The Life History of Coffee-Related Pottery Traditions in Ethiopia: Ethnoarchaeology and Formation Processes of the Archaeological Record

ABSTRACT

Coffea arabica, the most widely consumed variety of coffee globally, is the Ethiopian domesticate par excellence. Ironically, archaeological research on the early cultivation and consumption of this plant in its place of origin is sparse. This ethnoarchaeological study among Kafecho, Majangir, and Oromo coffee-producing communities in southwest Ethiopia examines the processes by which coffee-related pottery moves from systemic to archaeological contexts. Two traditions of brewing coffee are associated with two different pottery assemblages. Variation in the life history of coffee-related pottery across households is attributed to (1) differences in breakage patterns that either enable or inhibit secondary use and (2) household economic status, which determines when pottery is replaced. The use, reuse, and discard of coffee-related pottery is high in coffee-producing communities, and the possibility of recovering such remains archaeologically is high in midden sites where secondary refuse is discarded and in abandoned settlements as primary refuse where breakage occurs.

KEYWORDS:

• Coffee
• African archaeology
• coffee drinking
• coffee production
• coffee domestication
• pottery life history
• site formation processes
• ceramic assemblage formation

Acknowledgements

I owe a debt of gratitude to the Kafecho, the Majangir, and the Oromo communities in southwest Ethiopia who are a delight to work with. Special thanks to Alfredo González-Ruibal for the mentorship. Thanks are due to Margaret Beck and two anonymous reviewers for their invaluable comments on an earlier draft. Brenda Bowser provided guidance and assistance through the editorial process. Permits for fieldwork were obtained from the Authority for Research and Conservation of Cultural Heritage, Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples’ Region, and Oromiya Bureau of Culture and Tourism.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes on the Contributor

Worku Derara-Megenassa earned his BA in History and MA in Archaeology from Addis Ababa University and his PhD in History and Archaeology from Complutense University of Madrid. Currently, he is as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Archaeology and Heritage Management at Addis Ababa University. His research interests are ethnoarchaeology, megaliths, environment-culture interactions, cognitive archaeology, and iconography.