Asado y hervido: un acercamiento arqueológico a las técnicas de cocción a partir de vestigios de actividades rituales en Mesoamérica
Roasted and Boiled. An Archaeological Approach to Cooking Techniques from Vestiges of Ritual Activities in Mesoamerica

Summary/Abstract: The objective of this article is to create a bibliographical review concerning the archaeological approaches to cuisines, focusing on their types recorded in the context of ritual activities in Mesoamerica. The culinary practice in ritual activities has been the subject of numerous studies for the Late Postclassic and Colonial periods. Although the Spanish chronicles described it in relation to the symbolic meanings hidden behind the cuisines served in certain ritual events, simple application of ethnohistorical data to archaeological contexts remains difficult. The article considers the possible criteria used to identify traces of cooking practices in food remains and presents a series of specific contexts to evaluate its applicability and usefulness in Mesoamerican archaeology. The archaeological contexts selected from the current bibliography can be roughly grouped into two types, offerings and banquets. The remains of banqueting activities tend to be found in ceremonial areas and show a specific preference for cooking. In this case, indirect exposure to heat in a humid environment is preferred. On the other hand, in the case of offerings, the cooking activities are generally carried out in a dry environment. The identification of these recurrences allows us to make an initial assessment of our knowledge on ritual cooking in Ancient Mesoamerican archaeology.

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