The social context of food technologyin lron Age Gao, Mali

Rachel Maclean and Timothy Insol l

Abstract

Songhai communities living in Gao (Mali) today have a distinctive cuisine, in which pounding andboiling/steaming technologies are dominant. Other characteristics include the use of ceramic stovesand kitchen mobility. Archaeological excavation at Gao, together with historical evidence, suggestthat certain of these characteristics can be projected back a thousand years to the Iron Age. In turn,these technologies have social implications, particularly when considering the lives of women at thisperiod.

Keywords

Gao; Mali; Iron Age; cooking technology.

The cultural role played by food is central to every society, and complex procedures fortransforming raw meat and vegetables into cooked meals not only distinguish betweenindividual cultural groups, but between humans and their primate relatives. Though thefundamental role played by individual cuisines has long been recognized by both archae-ologists and anthropologists, a dichotomy between their concerns and approaches hasdeveloped. Whilst anthropologists have examined the religious and symbolic aspects offood production (e.g. Radcliffe-Brown 1922), deep structure (L6vi-Strauss 1964, 1966,1968), and rituals of distribution and consumption (e.g. Goody 1982), archaeology hasconcentrated upon economic issues (e.g. Higgs and Jarman 1972; Kirch L980) and thedevelopment of sophisticated analytical techniques (e.g. Bryant and Williams-Dean1975; Rottliinder and Hartke 1982; Noe-Nygaard 1987). The actual dynamics of thekitchen have been neglected by both literatures. Indeed, to quote Brumfiel (1992:94)'there is a greater literature on the heat treatment of chert than on the heat treatmentof food'.

In this paper we attempt to examine the actual technology of food preparation withinthe context of an Iron Age West African community, that living in the city of Gao c. eo700-1400. We draw upon evidence from archaeology and from historical sources andethnographic observation, to utilize the approaches of both archaeology and anthropology

World Archaeology Yol.3L(I):78-92 Food Technology in its Social Context@ Routledge 1999 0043-8243

The social context of food technology in lron Age Gao, Mali 79

in the attempted reconstruction of Gao's past cuisine. In so doing we have had to recog-nize that a particular cuisine is not simply a list of raw ingredients, but rather what is donewith those ingredients, and that the female technology of the domestic kitchen plays afundamental role in cultural identity. These are issues which archaeology has been slow toaddress, but which are increasingly being recognized as of importance (eg. Brumflel 1991;Hastorf L99L; Insoll 1999).

Our knowledge of African cuisines, past and present, is particularly dependentupon archaeology and ethnography. Even today, the vast majority of recipes are notwritten down but are passed on from mother to daughter. As different foods and tastesare increasingly imported, and as large-scale disasters such as famine and civil wardestroy local patterns of life, these fundamental elements of cultural identity are chang-ing at an increasing rate. Archaeology may prove important in Africa, not only whenconsidering long abandoned cuisines, but also in reconstructing cuisines of the recentpast.

Gao and the Songhai

The town of Gao is located on the bend of the River Niger in the modern Republic ofMali (Fig. 1). Founded by the ancestors of the Songhai in the seventh century no, the citygrew in importance and prosperity until, in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, it func-tioned as the capital of the Songhai Empire, one of the three great West African'medieval' empires. Gao has been seen very much as a political and historical entity, partlybecause of its role as the Songhai capital, and partly as a result of the many importantArabic historical documents concerning the city and region. From the ninth century eoNorth African historians and geographers began to record their observations on thepeoples and landscape of West Africa, leaving a valuable (and potentially misleading, seeDramani-Issifol1992:59; Insoll 1994) body of historical data. However, as Dawa (1985:10) has stated'Il est difficile de dissocier la civilisation Songhoi de son espaceg4ographique', and the history of Gao is inextricably linked with the Songhai. Archaeo-logical excavations were begun in Gao in 1993 to examine the town as a past functioningproto-Songhai community (Insoll 1996).

