Amerindian Cassava Grater

3D Model

The Cassava grater was part of the preparation process for Cassava by Amerindian communities. Jerome Handler, in his article “Aspects of Amerindian Ethnography in 17th Century Barbados” stated that: “ in processing the cassava, traditional Amerindian techniques generally involved first the scraping off of the skin and then the grating of the root with a grater made of thorny branches, coral, or wood and stone splinters set in a board. In squeezing the juice out of the grated cassava, a cylindrical basketry strainer or press (commonly known as a matapi or tipiti in the ethnographic literature) was employed.” (63)

This particular grater also has a motif of a lizard. Animals such as lizards, frogs or turtles were frequent in Taíno art.

Source: “Aspects of Amerindian Ethnography in 17th Century Barbados”. Author: Jerome S. Handler. Caribbean Studies, Vol. 9, No. 4 (Jan., 1970), pp. 50-72.

Digitized by Toni-Q Harris during the 2018 BMHS 3D Photogrammetry Summer Intensive