Heather Atherton and I were told, in an oral history interview in  
Placitas, NM, that the pueblo people living in San Felipe followed  
this practice. Still kind of second-hand tho.

Nan ROthschild
Quoting Cathy Spude <[log in to unmask]>:

> 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.
>>



Nan A. Rothschild

Research Professor
Barnard College
212 854-4315

Director of Museum Studies
Columbia University
212 854-4977