The Songhai are a negro ethnic group who today live along the banks of the Nigerbetween Timbuktu (Mali) and northern Nigeria. The majority of the Songhai are agri-culturalists, growing staple cereal crops in the floodplain zone, but fishing is an importantelement in their economy and riverine mammals are hunted by the specialist sub-group,the Sorko (see Ligers 1964). Hunting of land animals was also previously undertaken bya specialist sub-group, the Gow, but following the widespread extermination of wildlifeby the French in the early twentieth century this is no longer a signiflcant activity. Therecent excavations in the city have begun to reveal Iron Age Gao as more than a purelypolitical entity. Aspects of the living community have emerged as we see evidence formundane daily activities. Moreover, we can now see archaeological evidence for the in-gredients used, and for the technology employed, by the Iron Age Songhai cook. As webegin to gain an understanding of past Songhai cuisine, we move closer to an under-standing of the nature of the community which lived in Iron Age Gao.

80 Rachel MacLean and Timothy Insoll

Figure I Gao, the trans-Saharan trade routes and principal urban centres in the Iron Age.

African cuisines

Despite the current obsession with all things culinary (as evidenced by the plethora oftelevision programmes, etc.), there is still a noticeable lack of literature on Africancookery. It is often assumed (not least by those who have eaten in rural Africa) thatAfrican food is largely bland, starchy and basic; food to fill the belly rather than temptthe palate. Tannahill (1988: 278-9) has suggested that, as a result of such factors as

The social context of food technology in Iron Age Gao, Mali 81

frequent drought, inhospitable environment and locust swarms, in much of the conti-nent 'normal' agriculture may have been possible in only five years out of ten; 'whilecooking may be an art where food is plentiful, when shortages are the currency of every-day life, filling the stomach is the only art'. Goody (1982) attempted to explain what hesaw as an absence of African haute cuisine by distinguishing 'hierarchic' from 'hieratic'culinary cultures. He argued that those cultures which develop a differentiated cuisineare those which have a sharply differentiated social hierarchy (generally Eurasian).whereas the more socially homogenous cultures of Africa (with the notable exceptionof Ethiopia) attached status to quantity rather than quality of meals. This idea alsoappears in Laurens Van der Post's idiosyncratic discussion of African cookery, FlrslCatch your Eland (1.977), where he praised the 'exhilaratingly exploratory'nature of themeals cooked by the 'new middle classes' of West Africa, for 'the middle classes havealways been the real consolidators and developers of taste in the post-Renaissanceworld' (ibid.:49).

However, whilst relatively little is known of African regional cuisine it seems somewhatpremature to accept that cooking here is, and has been, generally unexciting and unde-veloped. African cooks stress the vast diversity of African food (Olaore 1980; Inquai1992).In a continent nearly three times the size of Europe where over 2,000 languagesand dialects are spoken, the rich but largely unrecorded regional repertoire of recipes isbeing slowly eroded by imported ingredients and methods (Inquai t992:3). ThroughoutAfrica (as in much of the world), food is indeed characterized by bland local staples,porridges, puddings and breads prepared from either grains, tubers or plantains, whichprovide the bulk which fuels everyday labour. However, these staples are always servedwith some form of sauce or stew, the preparation of which may be a complex and skilfulprocess (Olaore 1980: 11). It is in the preparation ofthese local sauces that cultural differ-ences can be expressed and individual art and wealth displayed, and it is these local dishesthat are so poorly known. When we know so little of modern African cuisine, can we, withconfidence, begin to discuss that of the Iron Age?

Africanist archaeologists have, of course, long been concerned with food and diet. Aswith archaeology in general, the majority of this research has focused upon food procure-ment, especially developments in subsistence strategy (e.g. Leakey and Slikkerveer !991),and upon crop types, faunal use and diet (e.g. Harlan et aL. 1976; Clutton-Brock 1993;Rossel 1995; Hutton MacDonald 1996). This work has enabled us to gain a very basicunderstanding of some of the food plants which may have been gathered or grown atdifferent times across Africa, and the various animal species which may have been huntedfor meat and farmed for various animal products.

Recently, however, individual pioneering studies of prehistoric food in its culturalcontext, including its preparation, have emerged (see Samuel1989;Schoenbrun l-993; andparticularly S. K. Mclntosh 1995: 1.5744). These studies have successfully employed avariety of data and combination of disciplines to begin to approach a greater under-standing of the role played by food in individual societies. They have shown that it maybe possible to consider the actual characteristic culinary processes, or cooking technology,of archaeological communities. In this study, we too will be using evidence from a varietyof disciplines, including ethnography and history, to help interpret the results of ourarchaeological fieldwork.

