Earth Ovens

Earth Ovens

A variety of terminology is being applied by archaeologists to a diversity of scoop features in New Zealand Maori archaeological sites. These features are usually interpreted as indicating cooking in earth ovens. Some greater degree of consistency is needed if the terminology is to be more rigorous.

From Law G. 2008 “Hangi, Hangi Pits, Hangi Scoops, Umu, Scoops, Fire Scoops, Hearths, Scoop Hearths - Sorting Out What We Are Talking About” Archaeology in New Zealand 51(2): 95-105.

An Archaeological Terminology

Ovenstone – Stone in an archaeological context which suggests it was used or was intended for use in an oven – through size / shape selection, evidence of being fire affected, surface addition of charcoal.

Fire affected ovenstone – Fire broken or otherwise heat affected

Oven rakeout – Mixed charcoal and ovenstone, which may include shell and bone midden.

A descriptive typology:

Suggested term	Form
Earth oven*	Scoop with ovenstones in place, with or without a fire affected base.
Inferred earth oven	Scoop without ovenstones, with or without a fire affected base, adjacent evidence of cooking including ovenstones (oven rakeout).
Scoop hearth / possible earth oven	Scoop without ovenstones, with a fire affected base or ash fill, with adjacent evidence of cooking in midden but not including ovenstones.
Scoop / possible earth oven	Scoop without stones, without a fire affected base or ash fill, with adjacent evidence of cooking in midden but not including ovenstones.
Scoop hearth	Scoop without stones, with a heat affected base or ash fill, but no adjacent evidence of cooking, or ovenstones.
Scoop	Earth oven or hearth like scoop, without other evidence.
Describe – it is not necessarily evidence for the local presence of earth ovens.	Fire affected stones, with or without charcoal / midden, no scoops.

• Using ‘earth oven’ as a term runs somewhat against the objective of a descriptive classification, but at this end of the classification the function is also clear.

References

Best, E. 1923 The Polynesian steam oven. New Zealand Journal of Science and Technology 6(1):54-56.

Best, E. 1924 The Maori, 2 vols, Journal of the Polynesian Society Memoir.

Carson, M.T. 2002 Ti ovens in Polynesia: ethnological and archaeological perspectives. Journal of the Polynesian Society 111(4):339-370.

Kirch, V.P. and R.C. Green 2001 Hawaiki; Ancestral Polynesia. An Essay in Historical Anthropology. Cambridge University Press.

Leach, H.M. 1972 The hearth as an archaeological feature in New Zealand. New Zealand Archaeological Association Newsletter, 15(2):59-75.

Leach H.M. 1982 Cooking without pots: aspects of prehistoric and traditional Polynesian cooking. New Zealand Journal of Archaeology 4:149-156.

Leach H.M. 2007 Cooking with pots – again. in Vastly Ingenious; The Archaeology of Pacific Material Culture, Eds. A. Anderson, K. Green and F. Leach, Otago University Press, Dunedin.

Orliac, C. and Michel Orliac 1980 Les structures de combustion et leur interprétation archéologique : quelques exemples en Polynésie. Journal de la Société des Oceanistes 66:61-76.

Sutton, D.G. 1971 Cooking methods in prehistoric New Zealand. Unpublished B.A. (Hons.) dissertation, University of Otago.