New Discoveries at Jamestown Part 3

[Ill.u.s.tration: FURNITURE HARDWARE AND ACCESSORIES FOUND. MUCH OF THE FURNITURE USED IN THE JAMESTOWN HOUSES WAS MADE IN VIRGINIA.]

Furniture hardware and accessories excavated at Jamestown include hinges, locks, drawer pulls, chest handles, escutcheon plates, upholstering tacks, hasps, and finials. Most of the furniture hardware is of bra.s.s (probably used after 1650). Since much of it is skillfully decorated, it is believed that it once was attached to furniture of high quality. Furniture used during the first two decades of the settlement, however, must have been simple with little or no ornamentation.

LIGHTING DEVICES

The candle, made of either tallow or bayberry wax, was the standard lighting device at Jamestown. Pine torches were often used out of doors, and rushlights and candlewood were undoubtedly used in the humbler dwellings during the very early years of the settlement. Candlesticks unearthed at Jamestown include a large bra.s.s p.r.i.c.ket holder, one made of English sgraffito-ware, several incomplete earthenware holders, and parts of delftware candlesticks. Many fragments of bra.s.s and iron candlesticks, as well as a few candle snuffers, have also been recovered.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BOTH BRa.s.s AND POTTERY CANDLESTICKS HAVE BEEN FOUND. THE CANDLE WAS THE STANDARD LIGHTING DEVICE DURING THE 17TH CENTURY.]

FIREPLACE ACCESSORIES

The fireplace, around which the family gathered, was one of the most important features in the Jamestown home. Its fire offered warmth in winter, afforded light at night, and cooked the family meals during the day. An oven, usually found at the back or at one side of the fireplace, baked the family bread and other foods. About the fireplace, many home ch.o.r.es were carried out, including spinning and sewing; and not far from the glow of the burning logs the children learned their daily lessons and received their early religious training. Social activities were enjoyed about the hearth, especially during the long winter evenings; and when a member of the family was ill, the fireplace and its accessories were in constant use. The fireplace was the first place visited by the housewife in the early morning, and was usually the last place where she performed her household duties late at night.

A fine a.s.sortment of fireplace tools and accessories have been found at Jamestown, including iron tongs, shovels, andirons, parts of bra.s.s warming-pans, and a large fragment from a cast-iron fireback. One early 17th-century andiron recovered is attractively decorated with a cherub's head in relief.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A FEW FIREPLACE TOOLS UNEARTHED AT JAMESTOWN.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: AN EARLY 17TH-CENTURY ANDIRON IN THE JAMESTOWN COLLECTION. NOTE THE CHERUB'S HEAD NEAR THE BASE.]

COOKING UTENSILS AND ACCESSORIES

A large and varied a.s.sortment of cooking utensils and kitchen accessories have been excavated, including kettles, pots, pans, skillets, frying pans, toasters, broilers, griddles, skimmers, skewers, spits, ladles, pothooks, trammels, cranes, trivets, cleavers, knives and forks, sieves, and colanders. While only a few are complete others are almost complete or at least easily recognizable.

During the early years of the colony, people in England who planned to emigrate to Jamestown were advised to bring the following "Household implements: One Iron Pot, One Kettle, One large frying-pan, One gridiron, Two skillets, One Spit, Platters, dishes, spoones of wood."

With the exception of the wooden items, all of the utensils listed have been excavated.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A WROUGHT-IRON TRAMMEL USED FOR HANGING A POT FROM A FIREPLACE CRANE. THE ADJUSTABLE HOOK MADE IT POSSIBLE TO RAISE OR LOWER THE POT.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: AN IRON POT AND POT FRAGMENT UNEARTHED AT JAMESTOWN--TYPES USED DURING THE 17TH CENTURY.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: MANY EARTHENWARE VESSELS FOUND WERE USED FOR COOKING PURPOSES, INCLUDING BAKING DISHES, THREE-LEGGED POTS, AND COVERED POTS.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: A FEW KITCHEN UTENSILS AND ACCESSORIES EXCAVATED AT JAMESTOWN: A LADLE, BRa.s.s PAN, KNIFE BLADES, FORK, KETTLE FRAGMENTS, SPOUT, COLANDER FRAGMENTS, AND POT HOOKS.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: A FAMILY ENJOYING A MEAL, ABOUT 1650. MANY OF THE EATING AND DRINKING VESSELS PORTRAYED, TOGETHER WITH MUCH OF THE TABLEWARE, ARE TYPES WHICH HAVE BEEN EXCAVATED. (Conjectural sketch by Sidney E.