82 Rachel MacLean and Timothy Insoll

Songhai food in Gao today

The Gao region lies within two climatic zones, the Saharan and the Sahelian. As theSahara is a true desert, with low rainfall (20-100mm per annum) and sparse vegetation,agriculture is impossible and today pastoralism dominates. The Sahel, in which the townof Gao is situated, is less inhospitable. Here there is a higher annual rainfall (260mm)and a greater diversity of flora and fauna, but it is the River Niger, flowing through theSahelian zone, which allows successful cultivation in the region. Today, agricultural andfishing communities are clustered along the Niger, where both the strip of land adjacentto the river and the river itself are used for extensive cultivation (rice and borghu beinggrown in the river). Although climatic conditions in this region are thought to have beenrelatively constant for the last three millennia, there have been a number of wetterepisodes over this period, including one between c. AD 700 and 1100 (Mclntosh andMclntosh 1-988: 145). Iron Age Gao, therefore, was environmentally and climaticallymuch the same as modern Gao, having the advantage of a slightly higher rainfall untilthe twelfth century.

Under such restrictive conditions subsistence strategies are inevitably largely deter-mined by the aridity of the Sahara and the fertility of the Niger strip. Leo Africanus(Lewicki 1974:23), writing in the sixteenth century, describes both agriculturalists andpastoralists living in the Gao area, very much as they do today. The possible elements ofan Iron Age diet, therefore, were probably limited, just as the elements of the presentlocal diet are limited.

By living with a traditional Songhai household in a 'Timbuktu style' mudbrick house -a two-storeyed house built around a central courtyard - throughout the duration of the1996 fleldseason at Gao, it was possible for us to both observe and participate in theprocess of food preparation, and live upon a diet of the common local dishes. Food prep-aration within the household is a solely female activity. Menus and marketing arecontrolled by the female head of the family, and various stages of preparation are under-taken as a communal activity by all women living or working within the house (Plate 1).Only the poorest families will not have the help of servants. The harder and more tedioustasks, such as pounding or sorting grain and peeling vegetables, are generally allotted toservants or children, and the more skilled elements, such as the judging of quantities andtimes, remain the preserve of the matriarch. The various spices and seasonings used arekept under her close control. Children can be solely responsible for cooking porridgeeaten only by themselves.

Songhai cuisine today, in common with food across the continent, is starch based, witha staple of grains, tubers, or spaghetti served with either an integral or additional sauce.As elsewhere, rice is a preferred grain, though millet and wild cereals are also used. Riceis described by Olaore (1980: 11) as an African 'Sunday special', rice and stew equatingto the English Sunday roast. In Gao it is boiled and steamed, whilst other grains are usedas a flour to make porridges and puddings, such as the sour dough balls,tuo. Tubers aregenerally cooked as large chunks, rather than pounded into a stiff mash (a form commonamongst other cultural groups), and those used include yams, cassava and potatoes. Todaybread also plays a significant role in the diet. Baked from wheat flour, this bread is a poorderivation from the French boulangerie of the colonial period, and throughout Mali (in a

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...:):,:;,ti.)::..

flate I Mealpreparatlonpounding and vegetablcpeeling. (Photo: R. Mac.Lean)

Plate 2 Clockwise frontop left corner. Cous.cousiere fragment, tripocstove leg, couscousidr<fragment, Gadei. (PhotoR. Maclean)

Plate 3 Saltcaravan, GaoMali. (Photo: A. Bennett'

84 Rachel MacLean and Timothy Insoll

yet further derivation) is eaten for breakfast spread with imported mayonnaise andaccompanied by very sweet milky coffee.

Many dishes involve cooking the basic staple and sauce together within one pot (mostoften those involving tubers), but separate sauces are commonly served with rice or tuo.A combination of vegetables, meat or fish are simmered with appropriate seasoning toform the sauce/stew. Tomatoes and onions are used as the basis for many dishes, but othervegetables, such as local greens, groundnuts (peanuts) and beans, are also used as saucebases. The meats eaten today are predominantly goat, mutton and beef, and the variousspecies of fish eaten include Nile perch and tilapia. There are a range of seasonings, bothlocally produced and imported: garlic, onion, salt, black pepper, hot chillies, bay leaves,dried flsh and Maggi cubes (stock cubes) are particularly common.

