Boomtown Saloons: Archaeology And History In Virginia City

Conclusion

West. It does, however, transport us back to a nineteenth-century moment on one of Virginia City’s streets. Even though this moment included the sight of smoke rising from alleyways and the odor of burning garbage, it also contained the relatively pleasant aromas associated with lamb-based meals that pervaded the D Street landscape as they wafted out of places like the Boston Saloon. Forensic Residue Analysis The study of bone damage, such as calcining, and the distinction between human and animal bones represent rather traditional forensic treatments of archaeological materials. Other forensic techniques, such as chemical analyses using a gas chromatograph–mass spectrometer (gcms), may not be as widely associated with archaeological studies, but they do have value in identifying biological residues clinging to artifacts from historic sites.5 Forensic scientists use the gcms to identify the chemical composition of substances recovered from crime scenes. While this is used on a daily basis in forensic labs to help solve crimes, it also has the potential to help solve mysteries at archaeological sites by identifying residues on objects left behind at historic places. Archaeologists found residue on an object from the Boston Saloon and were able to put the gcms to the test. Several pottery shards from at least two large matching stoneware crocks lay scattered around the dump area in the alleyway behind the saloon. Back in the lab, where the shards were sorted, cleaned, and prepared for mending, volunteer lab crew members noticed an unusual brownish-red stain on one of the lid fragments (figure 7.2).6 One of the volunteers worked in a molecular biology lab and noted that the stain had the appearance of dried blood. Because the substance initially looked like a bloodstain, it became a prime candidate for dna testing, another useful forensic tool that will be discussed in more detail later. Before commencing with the rather costly dna tests, however, the forensic lab needed to determine if the substance was actually 140 x b o o m t o w n s a l o o n s blood. The resulting analysis revealed that it was not blood—but this did not stop the persistent crime scene investigators and the eager archaeologists. Rather, it inspired them to seek other techniques, in the form of gcms testing , to identify the source of the mysterious stain. Brainstorming about the stain’s possible origin centered on the probable use of the crock. Since crockery was often used in kitchen contexts, it was clear that the object could have been associated with food preparation or food storage. Perhaps the stain was a remnant of a food product. The archaeological record helped the forensic lab to focus this speculation, for a number of pepper sauce bottles, including the rare Tabasco bottle, had also come out of this saloon’s buried deposits. Given the potential for red pepper–based residues at the Boston Saloon site, the forensic lab commenced gcms tests for a substance called capsaicin in the stain. Capsaicin is extracted from the cayenne pepper, Capsicum frutescens, and is noted as the primary ingredient in McIlhenny’s Tabasco Sauce; Worcestershire sauce similarly includes “chile peppers” among its ingredients, and Worcestershire bottles were recovered from the Boston Saloon as well. In addition to its popularity as a spicy condiment, capsaicin is a major ingredient of modern cayenne pepper–based chemical protection Crime Scene Investigation? x 141 Fig. 7.2. Stoneware crock shard with a brownish-red stain that was subjected to forensic residue analysis. Photo by Ronald M. James sprays used for self-defense. As a result of the presence of capsaicin-based spray residues in many criminal investigations, such materials are frequently examined in forensic cases through the technique of gcms, and the forensic literature outlines a method for extracting and identifying this ingredient.7 The potential for extracting pepper sauce from the mystery stain subsequently benefited from this existing research on capsaicin. During gcms examinations, the stain tested positive for capsaicin, suggesting that it did indeed represent a red pepper–based substance that probably came from a pepper sauce. The gcms tests did not recognize capsaicin in other pepper-based products found at the Boston Saloon, such as Worcestershire sauce, indicating that the stain likely represented a product more like Tabasco sauce. The gcms also picked up traces of acids associated with animal fat, results that gave the stain a “smoking gun...