The artifact that I have chosen is an earth oven that is used very frequently by indigenous people in the Andes. Particularly, I found this artifact to be very interesting and meaningful because I had the opportunity to build and eat from one of these earth ovens. In the northern region of Ecuador, they called the earth oven Pachamama because it essentially means earth food. It was used traditionally for many years and it is still being used by many indigenous people in Ecuador as it is simple, delicious and communal. The process of building the earth oven is quite simple too. They dig out a pit large enough to put different sorts of meats, potatoes, plantains and vegetables inside and then they place leaves at the bottom to keep the food clean. The place some hot rocks that have been burning in a fire previously and place them around and under the food to cook the food. Finally, they place leaves on top of all the food, cover it with soil and leave it in the pit to cook. There is no fire that is needed in the pit because the heat of the hot rocks is trapped inside the pit as it is covered by leaves and soil. This method of cooking was extremely sustainable and delicious.
I feel like this artifact has a lot of meaning to it because it shows that the indigenous people were able to keep their traditions and ways of living despite colonialism. Indeed, some indigenous people may have lost part of their language or their customs, but their way of cooking and living has been preserved by many years of resistance. Moreover, the indigenous people respect Mother Earth a lot and have always lived sustainably and as one with nature. With the current crisis of global warming and climate change, it is important that we re-evaluate our way of living and learn lessons from the indigenous people.