King.)]

Table Accessories

In the small houses at Jamestown the kitchen also served as the dining room. During the early years, many settlers probably ate with wooden spoons out of wooden bowls and trenchers, and drank from mugs made of horn, wood, or leather. As the colony became well established, these crude utensils and vessels were used less frequently and were gradually replaced with ones made of pottery, metalware, and gla.s.sware. None of the perishable woodenware, horn, or leather items have been found at Jamestown, but a large a.s.sortment of more durable objects used at the table have been recovered. s.p.a.ce permits only brief descriptions of the more common types unearthed.

KNIVES, FORKS, AND SPOONS

The table knives found at Jamestown vary in length from 6-3/8 to 8-1/4 inches. Most of them have either bone or ivory handles, although 3 have embossed bra.s.s handles; and 1, found in a late 17th-century well, has an exquisite handle of banded agate.

The forks in the collection also have bone or ivory handles, the majority displaying 2 steel p.r.o.ngs, or tines. The number of p.r.o.ngs, however, is no positive identification of any particular period, as many English forks of the mid-17th century had 3 p.r.o.ngs, and a few had 4 p.r.o.ngs.

Types of spoons excavated include seal-heads, slipped ends, "puritans,"

and trifids. The majority were made of either pewter or latten metal (a bra.s.slike alloy), although 3 in the collection were made of silver. The earliest spoons found have rounded bowls and 6-sided stems (handles), whereas those made after 1650 usually have oval bowls and flat, 4-sided handles. One of the silver spoons, with rounded bowl and slipped end, bears the initials of its owner, "WC/E," on the slipped end of the handle. This spoon appears to have been made between 1600 and 1625, and is still in excellent condition.

The most important spoon in the Jamestown collection, and one of the most significant objects excavated, is an incomplete pewter spoon--a variant of the trifid, or split-end, type common during the 1650-90 period. Impressed on the handle (in the trefoil finial of the stem) is the mark of the maker, giving his name, the Virginia town where he worked, and the year he started business. This is the sole surviving "touch" or mark of an American pewterer of the 17th century. The complete legend, encircling a heart, reads: "IOSEPH COPELAND/1675/CHUCKATUCK." (Chuckatuck is a small Virginia village in Nansemond County, about 30 miles southeast of Jamestown.) Joseph Copeland later moved to Jamestown where he was caretaker of the statehouse from 1688-91. He may have made pewter in Virginia's first capital. His matchless spoon found in the old Jamestown soil is the oldest dated piece of American-made pewter in existence.

POTTERY AND PORCELAIN

The largest and most representative collection of 17th-century European and early American pottery which has been excavated in America is on exhibition at Jamestown. Thousands of fragments of colorful types have been found, and by the exercise of extreme care and patience, museum technicians have pieced together many early specimens. These examples reveal the kinds of pottery used in the wilderness settlement over three centuries ago. Included in this ceramic collection are pitchers, bowls, jugs, cups, mugs, porringers, milk pans, jars, plates and dishes, pots, and platters. These were used at the table, as well as for the storage of foods, and for other purposes.

While some of the utilitarian earthenware was made at Jamestown, most of the pottery that has been found was imported from England. Many types also came from other European countries, including Germany, Holland, Italy, Spain, and Portugal. One kind of maiolica may have been made in Mexico, while the few fragments of porcelain recovered were made in China.

