A faunal approach to foodways at the Mint House-National Museum of Cultures, Mexico City, Mexico
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2012
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Abstract
This thesis approaches colonial foodways in Mexico City using archaeological fauna! remains from the Mint House-National Museum of Cultures. The merging of ideologies and ingredients between Europeans and Mesoamericans resulted in the creation of a unique cuisine that reflected a diverse society in colonial Mexico. It was during the course of 484 years that these groups formed a rich and complex society. Each group contributed specific ingredients, inclinations, and experiences, creating new foodways that incorporated both inter-generational habitus and cultural capitals. Fauna! research at the Mint House was guided by three questions: were there food inclinations and economic distinctions among the inhabitants of the Mint House? Is there a species inclination among the inhabitants of the Mint House? If so, why? Aided with theories of practice, habitus, distinction, and cultural capital as well as zooarchaeological methods these questions are evaluated. Several intangible aspects of societies develop from social processes, including foodways, and they become visible through archaeological materials. By analyzing and describing excavated occupation layers and provenience of fauna! assemblage, as well as species identification, anatomical part identification, NISP, and MNI, I emphasize potentially quantifiable differences in the presence of mammal species in the Mint House's archaeological context. Over 11,000 bones were recovered from 32 pits from the "Project at the National Museum of Cultures -National Coordination of Historical Monuments (MNC-CNMH)". From these, 5473 diagnostic bones belonged to sheep (Ovis aries). The abundance of sheep remains, contrast with the notion that pig was the meat staple of colonial Mexico. This species inclinations indicates that social groups like Conversos, descendants of Jewish converted people who escaped the Spanish regime, were present in New Spain and that they also influenced Mexican foodways. Future analysis regarding the role of Conversos in colonial society, use of space as well as the importance of meat cuts needs to be done in order to comprehend the economic and social distinctions in colonial Mexico City.
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Bibliography: p. 143-173
Some pages are oversized.
Some pages are oversized.
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Lopez-Forment, A. (2012). A faunal approach to foodways at the Mint House-National Museum of Cultures, Mexico City, Mexico (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/4883