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