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Midden Circles versus Mescal Pits

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

John W. Greer
John W. Greer*
Affiliation:
University of Texas, Austin Texas
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Abstract

An important distinction is here made between two types of Southwestern sites, each of which appears on the surface as a doughnut-shaped midden of burned rock with a depressed ashy center. "Midden circles" are debris thrown back from a central hearth lying on the ground surface. "Mescal pits" have central pits dug below the natural ground surface and are the remains of earth ovens.

Information

Type
Facts and Comments
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 32 , Issue 1 , January 1967 , pp. 108 - 109
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1967

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References

Castetter, Edward F., Bell, Willis H., and Grove, Alvin R. 1938 Ethnobiological Studies in the American Southwest, VI: The Early Utilization and the Distribution of Agave in the American Southwest. University of New Mexico Bulletin, Biological Series, Vol. 5, No. 4. Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Greer, John W. and Peterson, Edward 1964 The Cammack Sotol Pit, Val Verde County, Texas. Unpublished manuscript, Department of Anthropology, University of Texas, Austin.Google Scholar
Mera, H. P. 1933 “Mescal Pits” — A Misnomer. Science, Vol. 77, No. 1989, pp. 169–9. Philadelphia.Google Scholar