The dominance of certain technologies in present Songhai food preparation is appar-ent; most notably the heavy pounding of ingredients, and the use of wet cooking tech-niques (i.e. steaming, boilingistewing and frying) or pot cooking. Heavy wooden poundersare used to pound grains into flour, to pound meat used in the preparation of spaghettiand certain rice dishes, to pound groundnuts as a sauce thickener, and to pound togethervarious vegetables and seasonings into pastes to be used in the preparation of sauces (seePlate 1).

Virtually all cooked dishes (raw dishes such as salads are also served) employ wetcooking techniques, dry cooking technologies (roasting, grilling and baking) being veryrarely used within the household. The various staples are either steamed (rice, crackedgrain), or boiled/stewed (ground grains, tubers), and the sauces are generally two-stagecombinations of frying and boiling/stewing, though frying may be omitted. Medium sizedflsh (approx. 10-30cm) and pieces of larger fish may be fried and served with the meal,either plain or covered with a sauce. Pot cooking, therefore, is the basis of householdcooking. Outside the household, however, the dry technologies are used. Bread and cakeare baked in the local bakery and sold in the market, and meat is roasted, grilled and soldin the streets, generally in the evening. Indeed, Gao is famous for its spicy sausages whichare cooked and sold in this way. Interestingly, these food industries are largely male-controlled and operated, and there is thus a clear contrast between the female culinarytechnology of the household and the male culinary technology of the street.

Finally, a further notable characteristic of Songhai cooking technology today is the ideaof kitchen mobility. Although houses will have a designated kitchen area, it is commonpractice to use small stoves, either metal or ceramic, for cooking. These stoves are notrestricted solely to the kitchen area but will be used wherever is deemed most conveni-ent. Children cooking porridge, for example, may do so upstairs in the living quarters.Stoves are even used for cooking in the pirogues (canoes) which carry people and goodsbetween the small communities along the River Niger. This degree of flexibility in actualcooking location is unusual amongst sedentary African communities.

Songhai food in the past

As has been stated, there is a large body of historical data concerning Iron Age WestAfrica. Though there are obvious problems of integral bias in this evidence (Insoll 1994),

The social context of food technology in Iron Age Gao, Mali 85

it is still very valuable for indicating what may have been eaten in the region during thisperiod. Lewicki (1974) has analysed the Arabic sources for information on foodstuffs, andhis work not only details individual ingredients, but also gives us some clues as to howthese may have been cooked.

There are records of various kinds of grain being grown at Gao: wheat, sorghum, riceand barley (from the writings of al-Dimashqi and Ibn Battuta, fourteenth century, andMarmol, sixteenth century, Lewicki 1974:23,31.,36,41). Other vegetable foodstuffs beinggrown and eaten at Gao include legumes, possibly kidney beans, pumpkins, cucumbers,and melons (fromaz-Zuhri, twelfth century, and Leo Africanus, ibid.:55, 63,64). Cattle,sheep and chickens were kept, and we know that flsh were eaten'daily' (from Yaqut, thir-teenth century, Leo Africanus and Ibn Battuta, ibid.: 80, 84,90,100). Along the Niger thehippopotamus was hunted with harpoons for meat, a practice which has continued in theregion until this century (Ibn Battuta, ibid.: 95; Insoll 1995). We know that milk was apopular drink throughout West Africa and was drunk at Gao, and, though we do not knowwhich animals were providing the milk (cow, goat, sheep or camel), we do know that itwas drunk in a sour form (Lewicki: 124-:7). Salt was brought to the markets of Gao, prob-ably from Timbuktu, and Ibn Battuta, travelling from Timbuktu to Gao, traded 'aromaticsubstances', presumably including spices and other culinary aromatics, for food along theway, a practice which he describes as not uncommon (ibid.: I20,I22). Honey was used asa sweetener, as was sugar, which was extracted from either sugar cane or a local plant,burgu (Ibn Battuta and az-Ztthri, ibid.: I27,115-L6\.

