More early ceramics

Hi all!

Our last blog took a quick look at 18th-century Westerwald stoneware. This blog features another early ceramic found in one of our units next to the Burch House and that type is...North Devon!

North Devon is a brown lead-glazed earthenware dating to the mid-late 17th Century and early 18th Century. The paste is generally coarse, with a pinkish orange color over a gray core. The gray core is the result of reduced oxygen during firing. This ceramic comes in a few different varieties including gravel-tempered, gravel-free, and Scgraffito. Scgraffito may be the most distinguishable with an incised brown slip on a yellow background, as shown in the image to the above right.


Our large rim piece from Port Tobacco is North Devon gravel-free and some of the smaller sherds are gravel-tempered. The gray core is not particularly visible on the large gravel-free rim(see above for front and back views), though it is quite clear on a side profile of the gravel-tempered sherds (image below). It should be noted that the term "gravel-tempered" is a bit of a misnomer, as while I was cataloging these sherds Jim pointed out that North Devon ceramics were actually tempered with sand, not gravel.

In this region North Devon wares date to the late 17th Century. I have to admit, with a wonky two-toned paste and a yellowish/greenish to brown lead glaze I do not find North Devon to be the most attractive ceramic, but it sure is fascinating to find! These wares usually came in the form of milk pans or butter pots, though other wares for food preparation and consumption are also common. North Devon scgraffito wares were gradually replaced with white tablewares such as tin-glazed earthenware, and the more utilitarian gravel-free and gravel-tempered were phased out as Buckley-type wares became more common.


As always, please click on the images for a better, clearer view--especially to get a look at the two-toned paste. Also, thanks to Jefferson Patterson Park for the information and Scgraffito image.

Tomorrow we return to our excavations at the Burch House in Port Tobacco. Hope to see some of you there!

Kelley

Return of the blog!

Hi folks!

I am happy to report that we are returning to the blog more regularly as we continue our work at the Burch and Swann houses in Port Tobacco. It has been wonderful to have volunteers helping out each day we have been working, and their screening sure has produced some great finds!

One of these finds is a piece of 18th-century Rhenish stoneware. Now, I know we have blogged about Westerwald many times, but this is the first time we have found a sherd with an identifiable "GR." These letters stand for "George Rex," King George I, II, or III, and were stamped on vessels exported to the colonies from England. Since our blogging has surely helped you all become experts on Westerwald instead of repeating dates, names, and styles I will try to clear up some confusion regarding the terms "Rhenish" versus "Westerwald."

Rhenish broadly refers to an early salt-glazed stoneware that is either categorized as brown or blue and gray. Both types were exported to the colonies, though the blue and gray variety dominated the market from the late 17th into the 18th Century. Rhenish blue and gray stoneware was first made in Raeren, Germany in the mid-16th Century, but by the end of the century the majority of its production had been moved to Westerwald, also in Germany. These wares were called Westerwald, and happen to be the most common type of Rhenish found in the Chesapeake region.

So now, instead of just showing you this photo from Jefferson Patterson Park as an example...

I can present to you Port Tobacco's very own partial "GR!"

We plan on being back out in the field tomorrow from 9 to 3--look for us over near the Swann House foundation. I hope to see some of you folks there!

Kelley

Bring your gloves and trowels!

Hey folks!

We will be back out in the field tomorrow excavating around Burch House and we would love to have some volunteers. Fieldwork begins at about 9:00. Hope to see you there!

Kelley

Fieldwork

We're Back!!

The PTAP crew will be out on Tuesday, April 13th and Thursday, April 15th for some limited testing around the Burch House.

We will be exposing the brick pavement of the addition on the south side of the Burch House and also do some unit excavations there and around the back of the house ahead of the bathroom addition.

As always, volunteers are welcome!

Work starts at 9am as usual.

See you there!!

- Peter

Hello...and goodbye

Hi folks!

Sorry it has been so long since we last posted an update--the snow kept us out of the office for a few days and we have been concentrating on completing other projects.

As for last week's mystery artifact it was indeed a stopper--so credit goes to both Victoria and Valerie! It is unlikely that is is a decanter or wine stopper, however, as it is too small in diameter. It is more likely that this was used for some sort of small vial--perhaps one holding perfume?

We are not posting an artifact this week, and instead wanted to give you folks an update on our progress (or lack thereof) in Port Tobacco. Currently, we are deciphering provenience cards and profiles from the excavations done by April and her students in order to finish writing up the technical report for the Preserve America grant. I wish I had some new updates on the material, but April did a fine job of posting many of the interesting finds while we were still out in the field. Also, let's face it, technical reports are necessary and crucial for documenting our work, but they are not terribly exciting. So, while I could put up some pivot tables of historic ceramics and plowzone measurements I will be kind enough to spare you all from the numbers.

