Turning Clay into Craft: Field Notes from 2013 Excavations at Pottersville, SC (original) (raw)
Related papers
Historical Archaeology, 2017
The post–Civil War decades of the 19th and early 20th centuries are the period most commonly associated with the origins of industrialization in the southeastern United States. Recently, however, researchers working in Edgefield, South Carolina, have presented compelling archaeological evidence for the industrial production of stoneware, much of it made by enslaved laborers, as early as 1810. These findings require reconsideration of the widely shared historical narrative that portrays 19th-century stoneware potteries in Edgefield and across the region as small-scale family- owned craft enterprises, where industrialization did not occur until a decade or more after the Civil War as a response to competition from cheap Northern stoneware and metal and glass containers. Inspired by the new insights, this study traces stoneware production in the Edgefield area forward into the 20th century by examining the case of the Wood Pottery site in North Augusta, South Carolina. Based on archaeological and historical evidence, three significant changes to stoneware production methods are traced: (1) changes in firing technology; (2) a switch from alkaline glaze to Albany slip; and (3) morphological changes in the vessel assemblages marking the use of jigger arms and molds. Instead of a “vertical” historical trajectory that moves from a craft to an industrialized enterprise, we envision these changes as part of a “horizontal” shift in an already-industrialized enterprise, reflecting a reorganization of labor and technology aimed at coping with competition from alternative storage-vessel forms and the loss of an enslaved workforce.
The Archaeology of Craft and Industry
The Archaeology of Craft and Industry, 2021
In "American Experience in Archaeological Perspective" book series, University Press of Florida, 2021. Archaeologists investigating sites of craft and industrial enterprise often puzzle over a domain of bewildering ruins. Locations of remarkable energy, tumult, and creativity stand silent. This book provides an overview of the archaeology of American craft and industrial enterprises, outlines developments in theories, research questions, and interpretative frameworks, and presents case studies from a wide range of subjects. Research focused on industrial enterprises traverses a spectrum of perspectives. Some limit their efforts to recording, mapping, and studying the mechanics of a site. Others examine comparative questions of changes of technologies over time and space. Many analysts look away from the buildings and equipment of the workplace and focus instead on the workers, their families, residences, lifeways, and health experiences. With many sites presenting standing ruins, historians and archaeologists often encounter local stakeholder groups who wish to promote heritage themes and tourism potentials. All of these perspectives can be pursued with significant advances in research and curation methods. Investigations often range from microscopic analysis of product constituents to large-scale, three dimensional recording of locations and features with high-resolution, laser technologies. Past debates questioned whether primary emphasis should be on heritage recording or on archaeological research questions. More recent trends focus on collaborations across interest groups.
Archaeological Investigations and LiDAR Aerial Survey in Edgefield, South Carolina
The first innovation and development of alkaline-glazed stoneware pottery in America occurred in the Edgefield County area of South Carolina in the early 1800s. It remains an enduring mystery as to how these new ceramic methods were developed in that place and time, and how the techniques of clay choice, temper, and glaze developed over the following century. These potteries employed enslaved and free African-American laborers in the 19th century, and the stoneware forms also show evidence of likely African cultural influence on stylistic designs. Edgefield potteries thus present fascinating research questions of understanding technological innovations and investigating the impacts of African cultural knowledge and racial ideologies on a craft specialization during the historic period in America. This project entails an interdisciplinary, collaborative, and archaeological study of the first development in America of alkaline-glazed stoneware pottery forms, the development of that South Carolina industry over time, and the impacts of racism and African cultural influences on those processes.
Investigations of Craft and Industrial Enterprise (Perspectives in Historical Archaeology)
The Society for Historical Archaeology’s “Perspectives from Historical Archaeology” publication series provides subject and regional readers on a variety of topics of interest to archaeologists and scholars in related fields. Each volume includes an introduction by the compiler that reviews historical archaeology’s work on the topic. Perspectives volumes are available in both perfect bound and pdf formats, and sales proceeds benefit the Society’s educational and research missions. "Investigations of Craft and Industrial Enterprise," compiled by Christopher C. Fennell, includes his introduction chapter that reviews the field and 23 articles selected from the Historical Archaeology Journal.