beef

Although beef is consumed in China when it is available and can be afforded, it has never been a major food source for the peasant. This same pattern is seen among the Yema-po animal bones.

Beef was eaten much less frequently at Yema-po than was pork. Only 133 cattle bone fragments (representing 4.1 kilos) were found and most of these came from low- priced cuts of meat, such as bones of the feet, head, and neck.

beef cuts

Judging by the fusion of the long bones, the cattle consumed at Yema-po were approximately three-and-a-half years old when butchered. The cut marks found on the bones indicate that most of the beef had been butchered in the traditional Euro-American fashion, probably from a butcher in San Leandro or Oakland.