Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Library Research Report Series - 1405
Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Library
Williamsburg, Virginia
1990
I take pleasure in transmitting a report prepared in the Archaeological Laboratory upon the artifacts from the Archibald Blair Storehouse site (18C), responsive to a request originated by the Curator.
Illustrations are the work of Mr. Thomas L. Williams, Photographer, and of Mr. John V. N. Dunton, Archaeological Treatment Assistant in the Laboratory.
Moreau B. C. Chambers
MBCC:AAHI am handing you herewith the Archaeological Laboratory Report on the material excavated on the site of Archibald Blair Storehouse, Archaeological Area 18C.
This is in response to your request of March 1, 1954.
A report on the findings at Mrs. Campbell's Coffee Shop is now in preparation.
So little material was recovered from the site of the Ayscough House, no report is possible.
M. E. C.
Enclosure
Copy to:
Archaeological Laboratory
Copy with enclosure to:
Mrs. Goodwin, Research Office
Mrs. Sewell, Archives
CMB:HWG
OFFICE OF ARCHITECTURAL RESEARCH
Colonial Williamsburg
June 24, 1954
The following represents the first effort by the staff of the Archaeological Laboratory to produce a formal descriptive report upon the artifacts found during excavation of an archaeological area of Colonial Williamsburg.
Its general arrangement is in harmony with the system adopted in mid-1953 for presentation of a statistical evaluation of the artifacts found on individual sites, and based upon earlier studies conducted in the Laboratory.
Included in this presentation is the tabular, statistical evaluation, indicative of quantities found, followed by a qualitative evaluation of the metal, glass, stone, and ceramics present, with certain generalizations developed under each heading, or by categories. In cases where it is considered helpful, an attempt has been made to give an itemized description of entire holdings, as, for instance, the metal found on this site. With respect to glass, however, only the more significant items from this collection are described. The ceramic portion of this collection has particular interest, and in nearly each category discussed, a few general remarks are included which refer to the period of use of specific types of ceramics present in this collection and in most cases illustrated by sketches or photographs.
It is well to bear in mind, while using Laboratory reports, that the collections of Eighteenth or Nineteenth Century artifacts found by excavation of any particular site cannot with absolute assurance be identified as having seen use on the site where encountered, although in some instances archaeological field data furnish strong support for such conclusions.
Particular appreciation is expressed for the assistance, artistic and otherwise, which was furnished by Mr. John V. N. Dunton, Archaeological Treatment Assistant in the Laboratory, during the preparation of this report. Mr. Dunton's informed enthusiasm for ceramics has united with his artistic talents in producing the sketches, reconstructions, and scale drawings utilized in this study. Appreciation also is expressed for use of the research notes on ceramics in America, lent generously by Mr. Minor Wine Thomas, Jr., and in this report employed in rendering more interesting the background notes on ceramics found at Williamsburg.
M. B. C. C.
Title Page | |
Memorandum of Transmittal | 1 |
Introduction | |
Table of Contents | 2 |
Key to Statistical Artifact Report (Facing) | 4 |
Statistical Artifact Report | 4 |
Comments on Metal from Site | 5 |
Inventory of Iron Material from Site | 6 |
Plate I (Iron) | |
Inventory of Brass, Copper, and Bronze Material from Site | 8 |
Plate II (Brass, Copper, Bronze) | |
Inventory of Miscellaneous Metals from Site | 10 |
Comments on Glass from Site | 11 |
Plates III, IV, V | |
Comments on Stone from Site | 12 |
Comments on Ceramics | 13 |
Plates VI, VII, VIII, IX, X | |
Class 1A, Brown Stoneware | 14 |
Plates XI, XII | |
Class 2A, White Salt Glaze Stoneware | 15 |
Plate XIII | |
Class 3A, Gray Stoneware | 16 |
Class 1B, Chinese Porcelain | 16 |
Class 2B, Chinese Porcelain (polychrome enameled) | 16 |
Class MB, Miscellaneous English Porcelain | 16 |
Class 1C, Crude Earthenware | 17 |
3 | |
Plates XIV, XV, XVI, XVII, XVIII, XIX | |
Class 2C, Slipware | 21 |
Plates XX, XXI | |
Class 3C, Delftware | 23 |
Plate XXII | |
Class 4C, Whieldon Ware (Tortoiseshell, Pineapple, Cauliflower) | 24 |
Class 5C, Creamware | 24 |
Class 6C, Blue- and Green-Edged Ware | 24 |
Class 7C, Hand-painted Staffordshire Ware | 25 |
Plate XXIII | |
Class 8C, Annular Ware | 25 |
Plates XXIV, XXV, XXVI | |
Class 9C, Transfer-printed Staffordshire Ware | 27 |
Class 10C, Indian Pottery | 28 |
Class MC, Miscellaneous Pottery | 28 |
Class 1T, Tile | 29 |
CERAMICS
IRON
BRASS
CWI 6/1954
4The metal found on this site is in no respect unusual or distinctive in comparison with similar material recovered from other sites of Colonial Williamsburg. Both Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century types of metal have been found at this site.
