1070 storage and preservation: The Americas be completely coated in a thick layer of potter’s clay and left to dry A quick wash would remove the clay from the fruits later The Romans also understood the importance of keeping the fruits from touching one another, and fruits might also be stored in containers divided with wood into little compartments and fi lled with sawdust However, all of these methods were very labor intensive and were probably most often used on the great estates that had hundreds of slave workers THE AMERICAS BY AMY HACKNEY BLACKWELL Ancient American peoples needed to store several things: wild food items that they had gathered, seeds for the next planting season, and water for daily use and in case of drought They also needed to preserve food, both plant foods and meats, so that they would have a steady food supply throughout the year Drying was the most common method of food preservation throughout the Americas People dried such grains as corn and other vegetables either by spreading them out in the sun or by placing them in a fire How long grains would remain edible depended on local humidity; corn would last three years in the dry climate of the North American Southwest, but it lasted only one year in the humidity of the Yucatán peninsula People preserved meat and fish by drying them as well Women would cut meat into strips and lay it across open racks to dry in the sun Meat and fish could be smoked by placing them in the smoke of a slow fire for several days Dried and smoked meats would keep for many months, depending on humidity and temperature Native Americans sometimes embellished their basic dried meats with different ingredients For example, sometimes they would dip the meat in ground corn before drying it and then roll up the dried strips for ease of transport during travel Pemmican was made by cutting fresh meat into chunks, mixing it with dried berries and rendered fat, and spreading it out to dry into bars Native Americans who lived in cold climates took advantage of natural freezing temperatures to preserve meat They would kill animals early in the winter, cut them into pieces of meat, and allow the meat to freeze They could then defrost it in a fire when they were ready to eat it The people who lived in the Arctic commonly employed this technique with seal meat People who lived in the Andes used freeze-drying to preserve some of their food, particularly potatoes They would lay out their potatoes on the mountainside, where the potatoes would freeze; the water would then gradually sublimate out of them, resulting in very lightweight potatoes that lasted a long time Although people ate dried foods as they were, they might also reconstitute them by soaking or cooking them in water Throughout the Americas people stored food in woven baskets People throughout the two continents began making baskets about 6000 b.c.e Both sexes wove baskets People would sometimes weave baskets very quickly on the spot if they suddenly found a trove of food and wanted to carry it home Basket styles and materials varied by region People in the north made baskets of birch bark, ash, or sweetgrass Native Americans in California used yucca, willow, or sumac On the northwest coast weavers used spruce root, cedar bark, and swamp grass People in the southeastern regions used pine needles Basketry became more highly developed when people adopted the sedentary agricultural lifestyle, around c.e in North America and perhaps around 4000 b.c.e in Central America Native Americans used baskets for a variety of purposes They attached shoulder straps to conical baskets to make carrying baskets Some baskets had an open weave; these baskets were lighter, good for carrying loads of firewood or large food items Open-weave baskets were useful for catching and carrying fish or clams because they allowed the water to drain out of the basket More tightly woven baskets could carry small items, such as seeds When people harvested crops, they sometimes carried small baskets on their hips to hold the grain they picked, periodically emptying these small baskets into larger baskets on their backs Different shapes of baskets were used for different food items Baskets intended to hold fresh berries, for example, were shaped like cones to prevent the weight of the topmost berries from crushing the ones on the bottom Baskets could be waterproofed with such substances as pine resin to make them suitable for carrying or storing water Native Americans throughout North America stored food in clay pots Archaeologists have found pots throughout the continent, dating to the time when humans first lived in the area; numerous ancient pots date to between 25,000 and 8000 b.c.e Plain mud can be formed into vessels that will dry hard, but unless they are fired, they will dissolve in water and crumble easily when dry Baking clay in a hot fire makes it hard and more water resistant, though without some sort of glaze to seal the surface even fired clay will leak water Archaeologists have found many unfired pots used by ancient Americans; these could have been used to store dry items, such as nuts and seeds Historians believe that the practice of firing clay pots was an outgrowth of basketry and food drying One technique Native Americans developed to dry such food as corn was to place the grain in a basket lined with clay and then put it in or over a fire The basket would burn, leaving behind a baked clay shell As evidence for this practice, historians cite the many ancient pots with exterior textures that look as if they were formed in baskets Although Native Americans had used pots to store food for millennia before the advent of farming, it was when they settled down in agricultural settlements that potters gained real expertise with their art and different nations developed different designs for their vessels based on their storage needs Women (who made most pottery) made water jars with bases designed to rest comfortably on the top of a human head in