Cooking, Serving, and Storage: Ceramic Vessel Function and Use Contexts at Schroda

Foods and foodways are closely connected to social processes and activities. The functions of ceramic vessels in transporting, storing, processing, and serving food are tied to these social processes. Vessel functions can thus provide direct evidence of social activities. This article presents the results of a functional analysis of ceramic vessels from Schroda, a tenth- to eleventh-century farming settlement located in the middle Limpopo Valley, South Africa. Physical attributes such as vessel form, size, surface treatment, and sooting are considered in conjunction with ethnographic sources and comparative archaeological data to identify vessel functions and how these might relate to different activity areas across the site. Continuity and change in vessel use between the site’s Zhizo- and Leokwe-phase deposits are also discussed.