The iron objects described below by standard categories are those remaining after the greater bulk of iron material obviously pertaining to the Nineteenth Century had been sorted out and placed in non-current storage. It is possible, however, that some Nineteenth Century material may still be included with the remaining study collections of iron types which were in use during the Eighteenth Century.
The study collections of brass and other metals, relatively small in comparison with the total volume of iron found on this site, similarly may include some Nineteenth Century objects with the types characteristic of the Eighteenth Century.
This site yielded on the whole slightly more than an average amount of glass, datable as from the Late Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries. The earlier material is evidently hand-blown, although on certain bottles there is evidence of the use of a mold during the shaping process.
Bottles of dark green glass show a range in diameters from eight inches to one inch. The usual wine bottle found here had a diameter of from three to three and one-half inches, a size also fairly standard for the square bottles from this site. Illustrations appear in Plate V. A complete bottle recovered from this site has a diameter of four and one-fourth inches and stands nine inches high; its shape is illustrative of the later rather than of the earlier period; it is pictured in Plate V, Number 3. One octagonal bottle base, measuring four and one-half inches across, and similar in shape and size to the recognizable John Greenhow bottles which bear the seals dated 1769 and 1770, is in this collection; however, the upper portion, which usually bears the distinctive seal, is missing from this example. Note the illustration in Plate V, Number 9.
One bottle seal (not illustrated), possibly somewhat distorted from being at sometime in a fire, bears "Prentis" as its faint legend, noteworthy from the connection of this site with the Prentis mercantile firms.
Some bottles of a later period, made on the whole from a pale green glass, are in this collection. It is possible that they may have served as containers for patent-medicine, extracts, or perfume. Illustrations are furnished in Plate III, Numbers 7, 8 and 9.
Approximately a dozen fragmentary water tumblers of clear glass were found, together with a few bottle rims and a few glass stoppers used in perfume or toilet-water bottles. Examples of the foregoing are shown in Plate III, Numbers 1-6, and 12, together with a pitcher handle (Number 10) and an ornamental, twisted knob (Number 11), and a fragment of glass pane, 4mm. thick, noticeably iridescent (Number 13). Also in this collection is an irregularly broken slab of clear glass, approximately five-eighths inch thick, showing considerable wear on one edge and its slightly concave base, and which might have served as the base for a lamp or other furnishing that required a pedestal. It is shown in Plate IV, Number 10.
Eighteen wine glass fragments, some with quite heavy stems, were found at this site. Representative examples appear in Plate IV, Numbers 1-9.
The collections from this site contain the five stone fragments listed below:
A study has been made of the ceramic material from this site in its relationship to material in the study collections from other excavated sites of Colonial Williamsburg. This material varies in no appreciable extent from the quantity or range of types or patterns encountered on the average habitation site in Colonial Williamsburg.
This presentation follows a systematic classification of ceramics that through the years has been found applicable, both at Williamsburg and elsewhere within the English trade orbit, for a study of ceramic development in the Seventeenth, Eighteenth, and Early Nineteenth Centuries.
A brief description is furnished of the general types of ceramic material under each category that is represented by sherds found at this site, and specific examples have been selected to illustrate, wherever possible, each category.
