The Life History of Coffee-Related Pottery Traditions in Ethiopia: Ethnoarchaeology and Formation Processes of the Archaeological Record

ABSTRACT Coffea arabica, the most widely consumed variety of coffee globally, is the Ethiopian domesticate par excellence. Ironically, archaeological research on the early cultivation and consumption of this plant in its place of origin is sparse. This ethnoarchaeological study among Kafecho, Majangir, and Oromo coffee-producing communities in southwest Ethiopia examines the processes by which coffee-related pottery moves from systemic to archaeological contexts. Two traditions of brewing coffee are associated with two different pottery assemblages. Variation in the life history of coffee-related pottery across households is attributed to (1) differences in breakage patterns that either enable or inhibit secondary use and (2) household economic status, which determines when pottery is replaced. The use, reuse, and discard of coffee-related pottery is high in coffee-producing communities, and the possibility of recovering such remains archaeologically is high in midden sites where secondary refuse is discarded and in abandoned settlements as primary refuse where breakage occurs.