Environment, cooking strategies and containers

This paper is an exercise in theory building that explores container form, function, and distribution. Using ethnographic data, environmental reconstructions, and archaeological information, containers are examined within the framework of the container complex, the group of containers used within a system. The results reveal a robust patterning between stone boiling and direct fire boiling and environmental thresholds. It also shows that container fabric used in these cooking strategies patterns by environmental variables. The results are models of the distribution of cooking strategies and the container fabrics used for cooking that can then be applied to the archaeological record.