Earth oven

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An earth oven or cooking pit, is one of the most simple and long-used cooking structures - a simple pit dug in the ground to hold heated materials for food to be cooked over. Earth ovens have been used in many places and cultures in the past. The presence of such cooking pits is a key sign of human settlement often sought by archaeologists.

Although there are many variations, the basic system is for fire-heated rocks in a pit to be covered with green vegetation, large quantities of food, more green vegetation, and then a final covering of earth. Cooking takes at least several hours.

Many ethnic communities still use cooking pits, at least for ceremonial or celebratory occasions. Perhaps the best known examples are the Hawaiian luau and the Māori hāngi.

Americas

In many areas archeologists recognise "pit-hearths" as being in common use in the past. In Central Texas there are large "burned-rock middens" apparently used for large-scale cooking of plants of various sorts, especially the bulbs of sotol. The Mayan pib and Andean watia are other examples.

The Pacific

Very common in the past and continues into the present - particularly for special occasions. Polynesian versions include the Tongan 'Umu, Fijian lovo, Māori hāngi, Hawaiian imu and Samoan 'umu. These differ in the details of preparation, their cultural significance and current usage.

References

1997 The Roasted and the Boiled: Food Composition and Heat Treatment with Special Emphasis on Pit-Hearth Cooking. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 16(1):1-48.

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