Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rcrh6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T17:47:52.305Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Ceramic Technology As An Indicator of Acculturation in The Early Colonial Setting

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 February 2011

Thomas C. Loftfield  and
Michael S. Smith
Thomas C. Loftfield
Affiliation:
Department of AnthropologyUniversity of North Carolina at Wilmington, 28403, USA
Michael S. Smith
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, University of North Carolina at Wilmington, 28403, USA
Get access

Abstract

Typological and petrographic analyses of unglazed red earthenwares recovered from the archaeological site of Charles Towne on the Cape Fear in North Carolina reveal the presence of pottery imported from Barbados. These sherds suggest that a ceramic industry had developed in Barbados during the middle 17th century. Additional data reflect on the process of acculturation by which African (slave) potters working in Barbados created vessels of English design. A few sherds from Charles Towne suggest that in the absence of an established ceramic industry, African (slave) potters may have reverted to traditional methods of manufacture including coiling and open firing. This hypothesis is compared to data obtained in New England, Virginia, South Carolina, Jamaica, and Barbados to refine the concept of acculturation as evidenced in vernacular ceramic manufacture.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 352: Symposium – Materials Issues in Art and Archaeology IV , 1995 , 579
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1995

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

1. Deagan, K., “Historical Archaeology's Contributions to Our Understanding of Early America” Historical Archaeology in Global Perspective. (Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, 1991).Google Scholar
2. Turnbaugh, S. P., (ed.) Domestic Pottery of the Northeastern United States 1625–1850. (Academic Press, 1985).Google Scholar
3. Deetz, J. “Black Settlement at Plymouth”. Archaeology. 28, 207, (1976).Google Scholar
4. Deetz, J. In Small Things Forgotten. (Anchor Press, New York, 1977)Google Scholar
5. Ferguson, L., Uncommon Ground: Archaeology and Early African America. 1650–1800. (Smithsonian Institution Press, 1992).Google Scholar
6. Armstrong, D., The Old village and the Great House. (University of Illinois Press, 1990).Google Scholar
7. Handler, J., “A Historical Sketch of Pottery Manufacture in Barbados”. Journal of the Barbados Museum and Historical Society, 30, 3, 129–153, (1963).Google Scholar
8. Ligon, R., A True and Exact History of the Iland of Barbados. (?, London, 1657).Google Scholar
9. Handler, J. and Lange, F., Plantation Slavery in Barbados (Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1978).Google Scholar