Grace,
    The trash pits at the Augusta Arsenal (late 1820s to post 1900) do seem to
have table waste and, like yours, our bones don't seem to have been weathered or
gnawed either.
 
    I appreciate your starting this thread, I've learned a good deal and its given
me some things to look for here.  I look forward to the summary you mentioned when
you're done.
 
    Chris Murphy
 
Grace H. Ziesing wrote:
 
> Again, thank you for all your great responses. I seems that this may remain a
> big enigma. The very large example from Mary's feature was extraordinary,
> and would bring butchering waste to mind, but even this was made up of
> meal-sized
> elements from a variety of animals. Virtually ALL of our “house cleaning”
> features from urban areas (in excess of 100 in Los Angeles and Oakland)
> have substantial amounts of food-waste bone. The bone is from many
> different animals (cow, sheep, pig, chicken, fish, etc.) and represents
> many different meals. It is not whole, slaughtered animals, but
> commercially prepared butchered cuts of meat. The fauna are clearly not
> from a single feast, but from what looks like weeks or months of steak,
> roast, soup, or chicken dinners.
>
> The idea that it was not uncommon to stockpile bones until they became a
> “nuisance” is intriguing (and seemingly fits our evidence), but the bones
> rarely show signs of having been weathered through long-term exposure or
> gnawed by marauding rodents. If Los Angeles and Oakland residents were
> stockpiling their bones, they must have been doing it in a securely covered
> place.
>
> Did the other house-cleaning deposits mentioned on this Histarch exchange have
> faunal material? Was it also table waste? Any more ponderings on this will be
> very welcome either on or off list. When we write up this draft essay for the
> upcoming report, we’ll post it to the list for final comment.
>
> Thank-you,
>
> Grace Ziesing
> Anthropological Studies Center
> Sonoma State University Academic Foundation, Inc.
> [log in to unmask]
>
> Julia Costello
> Foothill Resources, Ltd.
> [log in to unmask]