I'm glad you asked, Susan. Contrary to conventional wisdom, tradition, 
oral histories, what have you, Cathy, I have never found an oxblood floor in 
an archaeological excavation in Santa Fe or anywhere else for that matter, 
and believe me I've looked for them!  Truth to tell, I've come to believe ox 
blood floors are another example of mythology perpetrated by the WPA and 
other fact-finding missions.  To begin, ox blood or the blood of any large 
or small animal is too valuable a protein to waste slathering it on floors. 
Secondly, spreading the blood of oxen or any other animal on a dirt floor 
only adds to the generally unsanitary conditions of an age, increases the 
number of flies and disease vectors round about, not to mention, produces 
worse odors than those usually present with privys, etc.  If anyone has any 
information to the contrary and can show me an actual ox blood floor, I will 
be glad to consider changing my story.

Cheers!
Dedie Snow



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Cathy Spude" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, June 28, 2008 11:36 AM
Subject: Re: cow's blood in floors


> OK, so I don't have documentation, but it does seem to be common knowledge 
> here in Santa Fe that ox blood was mixed with clay to make the 
> characteristic black-colored dirt floors of the adobe buildings from the 
> 17th and 18th centuries. I'll check with my sources and find out whether 
> its fact or fiction.
>
> Cathy
>
>
> Catherine Holder Spude, PhD
> 7 Avenida Vista Grande #145
> Santa Fe, NM 87508
> 505-466-1476 home
> 505-913-1326 cell
>
> "Life is not tried, it is merely survived if you are standing outside the 
> fire," Jenny Yates and Garth Brooks.
>
> --------------------------------------------------
> From: "Susan Walter" <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Saturday, June 28, 2008 11:38 AM
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: cow's blood in floors
>
>> June 28, 2008
>>
>> Hello All,
>> Working in San Diego Old Town, we are bedeviled by trying to tease out 
>> fact from oral traditions...
>>
>> A current one we are dealing with regards the claim that cow's blood was 
>> a component of packed earthen floors.
>>
>> Long time residents of Baja that we know deny this as a fact.  Their 
>> packed earthen floors are solidified simply with water.  Other historians 
>> we have questioned have not found this blood addition was done.
>>
>> So,
>> 1.  Has anyone in the Histarch community heard of this?
>> 2.  Is there documentation of it?
>> 3.  Where and who documented it?
>>
>> Many thanks,
>> S. Walter
>>
>> PS:  Then, when you are finished with bloody floors, there is the story 
>> that roof tiles were shaped over maidens thighs...  And we can follow up 
>> with documenting the number of girl's petticoats that were torn up to 
>> make American flags...  And, oh Lord save us from Ramona.
>>
>
>
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