Because of the great variety and importance of the ceramic collection, a few of the more representative types will be described briefly.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A FEW KNIVES, FORKS, AND SPOONS UNEARTHED AT JAMESTOWN.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE PEWTER SPOON HANDLE AT THE TOP, UNEARTHED AT JAMESTOWN, IS THE OLDEST DATED PIECE OF AMERICAN PEWTER IN EXISTENCE. IT WAS MADE BY JOSEPH COPELAND OF CHUCKATUCK, VA., IN 1675. THE SPOON ON THE BOTTOM IS A CONJECTURAL RESTORATION OF COPELAND'S SPECIMEN.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: A FEW EXAMPLES OF LEAD-GLAZED EARTHENWARE MADE IN ENGLAND DURING THE 17TH CENTURY. ALL WERE UNEARTHED AT JAMESTOWN.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: EXAMPLES OF LEAD-GLAZED EARTHENWARE MADE AT JAMESTOWN ABOUT 1640-50.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: ENGLISH SGRAFFITO, OR SCRATCHED, WARE--ONE OF THE MOST COLORFUL TYPES OF POTTERY UNEARTHED AT JAMESTOWN.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: ENGLISH SLIP-DECORATED WARE. ALTHOUGH MADE IN ENGLAND MAINLY FOR LOCAL CONSUMPTION, MANY ATTRACTIVE EXAMPLES WERE SHIPPED TO VIRGINIA DURING THE 17TH CENTURY.]

Lead-glazed Earthenware.--Most of these vessels were made for utilitarian purposes, and were usually glazed only on the inside. While some were made at Jamestown, the majority were imported from England.

One type, a grit-tempered earthenware, was manufactured in North Devonshire. Another kind, a hard-fired earthenware, was also made in England. At least two distinct types of local-made earthenware have been found, and, as many examples have well-proportioned shapes and attractive designs, it is evident that they were not fashioned by a young apprentice, but by a trained potter who took pride in shaping his wares.

English Sgraffito-ware (a slipware).--This colorful pottery, beautifully decorated with incised designs, is an English earthenware of red or buff clay on which a slip was applied. Before firing, a decoration was scratched, stippled, or cut through the slip, exposing the darker color of the body. The entire piece then received a transparent lead glaze, either clear or covered with an oxide. The English sgraffito-ware found at Jamestown was made near Barnstaple, in North Devonshire, probably after 1640. The reddish-brown floral and geometric designs which decorate the vessels are unusually attractive against colorful yellow backgrounds. Sgraffito is an Italian word meaning scratched.

English Slip-decorated-ware.--This colorful English pottery, which was made for everyday use, is a lead-glazed earthenware decorated with a liquid clay or slip. The design was usually dropped or trailed upon the ware from the spout (or quill) of a slip cup, somewhat in the manner a baker decorates a cake with icing; or it may have been painted over a large area or placed on in molded pads. Although most of the slip-decorated-ware found at Jamestown was made in England, there is some evidence that a few vessels may have been manufactured in America during the late 17th century.

English Redware with Marbled Slip Decoration.--On this type English earthenware, which usually has a red body, the liquid slip was marbled or combed over the surface of the vessel with a toothed instrument of wire or leather to produce the effect of paper-marbling. Some in the Jamestown collection appear to have been made as early as 1625.

Italian Maiolica.--Maiolica is a word derived from a type of pottery made on the Spanish island of Mallorca. The 17th-century Italian maiolica-ware found at Jamestown is a red-body earthenware with scratched or incised designs--a true sgraffito-ware. Somewhat similar in appearance to the English sgraffito-ware, the desired design was scratched through the cream-colored slip, revealing the reddish-brown body beneath. On many examples, colorful lines were hand painted over or near the incised designs, usually in reds, yellows, and greens, and were covered with a transparent lead glaze.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ENGLISH REDWARE WITH MARBLED SLIP DECORATION, 1625-50 PERIOD OR EARLIER, UNEARTHED AT JAMESTOWN.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: LATE 17TH-CENTURY ITALIAN MAIOLICA BOWLS EXCAVATED AT JAMESTOWN.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: A FEW EXAMPLES OF ENGLISH DELFTWARE IN THE JAMESTOWN COLLECTION.]

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Delftware.--This is a soft pottery covered with an opaque white tin glaze, and decorated with hand-painted designs, usually in blues and purples. A few specimens excavated are embellished with pleasing patterns in polychrome colors. Most of the delftware unearthed at Jamestown was made in England (Lambeth, Southwark, and Bristol), although a few examples were imported from Holland.