Although there are far fewer references to the manner in which these foodstuffs wereprepared and consumed, we know that some form of bread was being eaten at Gao (LeoAfricanus, Lewicki 1992: 80). Lewicki suggests that this was a type of unleavened flatbread made from millet flour (ibid: 47-8). The only evidence that porridge, a staple of therecent West African diet, was being eaten in the Iron Age is given in Ibn Battuta's descrip-tion of his journey from Walata to Mali (Niani?), west of the Gao region (see Fig. 1; ibid.:454). He also writes that, in this area, fonio (the cultivated cereal digitaria exilis) wassometimes used to make couscous. Pounded sorghum or millet flour was also used to makea drink, daqno, by the Songhai living along the River Niger between Timbuktu and Gao,who mixed the flour with honey and water or sour milk (Leo Africanus and Ibn Battuta,ibid.:31, 113-14).

Milk was not only soured for drinking, but was used to make butter (Ibn Battuta,Lewicki 1992: 11I). Vegetable oils were provided by the sesame plant (az-Zuhri, ibid.:11"0), and possibly by the oil palm and shea butter tree (ibid.: 105-10).

Archaeological evidence from Gao

Excavations were conducted in Gao over two seasons, 1993 and 1996 (Insoll l-996;Insollforthcoming), and were concentrated in two areas in the modern town of Gao, GaoAncien and Gadei, and at the tell site, Gao-Saney, located approximately 6km from Gao(Fig. 2). Gao-Saney has been largely destroyed by looters searching for beads to sell(Insoll 1993), and material from the excavations was thus supplemented by disturbedmaterial collected from the surface.

86 Rachel MacLean and Timothy Insoll

Figure 2 Locations of the sites at Gao.

Both survey evidence and oral tradition suggest that initial occupation at Gao was basedat Gadei, by the side of the Niger (InsollI996:33), occupied by at least the seventh centuryeo (all dates are er unless otherwise specifled), but probably earlier. As land-based inter-regional trade grew in importance, it is probable that power shifted to the more conveni-ent location of Gao Ancien (though occupation at Gadei also continued), which thoughoccupied from the sixth/seventh century became the local royal capital from theninth/tenth century to perhaps the thirteenth century (ibid.: a7). While the archaeologi-cal evidence suggests that Gao-Saney would appear to have been a mercantile and manu-facturing community of mixed origins between the tenth and twelfth centuries, theaforementioned destruction has precluded investigation of the primary occupation (ibid.).

The excavations at Gao Ancien and Gadei revealed that these two quarters of the IronAge city were quite distinct in character. The work at Gao Ancien exposed a substantialbuilding complex of fired-brick, with paved floors and an outer stone wall. Large quanti-ties of imported glazed ceramics, glass and beads were recovered (the majority datingfrom the tenth-twelfth centuries), all high status luxury goods, but the evidence for dietwas limited to a small quantity of poorly preserved animal bone and a single date stone.At Gadei, however, where the wall of a banco (liquid mud) built round-house was uncov-ered (dated to between the early eleventh to late fourteenth centuries en), considerablequantities of faunal evidence were accompanied by a small number of botanical samplesand pieces of cooking equipment. This evidence for elements of both diet and actualprocessing technology is supplemented by evidence from the surface collection and exca-vation at Gao-Saney.

The faunal evidence recovered from all three sites was predominantly domestic and thethree assemblages were generally consistent (Hutton MacDonald and MacDonald 1996;Barrett-Jolley and Stangroome forthcoming), though, in contrast with Gao Ancien andGao-Saney, a greal quantity of fish bones were present at Gadei (Cook forthcoming).Excluding this fish bone, the assemblages consisted mainly of domestic goat, sheep and

The social context of food technology in lron Age Gao, Mali 87

cattle bone, with some evidence for the presence of domestic chicken. Butchery markswere present on some of the bones,'largely consistent with skinning, dismemberment andfilleting' (Hutton MacDonald and MacDonald 1996: 124). There were few wild species(excluding fish) in the assemblages, suggesting that hunting played only a small part in thegeneral economy and wild meat only a small role in the diet of Iron Age Gao.

