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chapter 7 Structure 16: The Kitchen of Household 3 Inga Calvin To date only a portion of the kitchen of Household 3 has been excavated. However, based on the example established by Household 1, future investigations should reveal additional domestic structures that will confirm Household 3 as a distinct residential complex. Andrea Gerstle and a team of students fromWestern Michigan University discovered the kitchen of Household 3 in 1991–1992 while excavating test pits to install footings for the site’s large protective roofs. Special funds for their work were provided by the Patrimonio Cultural, by the Patronato ProPatrimonio Cultural, and by a Fulbright Research Fellowship. While digging a 2 × 2 m test pit identi fied as Unit P-2 of Operation 7, excavators unexpectedly encountered the remains of Structure 16. Similarities in the construction technique of this building and Structure 11 from Household 1 indicate that Structure 16 served as the kitchen for Household 3. Architecture and Artifacts Lying approximately 9 m north-northwest of Structure 4 (Fig. 1.1), Structure 16 exhibits pole-andthatch wall construction and a slightly elevated, circular ground plan. The floor of Structure 16 rises between 4 and 10 cm above the tierra blanca joven (TBJ) ground surface. A row of poles, 1.0–1.5 cm in diameter and lashed together with two-ply string, forms the curved exterior wall of the building. Based on extrapolations from the excavated arc, the building is approximately 4.0 m in diameter. In the northeast quadrant of the excavation unit lies a trough-shaped metate resting on a support composed of split river cobbles and unshaped stones. This stack of rocks elevates the metate to a maximum height of about 45 cm above the floor and differs significantly from the forked-stick horquetas used to support the metates inside Structures 11 and 4. Set into the floor is an unworked rock that may have served as a right-foot brace for the person using this metate. Additionally, a depressed area next to the metate indicates where this individual repeatedly stood while grinding. Although neither a mano nor any visible residue was found on the metate, some impressions of possible corn husks encountered to the west of the metate suggest that the trough-shaped metate was used to grind corn. A large storage vessel containing an unidenti- fied red liquid apparently fell from the rafters of Structure 16 and broke early during the eruption. A red powdery pigment adhered to the interior of one sherd and flowed onto the floor beneath the broken jar. The presence of abundant charcoal and a large river cobble embedded in the floor near the southeast corner of the 2 × 2 m unit suggests that a hearth probably lies in the unexcavated portion of this building. Because no door was found and because the ground outside and to the west of the raised floor of Structure 16 was plant-free but littered with small sherds, Gerstle posits that the entrance to this structure most likely will be located toward the south or east. structure 16: the kitchen of household 3 73 Comparison with the Household 1 Kitchen Although only a small portion of this building has been uncovered, similarities in the architectural style and quotidian artifacts indicate that both Structure 11 (Chapter 5) and Structure 16 served as the cooking facilities for their respective households . Traits that facilitate this identification include a roughly equivalently sized circular floor plan, although Structure 16 (approximately 4.0 m diameter) may be slightly smaller than Structure 11 (4.48 m diameter). Both buildings are constructed of thatched walls with lashed poles rather than impenetrable bajareque, a construction style that facilitates air circulation during cooking and that seems particularly suited to tropical kitchens. Additionally , both structures have nonfired interior floors that were easy to resurface or replace and that could accommodate spills. In terms of identifiable artifacts, the metate recovered from Structure 16, like that discovered inside Structure 11, had been elevated to a grinding position that suggests use by a fairly short, erect-standing person. Following the model established by the Household 1 residential complex, and if excavation of Structure 16 confirms an entrance toward the south or east, further investigations may reveal a domicile and another storehouse located to the south or east of Structure 4. Excavations conducted by Paul Cackler during the 1996 field season may have encountered additional features related to Household 3. Unit P-55...

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