Butchering Practices at the Alamo

A priority of the Alamo North Wall project faunal analysis was to define and detail the butchering process involved in reducing animals to a bone
scatter. Identification of the marks was the first step, as about one-fifth of the total collection exhibited some form of butchering marks. These marks
provided evidence of the tools used and were defined as the following:

saw cuts--straight, flat cuts often leaving fine striations on the bone, presumably made with a metal hand saw

hack marks--ragged, deep, chop marks defined by V-shaped grooves, made by a meat cleaver or axe

cut marks--thin, short lines from knife use, usually not penetrating the surface of the bone

A fourth mark was also identified, though it indicates a manual manipulation of the bone, often in conjunction with a hack mark or saw cut, rather than
a lone tool mark. These were termed green fractures and defined as hinged or "snap-over" fractures at the point where a fresh (green) bone was
stressed and broken.

A fifth type of fracture was seen in a single bone from AII (5-3 inches), where an immature humerus of a goat-size animal apparently exhibited a
blunt fracture and negative impact scar at the proximal end of the diaphysis. This, and the associated spiral (torsion) fracture, is normally associated
with marrow removal in prehistoric butchering practices (Gilbert 1980: 11-14). No other bone in Phase I or II was observed to have been fractured by
this method.

To more fully understand the butchering process as exhibited by the Alamo collection, information was sought on rural butchering processes prior to
the advent of power saws and centralized slaughter houses. Mr. Howard Collins of Alto, Texas, a master butcher of many years experience, provided
valuable answers to many of the questions on rural versus modern butchering and differences in the handling of various animals (personal
communication 1983). Much of the following sequence was derived from Mr. Collins.

Butchering strategy, as outlined here, does not necessarily take the meat "all the way to the table." As suggested here, it reduces an animal carcass to
basic elements prior to a final cutting for cooking. Problems with spoilage, no doubt, made the trip from hoof to the cooking pot a rapid one. Small
cuts of meat familiar to us were probably not practical, as cooking larger portions was more practical, particularly if a number of people were to be fed
at once.

To reduce a cow carcass to basic elements utilizing three tools--a knife, a meat cleaver, and a saw--the following steps are generally followed.

1) skin and eviscerate the animal;

2) remove the head with a knife by cutting between the atlas and foramen magnum;

3) remove the lower limbs using the meat cleaver to hack through the tibia or radius above the distal articulation or through the medial portion of the
metapodial bones and discard;

4) remove the hind limbs at the pelvis by using a knife to release the femur from the acetabulum (socket) in the pelvis, then remove the forelimbs by
either using the knife to cut the humerus away from the glenoid fossa of the scapula or using the meat cleaver to hack into the scapula above the
articular joint;