# Cassava and the Clay Griddle (c. 400)

URL: https://allhistories.com/barbados/timeline/400-cassava-and-the-clay-griddle
Location: Barbados
Themes: main-event

Cassava (manioc) was domesticated in South America and was carried into the Caribbean by Saladoid farmers. Its starchy roots can be grown in thin, dry soils, which suited the porous coral limestone of Barbados, but bitter varieties had to be grated, squeezed and baked to remove poison. Amerindian sites on Barbados contain large numbers of fragments of flat clay griddles used to bake cassava cakes, together with pot stands and cooking vessels. Griddle sherds were recovered at Heywoods in St Peter and at Chancery Lane in Christ Church during the Barbados Archaeological Survey of the mid-1980s. Plant remains and the shape of settlements suggest small gardens near villages, supplemented by maize, sweet potato and wild fruits, while protein came mostly from the sea. Grinding stones and fine-grained sandstone knives found at the same sites were probably used in preparing food. Cassava agriculture allowed Amerindian communities to remain in one place year-round and to grow. It remained the basis of island diet until the end of Amerindian Barbados, and cassava later became an important provision crop for the English colony. At this point in the timeline (c. AD 400), no ruler of Barbados is recorded in this dataset; the island was home to Amerindian communities whose leaders are not known by name.

## Why it matters
Cassava farming made permanent village life possible on the island.

## Sources
- [Wikipedia — Cassava](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassava)
- [Drewett & Harris, Barbados Archaeological Survey report (UFDC)](https://ufdcimages.uflib.ufl.edu/AA/00/06/19/61/00385/12-12.pdf)
- [Encyclopaedia Britannica — cassava Caribbean](https://www.britannica.com/search?query=cassava+Caribbean)
- [Wikipedia — The First Barbadians (period overview)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Barbados)