The crew worked at the Burch House today. We have successfully uncovered the foundation to the Burch House addition. It measures about 12 ft by 12 ft.

The foundation rests on top of fill and naturally formed deposits. The lowest layers have produced large quantities of bone and 18th-century artifacts that are wholly unconnected to the much later deposits created by Washington Burch and his family from the 1860s to circa 1900.

This Saturday, in front of the court house, we will have a public lab day during which we will wash the 18th-century material, as well as the later artifacts. All welcome, 9 AM to 3 PM, rain or shine. (We'll work indoors if it rains, but that seems unlikely, at least until the afternoon.)

Jim

Pocket Piece

As you may or may not have guessed from our punny clues yesterday, we have a pocket watch. Pieces of the device were found in Unit 83, which is inside the foundation of the Swann House. It was probably part of the trash and debris that was pushed into the basement by earth-moving equipment. Only the lid and 3 pieces of inner gears were recovered, but the lid has an 'R' scratched into it with another indistinguishable letter next to it .

Pocket watches were invented around the 16th century. The earliest models were square and somewhat larger than later circular ones. In the 17th century clockmakers became artists with distinct designs and signed their watches. In the last half of the 18th century the use of three hands became the industry standard, making telling time considerably more accurate. In the 19th century the manufacture of pocket watches was industrialized. The winder knob at the 'top' of the watched was also introduced around this period. After World War I, and the advent of wristwatches, pocket watches fade from popularity.

~Anne

Watch Out....Gear we come!

While Kelley is off on vacation, Anne and I have been busy washing and cataloging artifacts from both the Burch House and the Swann House. Volunteers at the 1st Market Day in Port Tobacco last weekend washed several large bags of artifacts for us to catalog so we have had plenty to do. And with upcoming dig days on Thursday and Saturday (weather depending of course), we will have much more to do.

There have been several interesting pieces from each excavation site that we will discuss this week. If you were out at the dig site last week you undoubtedly heard lot of "oohs" and "ahs" from the screeners.

Once we have them catalogued and photographed we will share our finds with you.

Here's a hint on one of them to whet your appetite...it's a personal item that can both be worn and wound. It can be both a status symbol and utilitarian.

Stay Tuned...

- Peter and Anne

News Break: Because of continued rain, we will not be working at Burch House tomorrow. We will return Thursday.

This past Saturday the Society for the Restoration of Port Tobacco held a fundraiser called Market Days at which a number of vendors sold antiques, books, and food. The project ran an all day outdoor lab, washing the material recovered the previous week from one of our excavation units at the Burch House. I hope everyone who came out the Port Tobacco enjoyed themselves. A lot of washing was completed and we will be out there again for the next 4 Saturdays.

While at the event, local resident Kay Volman (Chimney House) mentioned that she had just installed a new water line through her back yard. The trench encountered a concentration of brick and metal. Could this be the elusive Atzerodt Carriage Shop? We hope to check it out next week.

We plan to be back at Port Tobacco digging on Thursday, weather permitting.

Jim

A Note from the Editor

Dear Readers:
Beginning Monday, 17 May 2010, we will begin posting on this blog on a regular basis, Monday through Friday. While our readers can expect many of the postings to be about Port Tobacco, I have decided to broaden coverage to the many kinds of projects that the crew undertakes each week. Port Tobacco is not our full time job, and we often encounter things on other projects that I think will interest readers.

In the past, we have occasionally blogged on non-Port Tobacco projects. These departures will now be a regular feature.

Also, I expect to post occasional editorials in lieu of the latest research findings. Some of these may irk, some may inspire; I hope all will encourage our readers to carefully consider what archaeological and historical research and interpretation have to offer our society. These opinions will represent the views of management.

As always, we look forward to reading your comments, so don't be bashful. If you have difficulty negotiating the commenting process built into the blog, simply e-mail your comment to me (see below) and I will post it. As always, we expect civility and decorum and reserve the right to withhold publication of comments that I deem offensive or off topic.

Cordially,
Jim Gibb
JamesGGibb@verizon.net

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