| | Examples of the two sets of Chinese export porcelain plates excavated from the midden: flower basket (left, 9 inch rim diameter) and grape, bamboo, and squirrel (right, 8 ¾ inch rim diameter). |
The ceramics assemblage excavated from the South Grove Midden is unique in a few ways. The midden includes items used in both the Mansion and the Kitchen, providing insight into activities inside both those buildings. Most of the ceramics stylistically date to the 1740s and 1750s, the years before George and Martha Washington began making purchases of their own sets of plates and teawares. This allows archaeologists a glimpse into the types of ceramics used by the early Washington households of Lawrence and Augustine.
| | Polychrome tin-glazed earthenware punchbowl. |
A total of 3,338 ceramic sherds were excavated from the pre-1775 layers of the midden. Archaeologists group 18th-century ceramics into three main types and all three were found in the midden. The ceramics were comprised of 64% earthenware, followed by 22% stoneware, and 14% porcelain. The assemblage is dominated specifically by Coarse Earthenware, Chinese Porcelain, and Colonoware, at 19%, 14%, and 14% respectively.
| | English brown stoneware tankard. |
Once archaeologists have quantified the different ceramics found at a site they need to know what specific items were used and discarded. By cross mending the fragments we get a good idea of the form and therefore the function of each ceramic vessel found at a site. The midden was unique because the many fragments of ceramics cross mend to form vessels that are almost complete. We discovered that at least 180 vessels – bowls, tankards, porringers etc. – were discarded into the trash. The vessel assemblage is dominated again by Coarse Earthenware and Porcelain, with the White Salt-glazed Stoneware count third (Figure 1). The list of vessel types includes everything from ornately decorated Chinese export porcelain tea bowls and saucers to Rhenish stoneware chamber pots, coarse earthenware milkpans, and colonoware bowls. This varied collection gives us an idea of general daily life and the types of activities that went on at the plantation.
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