Trish Clay
pclay@whsun1.wh.whoi.edu
Forwarded message:
> From @UBVM.CC.BUFFALO.EDU:owner-anthro-l@UBVM.CC.BUFFALO.EDU Wed Jun 8
13:54:55 1994
> Message-Id: <9406081754.AA18420@whsun1 .wh.whoi.edu>
> Date: Wed, 8 Jun 1994 10:38:04 -0500
> Reply-To: John Hoopes <HOOPES%UKANVAX.BITNET@UBVM.cc.buffalo.edu>
> Sender: General Anthropology Bulletin Board <ANTHRO-L@UBVM.cc.buffalo.edu>
> From: John Hoopes <HOOPES%UKANVAX.BITNET@UBVM.cc.buffalo.edu>
> Subject: Drinking in the Eastern Woodlands
> X-To: anthro-l@ubvm.bitnet
> To: Multiple recipients of list ANTHRO-L <ANTHRO-L@UBVM.cc.buffalo.edu>
>
> A historian colleague of mine contends that the use of alcoholic
> beverages was virtually unknown to indigenous peoples of the eastern
> woodlands of the U.S. prior to their introduction by white settlers.
> Given the abundant evidence for use of pulque, chicha, and other native
> drinks in Mesoamerica and South America, I'm skeptical that there were
> any native teetotalers--especially where maize was cultivated. I've
> always suspected that moonshine (corn liquor) was a distilled version
> of a Precolumbian maize beer, a synchretism of native and Scotch-Irish
> traditions.
> Is there any archaeological or ethnohistoric evidence to confirm
> or deny the assertion that Indians of the northeast didn't drink much
> before demon rum came on the scene?
>
> Thanks for your help!
>
> John Hoopes
>