Page 33 - Maryland Historical Trust - Archaeology Colonial MD

thickness, decoration, surface appearance, etc.) and new ceramic “types” defined. This resulted in dozens of recognizable types of pottery being es- tablished, although little was known about most of them. Gaining that knowledge took studying British archaeology reports, consulting with ex- perts, and finding when the pottery had been used at the site.
Slowly the major ceramic types were identi- fied and dated. From the first decades of habita- tion there was a wide range of pots. Some came from England, especially the London area, others from the Netherlands, France, Spain or Portugal, the Rhineland area now called Germany, even Italy. One group was made in Flanders, which I identified by examining 17th-century paintings by Flemish artists. The ceramics indicated the
strong international connections of the tobacco trade, with English and Dutch merchant vessels plying Maryland waters to purchase the lucra- tive “sotweed,” as tobacco was sometimes called. Ceramics from the later 1600s, on the other hand, had a very different character. While a few Rhen- ish vessels continued to be acquired, most of the pottery was of British origin. Among these were attractive Staffordshire slipwares, North Dev- on Sgraffito and Gravel-tempered wares, Black Glazed vessels and Manganese Mottled mugs.
The shift is due in part to a rise in British manufacturing but another factor was equally significant — the Navigation Acts. Beginning in the 1650s under Oliver Cromwell, efforts were made to control the trade to America through legislation that required materials to be shipped
figure 16
The mapped distribution of terra cotta pipes at St. John’s.
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