I think one must take into consideration (when referencing chicken,
or other foods) the area of the US you may be talking about. NE, Mid
-West, West, South, North etc.
Chickens were carried West in wagon trains. Easy to carry. Instant
food source. Kept caged. Whereas cattle, sheep etc. (transportation
and care) were more task oriented. More folks needed to keep the
bloomin' animals in tow. Chickens were found more in the rural areas,
where they were free to forage, as well as the outskirt homes of
towns. Chickens usually ate what they could find for food including
each other. (Very canabalistic) Grain was cheap or was cultivated in
the area. Eggs were always available and needed. In spite of all this
chloesterol hype.
Big city life was not conducive to chicken raising. Naturally
chicken was cheap and abundant. Cattle, sheep and hogs were more
expensive foods and could only be afforded by the well to do and
those that raised them. Fortunately a lot of folks shared their
different meats with others through trade.
I have traveled around West Texas, New Mexico a lot and I do not
remember seeing chicken flocks on the Indian lands. I have seen
chicken groups in Mexican communities. It could be I just wasn't
really looking close enough.
I was born in 1930 and I can tell you it was not a time for the faint
of heart. It was tough and money was scarce. A lot of us ate rabbits
and even squirrel. Many butcher shops carried rabbit and squirrel in
their meat cases.
At 03:11 PM 8/30/2007, you wrote:
>I must say that none of this discussion has convinced me that
>chicken is the province of the wealthy or higher socio-economic
>status, or at least in any demonstrable and consistent
>fashion. There are simply too many variables to control for in
>these anecdotal comparisons. What was the availability of chicken
>and poultry in these various markets? How were decisions made based
>on self-raised vs. store bought? How representative are these
>features of the people who contributed to them and broader national
>trends in meat consumption? It is certainly possible that urban
>dwellers at the time who did not keep their own fowl might have
>weighed the choice between beef, pork, and bird, and simply chose a
>greater percentage of the first two. And, the rich widow with all
>the chicken bones, may have simply really liked chicken!
>
>What I would really like to see is a comprehensive study on the
>availability and comparative pricing of beef, pork, sheep, and bird
>from the last half of the 19th and the first half of the 20th
>century. I'm sure one of you will tell me it has been done!
>
>Bob Genheimer
>George Rieveschl Curator of Archaeology
>Cincinnati Museum Center
>1301 Western Avenue
>Cincinnati, Ohio 45203
>513-455-7161
>
>
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Wendy
>Nettles
>Sent: Thursday, August 30, 2007 12:36 PM
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: poultry consumption
>
>
>Meli,
>
>I may have some information on poultry consumption that may be of help. We
>recently have completed two large urban archaeological data recovery
>projects in California. The first was in Sacramento, where we tested two
>city blocks (for those interested, between Q and R streets, 3rd through 5th
>streets). A total of 35 features were recovered, primarily privies and
>trash pits, with most deposition dates between 1891 and 1907 (There were a
>few earlier (1871) and later (1930s)). This was a residential neighborhood,
>very middle-class and cosmopolitan. We did faunal and macrobotanical
>dietary analysis and had some interesting results. Poultry, including
>chicken, goose, turkey, and duck, composed about 13% of faunal assemblage in
>two analytical units (both turn of the 20th century). The faunal assemblage
>from another feature in that project area, a wealthy widow's privy with a
>TPQ of 1873,was dominated by chicken (74%!!). We could only attribute this
>to her economic status.
>
>The other project was in downtown San Luis Obispo, CA. Feature associations
>in that project were a bit more varied, with faunal assemblages from a
>residence, a saloon/lunchroom, and a brothel. The faunal assemblage from
>the residence came from two discrete features, one dating to 1890, the other
>to 1904. In the earlier feature, poultry included chicken, quail, and
>turkey, comprising about 4% of the assemblage. In the later feature,
>poultry included chicken, quail, turkey, and duck, and comprised about 9.5%
>of the assemblage. Other meat cuts and artifacts in the features suggested
>that the resident's wealth increased through time, and he was purchasing
>better meat cuts and household items later in his life. We attributed the
>increase in chicken to an increase in wealth. In the saloon/lunchroom
>feature (1905), 8% of the assemblage was chicken. The brothel privy
>(1890)was dominated by chicken - 33%. The next highest percentage was beef
>at 22%. The brothel privy contained quite a variety of artifacts, and they
>were indicative of a large amount of income. Again, we attributed the
>presence of that much chicken was an economic indicator.
>
>These are very quick summaries of these projects. I would be glad to send
>you a copy of each report, but they are very large (even in pdf), so I would
>have to mail you a cd. If you think they may be helpful, just let me know
>and I can get them to you.
>
>You may also want to peruse the reports put out by the Anthropological
>Studies Center at Sonoma State University. Quite a few of their projects
>were in urban contexts from the late 19th and early 20th century. A list of
>publications is at http://www.sonoma.edu/asc/publications/index.html
>
>Wendy M. Nettles
>Staff Archaeologist
>Applied EarthWorks, Inc.
>5090 N. Fruit Ave.
>Suite 101
>Fresno, CA 93711
>(559) 229-1856 ext 13
>
>
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