Excavations of the South Grove Midden facing northwest.
A large collection of coarse earthenware ceramics were recovered from the trash deposit located behind the kitchen called the South Grove Midden. Coarse earthenwares are porous, low-fired ceramics that range from red, to orange or buff-bodied that can be unglazed, glazed on one side, or glazed on both sides. They are commonly formed into vessels used in the kitchen for preparing, cooking, and storing food and also in the home for hygiene-related functions. We have already studied the refined table- and teawares that were excavated from this site which gave us a wealth of information on what was used and discarded from the Mansion. The study also shed light on when the midden formed, probably sometime between the late 1730s and early 1760s with the bulk of the refuse deposited in the 1750s. Coarse earthenwares from this time period were imported from England or produced and purchased locally. We hope that by studying the coarse earthenwares, we will have a more complete picture of the ceramics used by the Washington family and the slaves that worked in the home.
Example of a Staffordshire slipware and manganese mottled mug after crossmending.
Crossmending rims from Buckley milk pans.
What do we mean by “analyzing” the coarse earthenwares? After all the artifacts from an excavation come back into the lab and get washed, labeled and catalogued, there is still a lot of work to be done. For ceramics, the first step archaeologists usually take is to do a minimum vessel count. This gives the archaeologist an idea of how many vessels might be present out of all the sherds from the site. To begin, we divided up the coarse earthenware assemblage based upon glaze and body color. We have some sherds from formal ware types such as Buckley and North Devon and others that fall into general categories of red-bodied or buff-bodied. Then we began the process of mending and cross mending the sherds within the type. Crossmending, the act of mending objects from multiple strata, is undertaken for a variety of reasons. An artifact that mends with one found in a different stratum can reveal information about relationships of layers and depositional activities. After finding the mends, we glue the artifacts together to see vessel form and function, providing an idea of what objects were used and discarded at a site. Finally, a minimum count of objects can be obtained and this is a valuable tool for both intra-site and inter-site analyses. To learn more about the findings from the coarse earthenware analysis, read the research paper and view the presentation.