Thickness is approximately 8 millimeters, with a basal thickness of approximately 12mm. Ware is extremely hard and glazed.
The shape and design selected to represent this type, and hypothecated in this sketch from study of uncatalogued sherds, are for a vessel approximately 18" high. The bases of vessels of this category are uniformly flat.
Thickness of ware is approximately 4.5mm. at base and thins out to 2.5mm. just below a slightly flaring rim.
Diameter at rim, 6 7/8"; height, 2 11/16".
This vessel has as decoration a small ridge 3/16" below the rim on its exterior. Reconstructed from sherd catalogued as 2A-107-18C.
The thickness of ware is approximately 7mm., except for the much thinner base, which averages 4mm. in thickness, and the rim, 10mm., in thickness. The ware is brick-red, rather porous, and contains temper formed of crushed sherds and stone particles.
Diameter at rim, 7½"; height, 4½".
This vessel is of crude workmanship and is undecorated. Its interior is coated rather heavily with a clear glaze which intensifies the reddish-brown inner surface, speckled with dark-brown particles. The exterior shows evidence of having borne a glaze lightly brushed on, imparting a darker color than that of the interior. The exterior surface has eroded to a greater extent than the interior. This was probably a cooking vessel.
Reconstructed from sherds; catalogued as 1C-1-18C.
The thickness of ware varies from 11mm. to 13mm., thinning out to 7mm. at the rim. This ware is brick-red and was fired quite hard, the sherd producing a ringing sound when tapped. Evidences are present of frit, or temper.
Diameter at rim, 14½"; height, approximately 3".
This vessel is of crude workmanship and is undecorated. The marly is approximately one inch wide. The interior is well coated with a clear glaze; the exterior bears a thinner, slightly darker glaze; the base is flat.
Reconstructed from sherds; catalogued as 1C-2-18C.
The thickness of ware is approximately 10mm., with a rolled rim measuring 20mm. The ware is brick-red and contains a noticeable amount of frit, or temper.
Diameter, 15"; height, 3½".
This vessel, very crude in workmanship and with a badly flaked surface, has a slightly glazed inner surface. Portions of the exterior show a black carbonization at the rim, possibly from use in an open fire as a cooking vessel. A pouring lip was formed at the rim and appears on one of the sherds found.
Reconstructed from sherds; catalogued as 1C-3-18C.
The thickness is about 3½mm. Ware is brick-red, hard-fired.
Diameter of vessel at widest point, 4 13/16". The height cannot be determined, as the upper portion is missing.
The base of this handled bowl or pot is flat, with no basal rim. A dark brown, almost black, thick glaze, somewhat like "Aubergine Brown" glaze [as identified in the notes made some years ago by a ceramic expert, Miss M. Thring, after working with the collections then in the Laboratory] covers the interior and the upper portions of the exterior of this vessel.
Catalogued as 1C-4-18C.
The thickness is approximately 12mm. The ware is light red and contains coarse temper.
Diameter across rim, 9". The height and other dimensions are undeterminable.
This vessel is covered with a transparent glaze, and to it are attached, on opposite sides, a pair of heavy loop handles. Grooves below the rim and in the area of attachment of the handles supply its decoration. Colors: various tones of brown.
Reconstructed from sherds; catalogued as 1C-5-18C.
The thickness is approximately 23mm. Ware is light red in color, containing much frit, or tempering material.
The interior diameter, as computed from a chord measurable in the two heavy sherds on display in the Archaeological Museum, is greater than 17". A carefully applied ornamental medallion forms an oval 5 3/8" high by 4¼" wide, representing what appears to be a fleur-de-lys and other design elements over the letters "IF", enclosed within a leaf-studded oval border. A heavy arched ridge 2cm. high curves to either side of the medallion, apparently affording a means of lifting what must have been a quite massive vessel, possibly designed for garden display. While one of the two matching sherds was found on Archibald Blair's Storehouse site, the other was identified as having come from Site 28B2, located on North England Street opposite Archibald Blair's Residence. Catalogued as 1C-6-18C.
Slip-decorated Earthenware Bowl The thickness of this vessel averages 9.5mm. It was hard burned and is of brick-red color, with orange tones. Only slight evidences are present of the use of frit, or temper.
