The material culture associated with this complex drinking system is very simple. The most important and most durable artifacts used by the Tarahumara in producing and consuming tesgüino are the ceramics used for cooking and fermenting. The cooking vessels are often quite large and their size depends upon the number of people to be served. The rim on the cooking pot is used to lift the vessel from the fire using a pair of sticks among both the Tarahumara (Pennington 1963:218), and the Tepehuans (Pennington 1969:215). Some Tarahumara now use 50 gallon oil drums cut in half for cooking tesgüino (Fontana and Teiwes 1979:Figure 12). Pennington (1963:152) also mentions small pots used for mixing and cooking the catalysts that are added to the tesgüino, but does not provide any specific information on their size or form.

Figure 2.3.22  Tarahumara tesgüino pots (© Arizona State Museum).

The most treasured ceramics that the Tarahumara own are their large fermentation ollas. These are usually dark brown in color, with a narrow base, high shoulder, narrow mouth, and flaring rim. There is also a bi-lobed shape of fermentation olla that is reminiscent of a peanut. Fermentation pots are often quite large: the largest fermentation olla in the Arizona State Museum collection is 73 cm tall, 73 cm in diameter at its widest point, its mouth diameter is 45 cm, and it weighs in excess of 65 pounds. The pottery used by the Tarahumara to prepare tesgüino is almost never decorated, although a few painted fermentation pots have been observed. Tesgüino ceramics are also not used to prepare other types of food, but are reserved exclusively for making tesgüino (Fontana 1979:42; Pennington 1963:152). The other material items used in the production of tesgüino would not be likely to survive in the archaeological record, such as the gourd bowls (holding from a pint to a quart [Kennedy 1963:629]) used for serving and drinking, the wooden ladles use during cooking, and the agave fiber baskets used for straining the tesgüino before fermentation.

Tarahumara pottery is usually made by women, but men also know how to make pottery and may do so on rare occasions (Fontana and Teiwes 1979:9; Pennington 1963:216). Ceramic production does not involve specialization, and each household produces its own pottery for domestic use. There is little information available about clay sources or the characteristics of the clay that is used, although the potters that Fontana (1979:41) worked with preferred tan or reddish-brown clay. Most clay is apparently obtained from arroyos near the main residence. The clay is transported to the rancho where it is ground using a mano and metate. The clay may be sifted through a basket before being wetted and mixed with sand on a board or other flat surface.

Figure 2.3.23  Tarahumara woman making a tesgüino pot (© Arizona State Museum).

The base of the pot is formed in a bowl with a cloth over it and then anchored in loose sand or dirt. The Tarahumara use the coil and scrape technique in forming their pottery. Balls of clay are rolled out and coiled around the base, then pinched together and smoothed with a gourd or small stone. The vessels are put in the shade to dry for at least a day, and then polished with a small stone after the slip or paint has been applied, if the pot is to be decorated. However, the use of a slip or painted design is rare for all Tarahumara ceramics, especially those involved with the production of tesgüino. The most popular type of paint is made from red ochre, which is ground, added to water, and then applied using a stick or chicken feather as a brush. Pots are left to dry for approximately a week after being formed, and then are fired in the same hearth used for cooking or laid on their sides in groups on top of hot coals. The pottery is fired in an oxidizing atmosphere using wood or dung as fuel. Apparently, most ranchos have a separate pottery making area that is sheltered from the elements but unroofed; the pottery making materials are stored in this area (Graham 1994:59).

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