Although the Mississippian standard jar, a specific vessel form found in
many parts of the Mississippian cultural world, has long been recognized as
a utilitarian cooking pot, the important connection between this ceramic
form and maize has largely been overlooked. By focusing on the Mississippian
site of Moundville located in the Black Warrior valley of west-central
Alabama, I propose that the Mississippian standard jar was not simply a
general cooking pot, but instead a specialized culinary tool used to
nixtamalize maize. As such, both the vessel and the plant were part of a
cohesive ancestral hominy foodway. This relationship is demonstrated in two
ways: first, by articulating both the hominy foodway and the antecedent nut
foodway practiced between A.D. 1020–1260; and, second, by exploring changes
in the morphology and use-alteration patterns of the Moundville
Mississippian standard jars recovered from contexts dating to the Moundville
I-III phases(A.D. 1120–1520). The relationship between vessel and food
demonstrated here suggests a practice- and taste-based model for the
synergistic relationship long recognized between maize and the emergence of
the Mississippian civic-ceremonial center of Moundville.