Steatite Vessel

From the collections of PVMA • Digital image © Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Assoc. • Image use information

About this item

This stone bowl is typical of what Eastern Woodlands peoples, including the Pocumtucks in the area that is now called Deerfield, Massachusetts, used for cooking and preparing food.  The bowl, filled with a soup or stew, would be placed into or next to a fire.  Smaller stones would be heated in the fire and placed in the container of food to cook it.  This bowl might also have been used as a mortar.  Items, such as nuts, would be placed in it and a pestle would be used to hammer on and/or grind the bowl’s contents into a flour.

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Details

Item typeFood Processing Equipment
CreatorNative American
PlaceWilbraham, Massachusetts
TopicNative American
Food, Cooking, Beverage, Alcohol
EraEarly Indigenous and European contact, 1565–1619
MaterialStone/Mineral
Dimension detailsHeight: 5.00 in Width: 13.25 in
Catalog #1985.0409
View this item in our curatorial database →
Native American. Steatite Vessel. Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, American Centuries. https://americancenturies.org/collection/1985-0409/. Accessed on December 6, 2024.

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