I believe Julia attributes them generally to a mediterranean influence and
the historical research of the area would point to what specific ethnic
iteration it represents.  In the Sierra Nevada they have been associated
with Chileans, Mexicans, Italians, and French.  But of course, those are the
ethnic groups that were there (here) who would have carried on such a
tradition.  Mexican hornos should be expected to be covered in mud (stucco,
whatever) like those found in the southwest.  Some of all of these types of
ovens were at ground level, and some were built at about waist level.

Most often the interiors are void of any substantial artifacts because the
feature would have been continually cleaned out, but around the feature
there should be some material remains.  The challenge then, at least in the
southern Sierra Nevada, is that associating the artifacts with the feature
and therefore dating and associating the feature with a specific group of
individuals is difficult to prove - because of a lack of relative
stratigraphy.  



-----Original Message-----
From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of David
Legare
Sent: Wednesday, July 19, 2006 3:03 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Railroad Camps


These are also found with the Italian workers' camps
in Colorado.  It was a fairly common European bread
oven.  An interesting side note is that in New Mexico
and other Spanish-speaking areas they are called
"horno" while the Italian word comes directly from the
latin as "forno."  French and Spanish dropped the "f"
for a silent "h" sometime during the middle ages.

--- Kent Taylor <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> In doing an archaeological survey in Wisconsin, one
> our crews came upon what
> they described as a railroad camp that included the
> ruins of a
> beehive-shaped stone cooking oven and a great deal
> of faunal material,
> especially bovine.  Has anyone else come across a
> similar situation? And how
> was it explained.  Thanks.
> 
> 
> Kent Taylor
> 


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