A Farm In The Backcountry Archaeological Data Recovery For The Wolfe Farmstead Dump (SDI-15472), By Stephen R. Van Wormer And Susan D. Walter, February 6, 2002 (original) (raw)

2002, Attachment 4 In Prehistoric And Historic Archaeological Data Recovery Excavations At “The Heritage” Poway, California. Prepared For: The City Of Poway 13325 Civic Center Drive, Building A, Poway, CA 92064. By: Heritage Resources, Ramona, CA 92065

The artifacts from the Wolfe Farmstead dump consisted primarily of kitchen and household discards. The Wolfe family represents the more transient members of pre World War II rural society in San Diego County. They were among a group of pioneers who attempted to establish farmsteads on marginal lands during the closing years of the 19th century and were unsuccessful, resulting in their occupation of the property for less than ten years. The trash was deposited in a shallow drainage sometime between 1895 and 1900. Results of the study have suggested some basic traits common in artifact assemblages made up of rural farmstead household refuse. The Wolfe dump assemblage fits this pattern although with some variations that reflect the household’s short term residence status. Further research revealed that differences in patterns between urban and rural assemblages reflect the different ways that these two reference groups defined wealth. Economic success in an urban household was based on the wife's role in the Victorian cult of domesticity, and expressed in well kept stylish houses and yards, nice furnishings, decorated wall paper, and tables properly set with attractive dinnerware. On farmsteads, however, a farm wife's value was judged on her ability to be an active producer within the family unit rather than chief consumer and preferred parent. Farm values emphasized well kept buildings and machinery, healthy livestock, and the quality of the wife's preserves, canned fruits and vegetables, butter, bread, vegetable garden, and perhaps even the potato crop. Farm life emphasized conservation and recycling. Extravagant purchases were looked down upon. These differing values and definitions of wealth between urban and rural households during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century resulted in distinct purchasing patterns for these two reference groups. This is manifested in the archaeological record through activity profiles dominated by kitchen items, lower ceramic index scale values, and longer manufacture - deposition lag times for rural sites that were occupied for over a decade when compared to urban assemblages. It is further reflected in the utilitarian kitchen item assemblages in the number of canning jars, crocks, butter churns, and ceramic jugs found on farmstead sites.