Ancient Pottery, Cuisine, and Society at the Northern Great Lakes by Susan M. Kooiman (review)

Reviewed by: Ancient Pottery, Cuisine, and Society at the Northern Great Lakes by Susan M. Kooiman Ryan Edward Peterson Ancient Pottery, Cuisine, and Society at the Northern Great Lakes By Susan M. Kooiman (Notre Dame, Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press, 2021. Pp. 240. Illustrations, tables. Clothbound, 100. 00; paperbound, 45. 00; e-book, 34. 99. ) Susan Kooiman, in the opening of Ancient Pottery, Cuisine, and Society at the Northern Great Lakes, states that the northern Great Lakes are "often overlooked in the archaeological literature" (p. 9). She addresses this gap through a multiproxy approach to the ancient pottery and culinary research at the Cloudman site, on Drummond Island off the eastern end of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Pottery-using Indigenous groups occupied the Cloudman site, which comprises a stratified occupation area and a burial mound, between 50 AD and 1500 AD. Kooiman's approach is multidimensional and applies a range of analytical techniques including taxonomic categorization, functional analysis of pottery, vessel-specific AMS (accelerator mass spectrometry) dating, stable isotope analysis, lipid residue analysis, and microbotanical analysis. Chapter two addresses the environmental and cultural backgrounds of the northern Great Lakes, offering a unique focus that draws on the limited archaeological record of this region. Chapter three discusses subsistence, settlement, and social interactions during the Woodland period. Kooiman also introduces the Cloudman site and lays out five research topics: differences in technical properties of ceramics, changes in ceramic vessel use and cooking habits, diachronic changes in subsistence strategies, synchronic variation in pottery function, and ethnographic/ethnohistorical accounts of culinary practices. Chapter four gets into the theoretical backdrop of the book, drawing from technological style, pottery function, and foodways and cuisine. Chapter five analyzes the chronological history of the Cloudman site End Page 157 through AMS dating of residue on pottery vessels. This allows Kooiman to relate technological style to chronological dates directly. In doing so, she lays out four relevant periods for discussion: Middle Woodland (50–200 AD), Early Late Woodland (900–1000 AD), Late Late Woodland (1200–1300 AD), and Late Precontact (1300–1500 AD). She also discusses the relevant pottery types that belong to each period, demonstrating that more variation appears in technological style over time. Chapter six considers the functional analysis of the Cloudman assemblage by examining three technical elements of pottery construction—temper size, vessel size, and rim size—along with residue use patterns. Synchronically, Kooiman identifies no statistical differences between pottery types of the same periods. Diachronically, she shows that Middle Woodland vessels were the smallest, with vessel size increasing over time. Temper size decreased over time, showing an increased need for thermal shock to process starchy foods. Use residue patterns show that stewing was common during the Middle Woodland period, but boiling was dominant in the periods following, with stewing diminishing in use. Chapter seven analyzes food residues on vessels to identify foods consumed in ancient diets using microbotanical, lipid residue, and stable isotopes. One of the most significant findings of this study is that maize use, which is thought to have increased over time, was most prevalent during the Middle Woodland period. Subsequent periods show little use of maize, except maize present in Iroquois pottery during the Late Precontact period. Kooiman also demonstrates an increase in wild rice cooking over time and heavy utilization of nuts and aquatic resources across all periods. The final chapter complements these results through an ethnographic/ethnohistoric study that shows foods used by local Indigenous groups parallel foods found in the archeological record. Overall, Kooiman provides a well-articulated multidimensional approach to studying pottery in the northern Great Lakes. Her conclusions are well-structured and supported. This study focuses its attention on the archaeology of the northern Great Lakes, an area rich in heritage, but lacking in research. End Page 158 Ryan Edward Peterson Indiana University Copyright © 2024 Trustees of Indiana University