Diameter at rim, 14 7/8"; height, 2".
Apparently, this vessel was glazed only on the inner surface; the exterior shown only slight traces of a dark finish. The inner edge of the rim is notched. Its entire inner surface bears a brown and mustard-yellow "marbleized" slip, covered by a glaze which enhances the intensity of the pattern and which appears to have been wiped off from the rim to a distance of from ¼" to ½". This bowl may have seen use as a bread bowl for the raising of yeast dough, or as a pie pan. Reconstructed from sherds; catalogued as 2C-15-18C.
The thickness is approximately 3mm.; ware is buff-colored.
Diameter at rim is 4 5/8"; diameter at bulge, 4 7/8"; basal diameter, 3½"; height, 3 5/8".
The constricted neck of this attractively executed vessel is decorated with a band of half-inch dark brown circular spots, spaced approximately a half-inch apart, from which some of the slip began to run down during glazing. Evidences remain of a casually applied streaking of dark brown around the middle of this vessel. A light yellow or buff transparent glaze is applied to the interior and to all of the exterior except the flat base and the irregularly defined area next to it. Possibly Late Seventeenth Century or Early Eighteenth Century in manufacture. The fragments of this partially reconstructed vessel are on display in the Archaeological Museum. Catalogued as 2C-16-18C.
Delftware, or tin-enameled earthenware, was popular in Western Europe all through the Seventeenth Century and was imported into America in considerable quantity as early as 1700. It was in use in Williamsburg certainly as early as 1729, and it retained its popularity into the last quarter of the Eighteenth Century. The collection from this site represents bowls, plates, chamber-pots, and apothecary's jars, all decorated with blue designs, with the single exception of a small bowl bearing on its interior a dark blue design and on its outer surface a blue, red, and green pattern. Three sherds of true delftware body bear a dark blue enamel decorated with light blue or white decoration, irregularly applied. One sherd having a red body bears a delftware enamel. A fragment was found of a small apothecary's cup with "TU—" lettered with manganese color on a light greenish-blue enamel. (Note representative sherds illustrated in Plate VI). Only the vessel illustrated in Plate XXII was sufficiently complete to justify attempts at restoration.
The thickness is approximately 6mm. Ware is light buff in color.
Diameter at rim, 8"; height, 5 5/16".
This chamber-pot, restored from sherds, is of a soft blue color, inside and out, and otherwise is undecorated. An inch-wide strap handle was attached at the side. The enamel has flaked off in a few areas. Catalogued as 3C-84-18C.
In 1760, Josiah Wedgwood began experiments which were numbered in the hundreds before he had perfected creamware, a greatly improved household ware that was to become the most popular of all English ceramics. Wedgwood's methods were widely copied by other potters. Creamware, also known as Liverpool ware, was exported in great quantities to America. By 1770, it was on sale in Williamsburg. This ware is extremely plentiful at this site. Shapes represented are plates, bowls, cups, mugs, teapots, pitchers, and chamber-pots. Decoration was employed sparingly. Examples of this ware appear in Plate VI.
Note particularly Plate IX, Number 1, which shows on the surface of a creamware mug, catalogued as 5C-90-18C, portions of an underglaze transfer print of a comic engraving, with accompanying verse contrasting the fortunes in a lottery of the "cobler" and the "taylor". Another mug fragment, catalogued as 5C-91-18C, bears a black transfer overglaze print showing a well-executed floral cartouche flanked by a blossom.
The thickness varies from 2mm. to 1½mm., exclusive of the additional thickening necessary at the lower limit of the exterior decorative band, and needed to form the basal rim. Ware is chalky white.
Diameter at rim, 4"; height, 2 3/8".
The exterior decorative band, 1 7/8" wide, bears a somewhat conventionalized floral design, executed in dark blue against a grayish-blue background, defined by a dark blue line at its lower limit and by a line along the rim. A similarly floral decoration appears in the bottom of the cup. Both inner and outer surfaces are covered with a clear glaze. Drawing reconstructed from a single sherd, catalogued as 7C-34-18C.
