Ethnicity and Tradition in the Old Town San Diego Diet

Trine B. Johansen (UC Davis)

and Benjamin D. O. Hanowell

(CSU Sacramento)

The McCoy-Silvas Site, Old Town San Diego, P1116

A Few Details About The Features

• Site first occupied during the 1830s

• Artifacts associated with Feature 39 date to the 1840s

• Artifacts from Feature 141 are possibly associated with the earlier (1830s) adobe structure

Faunal Remains From The McCoy-Silvas Site in Old Town San Diego

Taxon NISP %NISP

Cow 2711 64.5%

Canids 8 0.2%

Horse 4 0.1%

Pig 102 2.4%

Rabbit 2 0.0%

Rodents 1 0.0%

Sheep 161 3.8%

Unidentified Artiodactyls 125 3.0%

Unidentified Mammals 27 0.6%

Bird 22 0.5%

Fish 17 0.4%

Snake 1 0.0%

Unidentified 1021 24.3%

TOTAL 4202 100.0%

0

20

40

60

80

100

%NISP

%MNI

McCoy-Silvas House faunal remains

Relative Frequency of Number of Identified Specimens, and Minimum Number of Individuals (Grayson 1984)

Cow Bone Density

Rs = -0.16, P = 0.33

0

20

40

60

80

100

0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1

Cow %MAU

Bo

ne

Den

sity

No correlation between recovered cow bone elements and density (Kreutzer 1992)

Rs = 0.36, P = 0.06

0

20

40

60

80

100

0 20 40 60 80 100

%MAU

Mea

t U

tili

ty I

nd

ex

Cow Meat Utility

weak, but positivecorrelation betweenrecovered cow boneelements and meat utility (Emerson 1990)

Fragmentation

%Whole elements

NISP:MNE ratio

Cow (n=2222)

41.65 3.43

Sheep (n=166)

42.00 1.81

Cow elements arenearly twice as fragmented assheep elements (Lyman 1994)

Relative Frequency of Skeletal Parts

McCoy-Silvas Cow Faunal Remains Compared with Ontiveros Adobe and Rose-Robinson Sites

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

Cervic

al

Crani

um

Femur

Humer

us

Lum

bar

Man

dible

Pelvis

Radiu

s-Uln

aRib

Scapu

la

Thorac

icTib

ia

Major Bone Elements

%N

ISP McCoy-Silvas

Ontiveros Adobe

Rose-Robinson

What Type of Waste?

MATANZA WASTE (following Gust 1982)

• Large number of carcasses

• Deposited on ground surface

• Located away from living areas

• No other trash

• Presence of partially or wholly articulated carcasses

The Matanza

“When the rancheros had a matanza, which means the killing of a lot of cattle once a year…he would have lots of cattle brought up and placed in corrals near the house some where, and then those in the best condition to kill were selected from the band and slaughtered…” (Belden 1878:22)

What Type of Waste?

KITCHEN AND BUTCHERING WASTE

• Variable number of carcasses

• Concentrated in pits

• Located near living areas

• Presence of domestic artifacts

• Evidence of intensive butchering

• Presence of other animal species

Kitchen and Butchery Waste

“Small slaughters seem to have been conducted very near home. A beef for family use was reportedly brought “in to the side or rear of the house, about 100 feet distant, and convenient to the kitchen…and killed…” (Davis 1889:47-48)

Hispanic vs. Euro American Butchering Traditions

• Hispanic– Butchering and

consumption on site.– Bones are highly

fragmented. – Use of knives and

axes in dismembering.– Lack of sagitally split

vertebrae.– Smashing of long

bones for marrow?

• Euro American– Specified butchering

sites.– Less fragmented

bones.– Use of saws.– Suspension of carcass

resulting in sagitally split vertebrae.

– Sawing the bone into multiple sections.

Butchering Techniques

Relative Frequency of Chopping Marks

A Few Examples of Chopping

The Experiment

• Employed a variety of tool types – axes, hatchets cleavers, knives, saws

• Recorded the modification effects of each tool

• Applied this method to several bone elements

• Hatchets get the job done• No marrow extraction?

Conclusion

• Cows Rule

• Butchery and Kitchen Waste

• Follows expected pattern for the time period within the cultural context

• No strong emphasis on particular meat cuts

• Use of hatchets and axes in primary butchering

Acknowledgements

• Larry Felton, Department of Parks and Recreation, SACRF.

• Christyann M. Darwent, Department of Anthropology, University of California, Davis.

• Glenn Farris, Department of Parks and Recreation, SACRF.