University Sacramento.

Klappentext
The potential of ancient pit ovens to yield important information about the human past has been recognized only recently in the U.S. Ovens implicate cooking and diet as well as food procurement and construction of large, complex features. Such behaviors are directly referable to subsistence, mobility, and labor organization, which are central to the tempo and mode of evolutionary change in foraging societies. Most archaeological data about pit ovens are hidden in cultural resource management reports. These data are brought to light in this study's exploration of archaeological patterning framed by the ethnography of pit cooking and the people who do it. Students and professional archaeologists will benefit from the broad survey of an ancient cooking technique in the American Southwest and Pacific Northwest, and its utility for intensification research at the theoretical level. Heritage management specialists will value the study as a useful guide for data collection in the field, and a meaningful demonstration of the enduring value of publicly funded archaeological research.