The various species of flsh represented include Nile perch (Lates niloticus) and 'carp'(Tilapia sp.) (Hutton MacDonald and MacDonald 1996; H. Cook pers. comm.). Theconcentration of the fish remains at Gadei is particularly interesting. The lack of fish boneat Gao Ancien and Gao Saney appeared anomalous, 'without parallel', in fact, 'in a WestAfrican Medieval context' (Hutton MacDonald and MacDonald 1996: 125), and it hadbeen suggested that either severe taphonomic or cultural factors were affecting the assem-blage. Moreover, Ibn Battuta, visiting Gao in nn 1353, had described flsh as part of thedaily diet. With the excavation of Gadei in 1996, it became clear that fish and shellflshwere indeed being consumed in significant quantities. However, the restriction of fishbone to Gadei may indicate either different patterns of consumption within the town,differences in the location of various stages of food processing, or different patterns ofwaste disposal.

A small number of seeds were recovered from the excavations at Gadei and have beenidentified as date palm (Phoenix dactylifera), desert date (Balanires sp.), jujube (Ziziphussp.), watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) and a legume/pulse (Fuller forthcoming). All thesespecies were recorded by the Arab authors as being eaten in West Africa during the IronAge (Lewicki t97 4: 53-:7, 65, 69-:7 0, 7 3-5).

In addition to food waste, other kitchen debris was recovered which may provideimportant clues to the manner in which food was being prepared. Again, differencesbetween the three areas were apparent (Insoll t996; MacLean forthcoming). At GaoAncien, although a large quantity of potsherds was present, including cruder, more utili-tarian types (Channelled and Cord and Twine Decorated wares), no items of morespecialized culinary equipment were found. At both Gao Ancien and Gadei, approxi-mately half of the locally made pottery was of good quality, the other half being of thetwo 'utilitarian' types which at Gao-Saney formed two-thirds of the assemblage. At thisstage in our work we are assuming that the Channelled and Cord and Twine Decoratedwares were used as cookware (from evidence of flre blackening and general form). Therelationship between form and use is discussed further below.

Amongst the broken ceramics recovered from both Gao-Saney and Gadei were alsopieces of more specialized equipment, couscousiires, or steamers, and tripod stoves (Plate2). Flints similar to those used today for starting fires were also found at Gao Ancien andGadei.

A Gao cuisine?

Historical, ethnographic and archaeological evidence would appear to suggest a generalconsistency over the last millennium of the basic foodstuffs used at Gao, although recentintroductions, such as tomatoes and stock cubes, have clearly become important elementsin the local cook's repertoire. Other introduced foods, such as French-style leavened

88 Rachel MacLean and Timothy Insoll

bread, commercial mayonnaise, and instant coffee, have altered the daily diet with a lesserimpact on the kitchen.

Although archaeological evidence can provide some information on the faunalelements of the Iron Age diet, and indicate a small number of the fruits being eaten, thevarious seasonings used cannot yet be verified archaeologically. It is the seasoningsemployed, and the manner in which they are used, which provides much of the characterof a local cuisine, and the present general lack of archaeological and historical evidenceremains a problem. Whilst historical evidence suggests that a considerable part of Gao'swealth resulted from its role in the salt trade, and even today trans-Saharan salt caravansstill pass through Gao (Plate 3), there is as yet no archaeological evidence for this mostfundamental of seasonings. It is possible that future chemical analysis of food residuesmay help with the identification of seasoning elements.

The culinary technology of Iron Age Gao is also difficult to examine. There is no indi-cation of the heavy pounding which is such a distinctive feature of present technology.The pounders used today are wooden and, because wood is a valuable resource on thefringes of the Sahara, broken pounders are never simply discarded, but recycled forvarious other purposes. Furthermore, preservation of wood at the site is poor. It is there-fore probable that if similar wooden pounders had been used in the Iron Age they wouldbe unlikely to survive. The pieces of cooking pots and couscousidres recovered from theexcavations, however, indicate that the 'wet technologies' of modern Songhai domesticcooking were being used at this earlier date. The presence of couscousidres is particularlyinteresting, as this can be seen as relatively straightforward evidence for the steaming ofsome foodstuffs. No traces of domestic ovens were found at any of the three sites. If breadwas being baked, as recorded by Leo Africanus, it is possible that this was done eitherusing ceramic pots (cooking a 'pancake' on a hot griddle), or in heated sand (as is doneby the Tuareg - Nicolaisen 1963:238-9).

