Hypothesis 2 identifies key indicators of community identity evidenced within the Early and Middle Woodland occupations and then evaluates whether a stronger sense of community identity is associated with the Middle Woodland component. Material correlates of community identity are those objects and processes that are linked concurrently to a sense of “us” and a sense of the “other” (MacSweeney 2011; Yaeger 2000). This dissertation project uses three criteria to evaluate for a stronger sense of community identity: the occurrence of more standardized cookpots and foodways, evidence of communal feasting, and differential use of non-local vessels.
Processes that serve to de-emphasize social difference and individual status are archaeological indicators of community identity formation, recognized by the homogenization in type and form of material objects (MacSweeney 2011). This increased consistency in the ways of doing everyday things (Hegmon 1992) is manifest in the standardization of technical choices and artifact form, actively creating a stronger sense of “us” (MacSweeney 2011). Relative to culinary traditions and foodways, increased homogenization may manifest as decreased variability in the cookpot form and use, as well as less diversity of plant and animal taxonomic representation.
Feasting is the communal consumption of food and/or drink beyond the daily sharing of meals (Gamble 2017; VanDerwarker et al. 2016). Evidence of feasting evidences a more robust “sense of us” reflecting a type of “enactments of community” or “practices of affiliation” (MacSweeney 2011;
Yaeger 2000). Feasting may also be representative of the “other” as a form of a socially integrative practice. Socially integrative practices are argued to have been a key characteristic of the Hopewell phenomena, serving to integrate regional/extra-regional groups, and a fundamental component of Hopewell origins and interaction networks (Braun 1986; Carr 2006; Charles 1992; Jeske 2006; King et al. 2011; Ruby et al. 2006; Seeman 1995). Socially integrative (ceremonial) activities occurring within the domestic sphere, as well as the ritual/ceremonial/symbolic significance of certain ceramic types and plant taxa, have been recognized for Hopewell (Braun 1986; Braun and Plog 1982; Carr 2006; Keller and Carr 2006; Seeman 1995; Wymer 2009).
Archaeological indicators for feasting include the presence of rare or labor intensive plant or animal taxa, signs of wasting food, and/or the presence of exceptionally large quantities of food (Hastorf and Weismantel 2007; Hayden 2001; VanDerwarker and Idol 2008). Different foods or different treatment of ubiquitous foods can indicate a special meal (Graff 2018:327). The use of specific ingredients may be indicated by their rarity within refuse pits or in depositional histories (Hastorf and Weismantel 2007). The juxtaposition of butchery, refuse disposal, and contextual evidence can also distinguish patterns typical of quotidian household meals versus communal ritual feasts (Clifford-Gonzalez and Sunseri 2007; McKusick 1981; Potter 1997). Larger vessel sizes may provide further evidence of communal feasting (Johnson 2002; Tainter 1983).
The development of the sense of “us” is linked to the concurrent development of the sense of “other” (MacSweeney 2011). Material correlates involving the formation of a sense of the “other” are those objects and visual styles that are likely to have carried connotations of certain external groups, acting as symbols that represent the people, place, or ideology they recall (MacSweeney 2011:49; Appadurai 1988:38; Knappett 2005:119). The social meaning at the point of consumption may be radically different from the meaning attached to it at the time of its production or at other stages in its life history. Objects can accrue new meanings, forged in the active process of cultural encounter and hybridization (MacSweeney 2011:52). Ceramics are necessarily connected to the role of food preparation and consumption as the overwhelming primary function of vessels is the
processing, storing, and transporting of food and liquids (Rice 1987; Skibo 2013). Ceramics used in socially integrative activities differ in some ways from those used in other contexts (Braithwaite 1982; Deetz 1972; Hegmon 1989; Prufer 1965). Appropriation and use of non-local ceramic wares, and the manner in which these items were consumed relative to culinary traditions and foodways, informs on the development of a sense of “other” and is a factor in the formation of a community identity. Distinctive functions of the Havana-Hopewell related wares would suggest association with extra-regionally socially integrative practices, indicating that southeastern Wisconsin groups became part of a broader Hopewellian relational, or symbolic, community (Ruby et al. 2006).
