DOI: 10.6076/d1dw2c
title: Data from: New approaches to ceramic use and discard: cooking pottery from the Peruvian Andes in ethnoarchaeological perspective

description: 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.
description: 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.
description: 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:<br> First letter is type of pottery<br> o =
 olla<br> c = chata<br> d = tostadera<br> f = fiesta
 (used for special occasion)<br> k = alternate for chata<br> r
 = tetera (tea pot)<br> x = unknown Second letter
 is size<br> c = chico (small)<br> m = media (medium)<br>
 f = familia (family)<br> g = grande (large)<br> x =
 unknown Classes for water transport and storage jars -
 Porongos:<br> First letter is the type of jar:<br> p = porongo
 (narrow mouth jars)<br> u = ulpus (medium mouth jars)<br> t =
 tinajas (wide mouthed jars)<br> n = unknown<br> blank line
 means household lacked porongos<br> Second letter is size<br>
 c = chico (small)<br> m = media (medium)<br> g = grande
 (large)<br> x = unknown Classes for blades -
 buckets:<br> First letter<br> b = balde (bucket)<br>
 Second letter<br> m = metal<br> p = plastic
 <br> Directories:<br> use has use survey
 data<br> discard has the discard survey data
 <br> Files within use directory<br>
 ______________________________________<br> uollab = use of ollas de
 barro (clay)<br> format:<br> village house-in-village
 cumulative-house number-vessels type-vessel age comment<br> 01 01
 001 02 of  1.00<br> 01 01 001 04 of  0.08<br> 01 01 001 02 cx 
 1.50 uollam = use of ollas de metal<br> format
 same as above<br> 01 01 001 01 rc  3.00<br> 01 01 001 01 og 
 2.00<br> 01 02 002 01 rc  3.00<br> 01 02 002 03 fg
 15.00<br> 01 03 003 01 om  6.00<br> 01 03 003 02 og 
 6.00<br> 01 04 004 01 rx  1.00 upor = use of
 porongos, these are ceramic water storage jars, same format as for
 ollas<br> 01 01 001 01 um  6.00<br> 01 01 001 01 tg  3.00
  <br> 01 02 002 01 pg 20.00<br> 01 02 002 01 um 
 3.00<br> 01 02 002 02 tm  4.00<br> 01 03 003 03 pc
 12.00 ubal = use of metal or plastic buckets for water
 storage and carrying, same format .. <br> ufam =
 family information 199 total<br> village house-in-vil cum-house
 in-kitchen female    age   cook     type-fuel   
  cummensal-number<br>                                             
       i=in           f=female                     l=straw, wood or
 dung?<br>                                                   
 e=ext.        m=male                      k=kerosene<br>
                                                                          
                               g=gas<br> 01 01 001 i f 50 y lxx
 06<br> 01 02 002 i f 60 y lxx 03<br> 01 03 003 e f 48 y lkx
 07 ufambset = best families 96 total<br>  
 families where information was collected from the cook(female)<br>  
 inside the kitchen(i) and they used only straw, wood or dung?
 fuel <br> Files within discard
 directory<br> _____________________________________<br> dollab
 = discard of ollas<br> Format of file:<br> Village Household
 CumHousehold PotType Size Age HOWBROKE USED MEMO<br>
                                                         o=olla 
 c=chico      yrs   a=accident b=basura<br>
                                                                    
 m=medio            s=wear      u=used<br>
                                                                    
 f=familila<br>
                                                                    
 g=grande<br> 01 01 001 01 og 12.00 a b *drunken fiesta**no
 location<br> 01 01 001 01 dc  1.83 s b *mucho uso**no
 location<br> 01 02 002 01 cg 20.00 a b *wind blew kitchen roof
 down**left in place<br> 01 02 002 01 of  2.00 a b *wind blew kitchen
 roof down**left in place<br> 01 02 002 01 oc  1.00 a b *wind blew
 kitchen roof down**left in place dporo = discard of
 porongos<br>  1  1   1 01     0.00     *no rompo todavia mis
 poronguitos                                      <br>  1  2   2 01
 pc 15.00 a b *kitchen fell in in wind breaking all pots; left in the
 heap           <br>  1  2   2 01 nc 12.00 a b *as
 above                                                              <br> dfam = discard by family<br> VILL HOUSE TTL In-Kitchen SEX AGE Primary-Cook FUEL-USED<br>                                                     f=female             l=wood??<br>                                                      m=male              k=kerosene<br>                                                                                 g=gas 01 01 001 + f 43 ? lxx<br> 01 02 002 + f 78 y lxx<br> 01 03 003 + f 25 y lxx<br> 01 04 004 + m 40 n lkx<br> 01 05 005 + f 36 y lxx<br> 01 06 006 + f 51 y lxx<br> 01 07 007 + f 20 y lxx<br> 01 08 008 + f 48 y lxg<br> 01 09 009 + f 72 y lxx <br>   In the discard survey data,<br> 01 12 012 01 cc  2.00 a b *grandson broke**no location<br> 01 12 012 01 oc  1.00 a b *broke wasing**no location<br> 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.