Present Use and Production of Metates and Molcajetes in Turícuaro (Michoacán, Mexico): Deciphering the Evolution of Food Preparation Practices

ABSTRACT

In Central America, maize processing for the production of tortillas bears a strong cultural connotation of the preservation of cultural traditions. The METATE project aims to explore the long-term history, from Prehispanic times until today, of the production and use of grinding stone tools (metates and molcajetes) on the slopes of the El Metate volcano (Michoacán, Central Mexico). It has been approached through a multidisciplinary program including volcanology, archaeology, and anthropology. The village of Turícuaro has been recognized for centuries as a major center of metate production for the entire Purépecha region in Michoacán. According to the few remaining craftsmen who make metates (metateros) in the village of Turícuaro, the quality of the rock selected and the organization of metate production have undergone significant changes during recent decades. We discuss how the introduction of new mechanical and electronic devices has generated important social consequences at the domestic, village, and regional scales.

KEYWORDS:

• Food practices
• grinding tools
• volcanic region
• andesite lava
• craftsmen
• quarries
• production

Acknowledgments

Our warmest thanks go to Nicolás, Don Pedro, Doña Livia, and other members of the Vidales family in the village of Turícuaro for their kindness in transmitting their knowledge of metate production. Their time, patience, and warm welcome were invaluable during the many weeks of learning. C. Siebe benefitted from a sabbatical stay at the Senckenberg Naturhistorische Sammlungen, Dresden and the kind hospitality of Jan-Michael Lange and Peter Suhr. O. Chevrel acknowledges the aid of the Laboratory of Excellence ClerVolc.

Disclosure Statement

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

Additional information

Funding

This project was financially supported by a Sardyn Research grant from the Labex Dynamite (French National Research Agency) and a research grant from Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne University. It also benefited from the financial and scientific support of several laboratories (UMR 8215 Trajectoires, UMR Archam, CEMCA-Mexico). The work of O.M. Chevrel, N. Reyes, and C. Siebe was supported by Dirección General de Asuntos del Personal Académico through project UNAM-DGAPA IN-104221.

Notes on contributors

Caroline Hamon

Caroline Hamon is a researcher in the Trajectory laboratory at the National Center of Scientific Research in France (CNRS). She specializes in the economies and subsistence strategies from the Neolithic to the Early Bronze age. Through the anthropology of techniques and use-wear analysis, her work focuses on the use of grinding tools in food practices.

Grégory Pereira

Grégory Pereira is a researcher in the Archaeology of the Americas laboratory at CNRS. He is responsible for the Uacusecha project, which focuses on the archaeology of the Zacapu basin of Mexico, particularly Tarascan societies and territory. His research concentrates on the funerary and sacrificial practices of Mesoamerica.

Oryaëlle Chevrel

Oryaelle Chevrel is a researcher at the Research Institute for Development (IRD) in France. Her research focuses mostly on linking petrology, chemistry, rheology, and morphological characteristics of volcanic landforms. She conducted her post-doctoral research at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) on the El Metate volcano.

Laurent Aubry

Laurent Aubry is an engineer in the Trajectory laboratory at CNRS specialized in geophysics in archaeology. He also develops spatial analysis applications based on GIS and 3D modeling by photogrammetry.

Claus Siebe

Claus Siebe is a principal investigator and Professor in the Institute of Geophysics at UNAM. His research focuses on the paleovolcanic dynamics of the Trans-Mexican belt, particularly in Michoacán.

Osiris Quesada

Osiris Quesada is a master degree student at UNAM, specializing in lithic production and quarries. She is involved in the Uacusecha project to study dacite production.

Nancy Reyes-Guzmán

Nancy Reyes earned her PhD at UNAM focused on the volcanic dynamics of the Zacapu basin in Michoacán, Mexico.