The association of Havana wares with the adoption of non-local ingredients that enter the archaeological record at the time of heightened interaction with Havana and Havana-Hopewellian populations would further support a sense of the “other” and indicate a stronger sense of community identity. Some groups on the periphery of the core areas of Hopewell experienced significant changes related to procurement and production of starchy seed plants associated with an overall increase in plant diversity following increased interaction with Havana-Hopewell (Arzigian 2000; Boyd and Surette 2010; Fortier 2006).
Three research questions test Hypothesis 2 using the plant macroremains, faunal material, and ceramics from the Finch site, evaluating indicators of a sense of “us” and a sense of the “other” using culinary traditions and foodways.
Research Question 3: Are Middle Woodland cookpots and foodways more standardized than Early Woodland forms?
The ceramic assemblage is evaluated using attribute data relating to vessel morphology, manufacture, and decoration to assess the range of variation (number of types) associated with the Early and Middle Woodland vessels. Increased standardization correlates with a decrease in the range of variation.
Assessment of the standardization of foodways is evaluated for the plant macroremains and zooarchaeological assemblage using diversity indices. Diversity is evaluated through the measuring of richness and equitability. Richness, equitability, and the Shannon-Weaver index, which combines both richness and equitability, are calculated for the plant and animal taxa represented in the Early and Middle Woodland assemblages at the Finch site.
Research Question 4: Is communal feasting associated with the Middle Woodland occupation?
The presence of feasting is explored using the ceramics as well the plant macroremains and zooarchaeological assemblage. The ceramic vessel assemblage is assessed to determine if there is an increase in vessel size between the Early and Middle Woodland components. Evidence for patterns of plant or animal taxonomic abundance and/or rare taxa are examined for the Early and Middle Woodland components. Abundance measures are based on standardized counts and/or weights for specific plant and animal taxa and are displayed using box plots. The box plots display the frequency distribution of taxa to identify positive and negative outliers. These outliers indicate proveniences harboring very high or very low quantities of the taxa and possibly identify locales of feasting activities.
Research Question 5: Does the actual use of Middle Woodland non-local vessels differ significantly from the Middle Woodland local ware and Early Woodland ware use?
The actual use of ceramic vessels typologically classified as Havana ware are compared to the locally produced Middle Woodland vessels and the Early Woodland vessels. Both the macroscopic evidence of use wear, based on sooting, oxidation, and attrition patterns, and chemical residue analysis, are used to delineate vessel contents, hearth design, cooking type, and cooking mode.
The plant macroremains and zooarchaeological assemblages, recovered from the same proveniences as the corresponding vessels are further examined as further corroborating evidence of vessel contents.
Research Methods
A robust combination of analytic methods, implementing a ceramic vessel use alteration study as well as analyses of well preserved plant macroremains and faunal remains, allows for a multi- faceted and comprehensive interpretation of the material data. The dissertation project performs a use-wear analysis of the ceramic assemblage, conducts new quantitative analyses of extant plant macroremain and faunal data, undertakes chemical residue analyses, and establishes a fine-grained temporal framework using AMS dates to test the hypotheses. The multiple lines of evidence are used to identify ingredients, delineate specific processing techniques, and evaluate for indicators of community identity.
Ceramic Assemblage
The project conducts a re-analysis of the Finch site Early and Middle Woodland vessels based on morphological attributes relating to vessel morphology, vessel manufacture, and decoration. A new analysis, implementing a performance based use wear study, is undertaken as part the dissertation project that identifies intended and actual use of individual vessels through macroscopic techniques and chemical analyses (Schiffer 2004; Schiffer and Miller 1999; Skibo 2013, 2015). Intended function, how vessels were designed to be used, is inferred from vessel attributes relating to morphology and manufacturing. Actual function is assessed through macroscopic characteristics of sooting, oxidation, and attrition, as well as chemical residue analysis.