The recovery of pieces of ceramic tripod stoves, identical to those in use today, suggeststhat similar ideas of kitchen mobility may have been held. Although it is possible thatthese stoves were only used at fixed locations, the primary reason for manufacturing andusing a relatively fragile ceramic 'hearth' today is its portability. Throughout the conti-nent, three hearth stones, or specially manufactured supports, are used as a durable fixedhearth. Thus the pieces of ceramic stove recovered from Gadei strongly suggest that somedegree of mobility was common.

Susan Mclntosh, working at the site of Jenn6-Jeno in the Inland Niger Delta (see Fig.1), approximately 500km from Gao, used ethnographic data to associate changes inpottery form over time with possible changes in culinary technology. Ethnographicresearch on pot form and function in the Inland Niger Delta (Gallay 1970,1980; Raim-bault 1980;Bedaux 1-986) has suggested that vessel function is related to mouth size andthe size of vessel mouth relative to actual vessel size. Mclntosh interpreted a change froma preponderance of shallow, small-volume bowls and a relatively low number of smallcooking pots in the earlier phases of Jenn6-Jeno (approx. 400 ec-eo 500 - Mclntosh andMclntosh 1995: 60) to a much greater frequency of wide-mouthed cooking pots in the laterphases (approx. eo 500-1500 - ibid.) as a change from baking, grilling and roasting toboiling and stewing (S. K. Mclntosh 1995: 15744).

At Gao it is not possible to examine the pottery assemblage in such great detail because

The social context of food technology in Iron Age Gao, MaIi g9

the generally small size of the sherds recovered prevented any analysis of patterns ofvessel form. Rim diameter, however, was measured. On all three sites it was apparent that,of the two utilitarian ware types, the majority of vessels had a mouth diameter between10 and 30cm, and approximately 75 per cent measured between 15 and 30cm (Insoll 1996;Maclean forthcoming). This range of vessel mouth size is closely comparable to that usedtoday in the Gao Songhai kitchen, and therefore is compatible with a ,wet' kitchen tech-nology' Whilst today the food for the household meal will generally be prepared in a large-mouthed vessel (approx. 25-30cm), sauces and food for small groups, such as children,sporridge, can be prepared in smaller vessels (15-25cm). However, such suggestions mustobviously be seen as extremely tentative.

Finally, there are intriguing differences between the three areas excavated at Gao. It isfrom Gadei that we recovered the majority of the faunal material, virtually all the fishbone, all the botanical samples (except a single date stone), and most of the pieces ofspecialized kitchen ware (stoves, couscousidres, flints). There was a relative scarcity ofimports and luxury goods, but a wealth of domestic material at this site. In addition to theculinary debris, large numbers of glass and locally-produced ceramic beads, a ceramic potof yellow clay 'rouge' (still worn by young women today) and sticks of crayon Tterri deBourem - possibly worn as make-up) were found. Today these are all items generallyassociated with women, and, to a lesser extent, with children.

We argue, therefore, that at Gadei we can see evidence, not only for the daily activityof the Iron Age, but for female daily activity, and that it is possible to begin to identifygender in the past through the debris of gender specific activities and technologies (selMaclean 1998)' Isolating individual aspects of Iron Age Songhai cuisine can, therefore,begin to tell us more about female life in Gao. If the idea of kitchen mobility, for example,existed at this early date, it suggests that boundaries between 'male' and ,female, .pu""may have been flexible. As future analysis enables us to build up a more detailed pictureof the Gao cuisine, we hope in turn to build up a more detailed picture of the Gaocommunity.

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Dr Klena Sanogo and Dr Mamadi Dembele of the Institut desSciences Humaines, and Dr Diallo Iam of the cNRST in Bamako, for allowing theresearch to take place. We are also grateful to the British Academy, St John,s College,Cambridge and the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, at the Universityof cambridge, for funding the fieldwork. Nafogo coulibaly, Elmoctar Toure, MassaDiarra and Jo Lee assisted with the excavations, and Mr and Mrs Elmoctar Toureallowed us to live with their family in Gao. Thanks also to Margaret Maclean forbabysitting.

Rachel MacLean, Department of ArchaeologyUniv ersity of Cambridge

Timothy Insoll, Depqrtment of Art History and ArchaeologyUniversity of Manchester

90 Rachel MacLean and Timothy Insoll

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