5 Pieces of Tin Glazed Earthenware (Archaeological Find)

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Tin-glazed earthenware sherd. This ceramic sherd is distinguishable as tin-glazed earthenware by its buff pasty and shiny, fragile glaze. It is 1.9 cm long, 1.2 cm wide, and 0.4 cm thick.
Side profile of tin-glazed sherd. This photo of the sherd shows its very slight curvature, suggesting that the sherd may have come from a relatively flat vessel such as a plate.
Tin-glazed earthenware plate. Although the sherd shows no evidence colorful glaze, many tin-glazed earthenware plates were decorated with elaborate designs, increasing their value.
Morning bever sketch. This is a 1930s sketch of an imagined 17th-18th-century Harvard student’s morning bever (breakfast). However, the tin-glazed sherd suggests that, at least at dinner, students had a more formal experience.

Title:

5 Pieces of Tin Glazed Earthenware

Subject:

This description and the accompanying photos discuss the largest of the five sherds of tin-glazed earthenware. This very small ceramic sherd may at first seem insignificant, but actually it helps us understand the history of dining culture at Harvard College in the early 18th century.

This piece of tin-glazed earthenware has a very shallow curve to it, suggesting that it was once a part of a fairly flat vessel such as a plate. Tin-glazed earthenware plates became popular after around 1680 (“Tin-Glazed” 2002). And, in fact, this sherd was found in context with two pipe stems dating roughly to 1680-1710 (Hume 1969, 298).

Tin-glazed earthenware products were made all over Europe, but the importation of any continental European ceramics to the colonies was banned from the late 17th century until after the American Revolution (Hume 1969, 141). Therefore, it seems most likely that the vessel from which with sherd came was manufactured in England.

Until the end of the 18th century, Harvard College did very little to standardize the dishware used by students (Stubbs 1992, 501). In fact, into the 18th century, students were expected to provide most of their own dishware (Morison 1936, 28).

If this tin-glazed earthenware sherd did come from a plate purchased by a student for his own use, then we can start to see how social class and economic means played into dining culture at Harvard. Evidence from previous excavations by the Old College suggest that locally produced redware was by far the most commonly used type of ceramic and makes up 70.6% of all ceramics (Stubbs 1992, 486). More expensive, imported tin-glazed earthenware, on the other hand, makes up only 16.3% of all ceramics (Stubbs 1992, 486). Through the early 18th century, even the dining culture at Harvard College was filled with markers of students’ social status.

Source:

Hume, Ivor Noël. 1969. A Guide to Artifacts of Colonial America. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.

Morison, Samuel Eliot. 1936. Three Centuries of Harvard, 1636-1936. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.

Stubbs, John D. Underground Harvard: The Archaeology of College Life. Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, Harvard University, 1992.

“Tin-Glazed.” 2002. Diagnostic Artifacts in Maryland, accessed April 30, 2017, http://www.jefpat.org/diagnostic/ColonialCeramics/Colonial%20Ware%20Descriptions/Tin-glazed.html.

Object Name:

5 Pieces of Tin Glazed Earthenware

Inventory Description:

5 pieces of tin glazed earthenware of various sizes, all with plain white glaze

Peabody Number:

2016.29.394

Culture/Period:

1630-1790

Intrasite:

H931 Level 3

Depth:

68-80cm

Class 1:

Ceramic

Class 2:

Sherd

Class 3:

Body

Quantity:

5

Height (cm):

1.9

Width (cm):

1.2

Depth/Thickness (cm):

0.4

Collection:

2017 Assignment 3

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