Annular, or Mocha Ware is a variant of Hand-painted Staffordshire Ware which is characterized by liberal use of bands of usually brilliant color, applied over 26 surfaces occasionally ornamented by shallow grooving or by rouletting. Various hues of brown, blue, green, and red are noted on the sherds of pitchers, mugs, and bowls found at this site. Apparently, this was an early Nineteenth Century type. Illustrations of sherds are given in Plate VII, while scale drawings of vessels reconstructed from sherds appear in Plates XXIV, XXV and XXVI.
The thickness of this vessel measures 3½mm. The ware is of chalky white clay, glazed.
The outer diameter at the rim is 4 3/8", while the estimated diameter at the widest point is 5 7/8"; the height is estimated to be 6½".
The decoration consists of bands of color setting off two broader bands of intense blue ground, ornamented by rows of what may represent fruit or cotton-bolls, each an inch in diameter. Green colored bands overlie a rouletted design. A trace of handle attachment appears at the neck. Dotted lines indicate hypothetical restoration. Reconstructed from sherds; catalogued as 8C-1-18C.
The ware measures 4mm. in thickness and is chalky white in appearance, and is glazed.
Diameter at rim, 6 7/8"; height, 3 5/16".
The decoration consists of a half-inch rouletted band of cross-hatching at the rim, lying beneath a soft green band of color, slightly overlapping a band of grayish blue. Another grayish blue band sets off a 1¼" band of white, on which a grayish blue zig-zag was initially applied, followed by a rotary-applied "finger-painting" in dark and light shades of brown. Dotted lines indicate hypothetical restoration. Reconstructed from sherds; catalogued as 8C-2-18C.
This ware measures 3½mm. in thickness, is chalky white in appearance and is glazed.
The diameter at rim measures 5 3/8". No other dimensions are available as no bottom sherds have been found.
The decoration consists of concentric bands of color, identified on the scale drawing which forms this plate. Catalogued as 8C-3-18C.
Examples of Indian pottery are found scattered throughout the excavations at Williamsburg, without any apparent concentration indicating the location of an aboriginal village site. The two sherds found at Site 18C are from two vessels, each with an average thickness of 6mm., and each showing clear evidence that oyster, clam, or mussel shells had been used as a tempering material in the clay. Both are devoid of decoration. One, a rim sherd, grayish-tan in color, comes from a bowl approximately five inches in diameter at the rim. The other is brownish-tan and comes from near the base of a pot or bowl. These sherds are figured in Plate VII.
Three sherds of Rockingham Ware, a mass-produced Nineteenth Century earthenware possessing a characteristic high glaze of mottled brown, are from this collection; one sherd is illustrated with miscellaneous ware shown in Plate VII.
Four sherds of "basalte ware", a black, molded type of ware greatly improved by Josiah Wedgwood, are in this collection; two sherds illustrative of this ware are figured with miscellaneous ware in Plate VII.
In Plate VII is shown a broken half of a pipe-clay wig curler, 9/16" in diameter at the widest part, bearing on its flat tip a coronet over "WB".
In addition to 65 Eighteenth Century white clay pipestems from this site, ten pipe bowls, falling into five types illustrated in Plate VII, require mention. No. 1 bears the letters "P" and "N" on opposite sides of its base. Its stem-hole diameter measures approximately 6/64". Only one example of this type was found. No. 2, of which one example is in this collection bears the letters "N" and "W" on opposite sides of its base; in this case, the stem-hole diameter measures 5/64". No. 3 shows the only example found of this type, with no base below the bowl; the diameter of the stem-hole measures 5/64". No. 4 illustrates the sole example found at this site, wherein the bowl bears a royal coat of arms, with lion rampant as supporter; the stem-hole measures 5/64" in diameter. No. 5, of which six examples are present, has no base; the stem-hole measures 5/64" in diameter.
29A fragment of a Nineteenth Century molded brown clay pipe is figured in Plate VII.
The end of a broken pill-rolling slab of earthenware, catalogued as 21-1-18C, measuring approximately 6" in width and ½" in thickness, bears on its face a graduated scale divided into twenty-four units, beneath which there was an engraved design, of which only the wing-tip remains of what probably was a spread-eagle. This is illustrated in Plate IX, No. 2.