Aside from this report there is little work to be done on Port Tobacco at the moment. As such, we are winding down our work there and will be posting infrequently. We hope to return in the spring to finally excavate down to the bottom of the trash deposits in the Swann house foundation and look into investigating another Union encampment, but these tasks are still in the planning process and I cannot make any promises regarding when we will be back in the field or how long we will be there for. Check back occasionally for postings, but the crew here will be directing our energies towards other projects. Thanks so much to everyone for your support with the Port Tobacco Archaeological Project over the past year! We really could not have accomplished so much without our lovely volunteers.

Over and out!

Kelley

Sotterley Oyster Pie

Last month I gave a talk at the Charles County Archaeological Society's meeting about James Swann and his oyster house. Afterwards, the discussion stayed focused on oysters and everyone's love and/or hate of the little creatures.

Recipes started to be discussed and Jane Keller starting telling us about an oyster pie recipe she had come across.

Here is the recipe from The Great American Seafood Cookbook and where it came from:

Sotterley Oyster Pie
"This is a traditional Maryland recipe, researched and recreated by William Taylor, a Maryland caterer and historian. Mr. Taylor relives the history of Maryland through its cuisine, catering lavish banquets usind traditional recipes, often in histoic homes such as Sotterley Mansion, for which this pie is named. Oyster pie is wonderful - it sounds unusual and it is...

Pie Pastry

2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
2/3 cup chillde unsalted butter
1/2 to 3/4 cup ice water

Bechamel Sauce

2 to 2 1/4 cups milk
1 bay leaf
4 tbsp unsalted butter
1/4 cup all purpose flour
Liquor reserved from oysters
salt and freshly ground white pepper
pinch of cayenne pepper
generous pinch of ground mace

Filling

2 dozen small oysters, drained
3 hard boiled large eggs, peeled and thinly sliced
1 can (14 1/2 oz) white or golden hominy
salt and freshly ground white pepper
Mace

Instructions:

Pastry: Combine flour and salt in large bowl and shave fine slices of butter onto the flour and toss with fork to mix. Sprinkle in 1/2 cup (125 ml) of the ice water while tossing with fork until pastry is moist enough to form into a ball. Add more water if necessary. Wrap in waxed paper and chill for at least 1 hour. Roll out two thirds of the pastry, cut to 12 inch circle and line bottom of 10 inch tart pan (type with removable bottom). Roll remaining pastry into 11 inch circle for top of pie and place on baking sheet. Chill crusts for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 400 deg F. Cover bottom crust and top crust with foil and weigh down with baking weights or dried beans (keeps flat). Bake both crusts for 8 minutes then remove foil and weights and contine baking for 8-12 additional minutes uncovered, 'til golden brown, then cool.

Sauce: In small suacepan, scald 2 cups (475 ml) of milk with the bay leave over med heat. Let steep (off heat) for 5 minutes then discard bay leaf. Melt butter in heavy-bottomed pan over med heat being careful not to brown. Whisk in the flour and cook, whisking constantly, for 3 minutes. Pour in the warm milk and continue cooking, whisking constantly until thickened. Whisk in the oyster liquor and additional milk if necessary to make a thick but pourable sauce. Season with salt, white pepper, cayenne, and mace to taste. Remove sauce from heat and add oysters, stirring gently to mix in. Cover bottom crust (still in tart pan) with egg slices. Sprinkle hominy over the eggs and season with salt and pepper. Pour in the hot oyster sauce spreading evenly to edge of pastry. Dust with additional mace. Gently set the top crust in place and set the pie on a baking sheet. Bake at 400 degrees (200 C.) F. until pie is hot through, (12 to 15 minutes). Be careful not to brown the pastry or over-cook the oysters. Remove from oven and remove the sides of tart pan. Serve immediately.

Enjoy!

Peter

The real LeCroy

Scott is indeed correct! Last week's mystery point was a rhyolite LeCroy point from Elizabeth Hills in St. Mary's county, though I have to admit Scott seems suspiciously knowledgeable about the site...almost as if he worked on it... Anyway, Lecroy projectile points are typically associated with Early to Middle Archaic sites, and have been found along most of the Eastern coast and into the Midwest.



For this week's mystery artifact we are diving back into historic artifacts. The one pictured below was found this past fall when we were working in the area around the Swann House foundation. This one should not be too tough, so feel free to guess!




Kelley