Smithsonian Institution - United States National Museum - Bulletin 249 Contributions from the Museum of History and Technology Papers 52-54 on Archeology — Context and Discussion

Cataloging as Narrative

The excerpts reveal that the core of these papers is a meticulous catalog of artifacts. For example, a cream pan is described as having a 'rim thickened, incurving, and undercut; body pale buff; exterior with pale-orange slip; internal glaze a lustrous purple.' This level of detail—noting color, glaze, diameter, and possible origin—turns each object into a mini-narrative. The reader is guided through a sequence of sherds, bottles, and jars, each assigned a type number and context (e.g., T.N. 23). The catalog entries often include comparative dating, such as a wine bottle 'about 1680-1700' or a jar 'probably Staffordshire.' This systematic approach allows the reader to trace how archaeologists build chronologies from fragments.

Dating Through Form and Decay

Dating is a central theme, achieved through close observation of form and material condition. A wine bottle with 'thin olive green has turned black through decay' is noted as having 'almost entirely destroyed the metal,' yet its shape—'round-shouldered, and bulbous in the early manner'—still suggests a date. Another bottle's 'angular shoulder' and 'down-tooled string-rim' place it in the late 1730s. The authors frequently compare forms to known dated examples, as when a cylindrical jar is linked to a piece 'dated 1721' in Colonial Williamsburg. These comparisons show how even degraded objects can yield chronological information.

Geographic and Manufacturing Clues

The catalog entries often assign geographic origins based on fabric and glaze. A 'gravel tempered, pale-pink earthenware' with 'internal dark apple-green glaze' is attributed to the 'West of England.' A 'hard yellow body coated with a thick treacly and streaky brown glaze' is labeled 'Probably Staffordshire.' Such attributions rely on known regional pottery traditions. The 'Poor Potter' paper (Paper 54) likely expands on this, as hinted by the phrase 'many possible wasters from Yorktown'—wasters being kiln discards that indicate local production. The reader learns to see each sherd as evidence of trade networks or local industry.

Reading the Excavation Context

The excerpts include context numbers like 'T.N. 30' and 'T.N. 23,' which link artifacts to specific excavation units. A wine bottle with a seal reading 'Richard Burbydge 1701' is from T.N. 30, while a 'cream pan' with 'lustrous purple' glaze is from T.N. 23. These codes remind the reader that each object's meaning depends on its stratigraphic position. The papers likely explain the excavation methods and site features, but even without that, the repeated context numbers signal a rigorous field methodology. The reader should pay attention to these codes as they connect artifacts to the site's spatial and temporal layout.

As you read, note how the authors balance technical description with interpretive leaps—such as inferring a lid from an 'everted and ridged internally' rim. The catalog format rewards slow, careful reading; each entry is a puzzle piece. The three papers together offer a comparative view of Virginia sites, so consider how artifact types recur or differ across Clay Bank, Tutter's Neck, and Yorktown. The index at the end may help cross-reference specific objects or terms.

Sitting with those Virginia dig reports, I kept thinking about how every cataloged shard—every wine bottle and earthenware chip—represents a life once lived, a struggle once real. It reminded me of another sort of excavation, digging through the layers of New York’s old slums. Both are quiet records of survival, each artifact a small, stubborn witness. That’s what A Ten Years' War: An Account of the Battle with the Slum in New York — Story, Setting & Ideas felt like, a different kind of cataloguing, same ache for understanding.