Abstract:
ABSTRACT
DAILY BREAD: PREHISTORIC COOKING FEATURES IN THE
NORTHERN SACRAMENTO VALLEY, CALIFORNIA
by
Kristina M. Crawford
Master of Arts in Anthropology
California State University, Chico
Spring 2011
The act of cooking food leaves evidence in the archaeological record in the
form of features and fire-affected rock. Cooking features and fire-affected rock have
had little research and interpretation applied to them beyond basic descriptions, but they
provide an important line of evidence to understand human behavior and culture. This
study compiles archaeological and ethnographic evidence of cooking features of the
northern Sacramento Valley. The compiled data is then used to test a model of expected
temporal patterns of cooking features based on the idea that an increase in the
complexity and number of cooking features and an increase in the sum total of fireaffected
rock in the archaeological record of a region may reflect resource and
technological intensification due to an increase in population. The results of the study
indicate there is an apparent increase in cooking features and total fire-affected rock in
archaeological sites through time in the northern Sacramento Valley.