Plant Macroremains and Zooarchaeological Assemblage
This dissertation project conducts new quantitative analyses on the plant macroremains and zooarchaeological data recovered from the Finch site. The new analyses characterize each assemblage, based on component, through abundance measures, ubiquity values, ratios, box plots, and diversity indices (Adams and Smith 2011; Cleveland 1994; Hastorf 1999; Hubbard 1976; Kintigh 1984, 1989; Marston 2014; McGill et al. 1978; Miller 1988; Pearsall 2015; VanDerwarker and Peres 2010; Popper 1988; Reitz and Wing 2008; Scarry 1986; Scarry and Steponaitis 1997;
VanDerwarker 2003; VanDerwarker et al. 2014 Wilkinson et al. 1992). A formal comparative analysis of the Early and Middle Woodland plant remains and zooarchaeolgoical assemblage is performed that examines plant and animal taxa representation based on a qualitative assessment (types of taxa present), relative frequencies, abundance and ubiquity measures, and diversity.
Food processing is assessed through three aspects of the plant macroremains and faunal assemblage evaluating: (1) intensity and frequency of activities involving fire; (2) butchery practices; and (3) evidence for roasting, bone marrow extraction, and bone grease rendering.
Interaction and Establishing Context
In addition to the methods of material culture analysis described above, evidence for inter- regional interaction and a temporal framework is established for the Early and Middle Woodland components. The evidence for increased interaction during the Middle Woodland, as compared to the previous Early Woodland period, is examined using frequencies of non-local chipped stone artifacts. The temporal framework is established through a comprehensive synthesis of published and unpublished dates in the archaeological literature and the direct dating of a small sample of vessel residues.
Summary
This chapter presented the theoretical framework, hypothesis, and an overview of the research methods for the dissertation research. The theoretical framework implements a community archaeology approach that links community to community identity and community identity to culinary traditions and foodways. Culinary traditions and foodways inform about the formation and transformation of community identity. Grounded in practice and structuration theory, a community archaeology approach views communities as a socially constructed form of collective identity, rooted in the experience of residential proximity and shared space, built around a perception of commonality between members and non-members, and situated in its own unique historic context.
Community, therefore, is a relational construct with a geographical reality, inextricably woven with community identity. Community identity is manifest materially in the culinary traditions and foodways of a group. Foodways reflect condensed social facts, repeated nearly every day for biological survival, a set of embodied dispositions that structure action in the world as well as instantiate perceptions of identity and difference. Through foodways and culinary traditions, it is possible to identity the habitus of a group, the set of shared understandings and quotidian practices that keep the community together. Foodways reflect community identity through the concurrent development of a sense of “us” and the sense of the “other”, recognized materially through homogenization of practices and feasting. Transformation of community identity is also reflected in foodways through the local appropriation of exotic materials.
The primary research question evaluates whether or not there are significant differences in community identity, as evidenced through culinary traditions and foodways, between Early and Middle Woodland groups in southeastern Wisconsin. A series of five questions address two hypotheses. The first hypothesis evaluates evidence of differences in culinary traditions and foodways of Early Woodland and Middle Woodland populations. The second hypothesis assesses whether stronger indicators of community identity are associated with Middle Woodland populations, corresponding to increased interaction with Havana-Hopewell.
A robust combination of analytic methods, implementing a ceramic vessel use alteration study as well as analyses of well preserved plant macroremains and faunal remains, allows for a multi- faceted and comprehensive interpretation of the material data. The dissertation project performs a use-wear analysis of the ceramic assemblage, conducts new quantitative analyses of extant plant macroremain and faunal data, undertakes chemical residue analyses, and establishes a fine-grained temporal framework using AMS dates to test the hypotheses.