Monday, May 19, 2008

Lab Update



After a brief outing to another site, we came back to the office to catch up on the artifact analysis and mapping of the fields south of Port Tobacco. As Jim has mentioned, over the weekend we found a early 18th Century site. Today we have been washing and cataloging those artifacts. There is still more to wash but already today I have washed over 25 pieces of Buckley ware and 6 pieces of Staffordshire slipware! And these were just the small pieces that we found. I know that we found some larger pieces in the same area.


Way back in January I did a blog entry on Buckley ware. Here is a little refresher for you.

The Buckley ware is a lead glazed ware made of mixed red and yellow/white clay from the northwest region of England mainly near Wales and of course Buckley. The use of two clays tends to be more obvious on utilitarian pieces than on tablewares, which are more finely and completely mixed. The two different colored clays tend to give the paste a purplish look with swirling seen in the cross section. The Buckley wares are usually undecorated with a dark brown or black lead glaze. Some ribbing from manufacture can be seen on the exterior of the vessels. A red slip can usually be seen under the glaze. Most of the large utilitarian vessels also had very thick rims.

For more information including more pictures, please visit the Jefferson Patterson Park website at http://www.jefpat.org/



More later this week on the finds from our latest field surveys in Port Tobacco!




- Peter

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