Carol--I appreciate your point but remember that (at least from my limited knowledge based in the U.S. Southwest) chickens (as opposed to ducks, turkeys, etc.) were imported from Europe and their remains would not be encountered in prehistoric contexts.

Morgan
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Carol Serr<mailto:[log in to unmask]> 
  To: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> 
  Sent: Thursday, August 30, 2007 11:42 AM
  Subject: Re: poultry consumption - missing bones ?


  But WHERE are the bones...if it was common to raise or eat
  chicken...'back then'???

  I don't yet have the totals for our '1908-1920' period Grant, Jr. dump
  bone assemblage (it is being analyzed out of office)...but I remember
  seeing maybe 10 fowl long bones (could have been from 5-7 birds)...among
  nearly 2 banker boxes full of large mammal bone.  Why such a LOW
  percentage...and at a rural summer home...where one would think it would
  be common to have chickens for eggs and meat (even if they 'help' did
  the raising). ???  Was the family of higher status...so they didn't eat
  chicken? (were the chicken bones in the dump from the meals of the hired
  help? But would still expect a higher frequency).

  My dad's mom (German heritage) made chicken and dumplings for Sun.
  dinner often; or fried chicken.  My other grandma (Basque) baked chicken
  now and then, but also cooked lamb, pork...or "stringy beef" (aka chuck
  roast).  Back in the 30s-50s (before my time), when someone butchered a
  pig, they brot her to collect the blood to make 'blood sausage'...since
  apparently hers was the Best around.  My mom has unfond memories of
  seeing her mom wring the neck of the chickens they raised.  You just do
  what you have to do tho...when you have a family to feed.  But my mom
  could never do that (so would her family have starved? Good thing she
  had a grocery store nearby!). 
   
  Our suburb neighbor - with 5 kids - raised rabbits and chickens (in the
  60s).  Being the matter-of-fact kind of person I am...I purposely hopped
  over the fence one day, to watch the dad kill and skin a rabbit. Another
  time, I watched (over the fence) him chop the chicken's head off...and
  learned that chicken really DO run around with their heads cut off (at
  another neighbor's, I learned that fish hearts keep beating after being
  cut out!).  There was a stump and hachet in their backyard also.

  But...WHERE are the chicken bones?  Do they disintegrate sooner than the
  more robust large mammal bones?  Wouldn't think so...since in much older
  prehistoric sites...we find a plethora of small mammal bones.  

  >-----Original Message-----
  >From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On 
  >Behalf Of Dan Allen
  >Sent: Thursday, August 30, 2007 9:21 AM
  >To: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
  >Subject: Re: poultry consumption
  >
  >Fried chicken or chicken and dumplin's (and cornbread)were 
  >also a Sunday (after church) meal where I grew up in Middle 
  >TN.  One of my most horrific memories is of my grandmother (b. 
  >1910s and d. 1980s) chasing my blue-dyed easter chick, now 
  >full grown with only blue tips left on a few feathers, around 
  >the yard, catching it, wringing its neck and chopping its head 
  >off before my very eyes.  She kept a special hatchet just for 
  >such purpose on the pumphouse for the well behind the house.  
  >Unfortunately, all of the kids in my family, cousins, etc. had 
  >to go through this whole ordeal annually in alternating colors 
  >(red, green, blue, etc).  You could buy them from vendors on 
  >the side of the road or at grocery and some department stores. 
  > While she would try to be subtle about it and do it when kids 
  >weren't watching, she was busted quite often and always dried 
  >the tears, making up for the killing by tabling the best 
  >chicken to ever pass a tonsil.  I've excavated a few axe and 
  >hatchet heads behind historic houses and thought of that murderous
  >hatchet::)  We chidren would not go near it.  Incidently, in 
  >the 1950s from her (and my other rural and older female 
  >relatives) point of view preparing store-butchered chicken was 
  >considered a luxury because it was considered expensive.  It 
  >was cheaper to raise them for meal-ready-eats and you had the 
  >benefit of fresh eggs.  We always kept some banty hens for 
  >little bitty eggs for the kids. Also interesting, her married 
  >surname was Hatchett:)
  >
  >dan allen
  >cumberland research group, inc.
  >www.cumberlandresearch.org
  >
  >----- Original Message -----
  >From: "David Parkhill" <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>>
  >To: <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>>
  >Sent: Thursday, August 30, 2007 10:16 AM
  >Subject: Re: poultry consumption
  >
  >
  >> Chicken was considered the" Sunday special meal" by many folks in the
  >> '30's. Those of us living on the farms in Texas always took fried
  >> chicken with us most of the time while working in the fields. Many
  >> times while working in the fields (ours and our neighbors) the wives
  >> and mothers would meet us in the field under a shade tree with fried
  >> chicken, biscuits, iced tea   et al for lunch.
  >> DTP