Abstract:
ABSTRACT
ZOOARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY OF
HISTORIC SHASTA COUNTY HOSPITAL 1855-1900:
A CASE STUDY
by
© Rhea Maricar Sanchez 2009
Master of Arts in Anthropology
California State University, Chico
Spring 2009
The use of faunal analysis from historic archaeological sites for determining
status and economics has successfully contributed to a growing body of anthropological
literature concerning socioeconomic factors in the 19th century. This study joins other
historic studies in the analysis of faunal remains for indicators of socioeconomic status.
Contemporary hospitals are notorious for serving dreadful food. Given that this was one
of the very first public health care institutions in the United States, I hypothesized that
inexpensive, low-ranking beef cuts would dominate the assemblage, if beef was present
at all. I expected that if there was any change over time, it would be in decreasing of
meat quantities represented in each level simultaneously with an increase in lowerranked
cuts.
xiv
Shasta Community College, overseen by Dr. Eric Ritter, conducted excavations
in the spring semesters of 2005 and 2006, respectively, of historic Shasta County
Hospital site CA-SHA-1234H, which was located in old Shasta. This study focuses on
the beef remains from Shasta County Hospital and on historic documentation of beef
expenditures from the Board of Supervisors office in Redding to interpret social status
and economic conditions for the years of 1855, when the hospital was founded and
opened, to 1900, when the hospital closed and relocated to Redding.
The results contradicted the original hypothesis. Rather than serving the
lowest quality beef portions, the meats most closely resemble those which are served to
paying patrons at saloons. Additionally, the amount of money spent on beef increased
over time despite the economic demise of the city of Shasta. It is concluded that Shasta
County Hospital served beef exceeding expectations and that the beef expenditures do
not parallel the city’s economic decline because Shasta County prospered as a result of
the cumulative health of its constituent cities.
