Hi Peter,

Yes, many of them have pretty clear blackening, usually on the smoothed
side (you can perhaps see a bit at the bottom of the near edge in the
photo). Occasionally they have blackened marks on the side with
indentations, but in that case, it can be inconsistent, with a round
³clear² area in the center, then a ring of blackened surface around it.
Some experimental work I did with a student a few years ago suggests that
the blackening is probably burnt oil, and sometimes it seeps through the
clay. In combination with the gritty fabric, that seems to suggest that
they were used for heating. The current scholarly consensus (such as there
is) suggests that they were probably used for making breads of some sort.

Thanks,

Julie


--
Julie Hruby
Assistant Professor of Classics
Dartmouth College
HB 6086
Hanover, NH 03755
(603) 646-2910

-----Original Message-----
From: <Burns>, Peter <[log in to unmask]>
Reply-To: "Cooking technologies of ancient Mediterranean cultures."
<[log in to unmask]>

Date: Thursday, July 31, 2014 at 3:20 PM
To: "[log in to unmask]"

<[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: [ANCIENT-FOOD-TECH] On griddles

>My question is...why the name "griddle" are we sure it's not a decorated
>"tray".....is there indication of use with heat...
>I'm curious...we have misnomered items in our collections.
>Thanks
>Peter
>
>
>Peter Burns
>Zooarchaeology Laboratory
>Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology
>Harvard University
>11 Divinity Avenue
>Cambridge,MA 02138 USA
>Phone: 617-495-8317
>________________________________________
>From: Cooking technologies of ancient Mediterranean cultures.
>[[log in to unmask]] on behalf of Julie Hruby
>[[log in to unmask]]
>Sent: Thursday, July 31, 2014 2:59 PM
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: On griddles
>
>Dear all,
>
>Welcome to the Ancient Food Tech list. In the first day of publicity, we
>had nearly 200 different people subscribe, which is fantastic! I really
>look forward to all of us having the opportunity to learn more about
>ancient foodways from each other.
>
>So, let's start in:
>There's a type of cooking pot that we know from many Mycenaean sites,
>often called a "griddle." I've uploaded a (poor quality - my apologies)
>photo of one that's on display in the Mycenae museum to Imgur, at
>http://i.imgur.com/7NvTaex.jpg. Some are quite shallow, like the one in
>the photo; others have much higher walls wrapping about 1/2 to 3/4 of the
>way around the circumference.
>
>My question is this: I've heard rumors of similar vessels occurring
>elsewhere around the Mediterranean. Can anyone share bibliography related
>to comparable vessels from outside of the modern country of Greece? Do we
>have any sense of the range of contexts from which this type of pot (or
>perhaps its relatives) might come?
>
>Thanks much,
>Julie
>
>
>--
>Julie Hruby
>Assistant Professor of Classics
>Dartmouth College
>HB 6086
>Hanover, NH 03755
>(603) 646-2910
>
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