Ceramics from French sites: Current Directions

Part of: Society for Historical Archaeology 2014

The 1990s and early 2000s saw a blossoming of research about ceramics found at French colonial sites. Yet more than ten years have passed since the «International conference for French colonial pottery» was held in Louisiana, and since the proposal for a working classification for French faiences. What is the current state of the research, and what advances have been made during this time? The purpose of this session is to bring together a broad range of projects that transcend national borders including, in particular, research conducted in France, the United States or Canada, as well as to explore what French sites (‘defined in the widest sense’) can teach us about ceramics. All avenues of analysis are welcomed, including the study of French or French colonial potteries, ceramic typologies, or material culture approaches that take into account the viewpoints of the producers, traders, consumers, or users of these ceramics. Ideally, this session will draw from diverse sources and provide an arena for discussion.

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Documents
  • Approvisionnement en poterie de terre de deux établissements coloniaux Martiniquais du XVIIIe siècle d’après deux fouilles récentes (2014)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Fabienne Ravoire.

    The excavations of the site of the Court of appeal in Fort-de-France and the warehouses and gardens of the house of the Caravelle in Trinity have provided a great quantity of pottery finds. These objects, although fragmentary, are typical of the crockery in use in the 18th century, in two particularly affluent environments. The household crockery and horticultural pottery is mainly glazed ware imported from the regions of Saintes, Provence and Bordeaux, but table services from Provence and Italy...

  • Colonial Guyanese Ceramics: A Comparison Between the Production of Two Pottery Workshops (2014)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Claude Coutet. Catherine Losier.

    Since the 1980’ archaeological research concerning ceramics found in French Guiana have been focused on the objects made in Europe and exported to the colony. However, Guyanese potters were making potteries in order to provide sugar plantations with drip jars and sugar moulds as well as with domestic wares. Recently, two workshops have been excavated. The Bergrave pottery workshop is the oldest known in French Guiana; it was active between 1680 and 1720 approximately. The Jésuites pottery...

  • Céramiques de Midi-Pyrénées (France) à l’époque moderne (2014)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Stéphane Piques. Jean-Michel Minovez.

    L’étude de la céramique moderne en Midi toulousain s’est considérablement développée ces vingt cinq dernières années. Après une première rencontre en 1989, et un Projet Collectif de Recherche en 1999-2003 la constitution d’un deuxième PCR en 2013, intitulé Céramique en Midi toulousain, production, circulation, consommation, du XVIe au XXe siècle, sous la direction de Jean-Michel Minovez, a pour objectif l’inventaire et l’étude historique et archéologique des sites de production. Trois centres...

  • Fine English ware from the 19th century at the Pointe-à-Callière, Montréal (2014)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Delphine Léouffre.

    Located at Pointe-à-Callière in Montréal, the site hosting the University of Montréal field school for the past decade has delivered a vast collection of Fine English ware from its 19th century occupations. The deposits are very well stratified for this period and offer the possibility to confront our established chrono-typologies. However, because of the site’s spatial organisation it is very difficult to assign this collection to a specific occupation. Instead we decided to treat it as a...

  • French Colonial Pottery recovered from Recent Excavations in NW Louisiana and Deep East Texas (2014)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only George Avery. Tom Middlebrook. Morris K. Jackson.

    The piney woods area of El Camino Real de los Tejas, spanning from Natchitoches, Louisiana to Crockett, Texas is an area characterized by multi-cultural interaction under generally peaceful conditions during the middle to late 18th century’this would change after the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. The French in Louisiana had established economic and social relations with the Spanish and various American Indian groups in Texas during the 18th century and identifying French pottery in the piney...

  • La céramique dans les Pyrénées centrales (France) depuis le XVIe siècle (2014)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Stéphane Piques.

    Les potiers qui s’’installent sur le piémont pyrénéen au début du XVIe siècle profitent de la présence de marnes calcaires et de forêts abondantes pour fabriquer des poteries à décors sgraffiato et peints sous glaçure. Leurs produits alimentent le marché toulousain en aval ainsi que l’Espagne. Dès 1737, des faïenciers, surtout issus de Nevers, arrivent dans les nouvelles manufactures de faïence installées dans la vallée de la Garonne où ils fabriquent des faïences de grand feu dans le style de...

  • Les céramiques de raffinage du sucre : comparaison des productions caractérisées en Guadeloupe et en métropole (2014)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Sebastien Pauly. Tristan Yvon.

    Avec l’implantation coloniale française aux petites Antilles durant la première moitié du XVIIe siècle, de nouvelles activités économiques tournées vers le commerce d’exportation émergent en fonction des ressources locales. Ainsi, la canne à sucre est l’objet d’une industrie florissante. Celle-ci nécessite, lors des opérations de raffinage ou de terrage, un grand nombre de céramiques spécifiques : les pots à mélasse, destinés à recevoir le sirop qui s’écoule des pains de sucre lors de leur...

  • Mysterious Polychrome Earthenware at Fortress Louisbourg (2014)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Todd Clements.

    During the numerous archaeological excavations at Fortress Louisbourg National Historic Site, a small collection of an unusual ceramic was unearthed. Over the years this ceramic has been identified as several different types of ceramic. It is now believed to be a Chinese export designed for the 18th Century European market. Through careful analysis of its texture, design and colour, I will attempt to prove that this sample is a Chinese Export Refined Earthenware, and was of a functional...

  • Of beauty and utility in Montreal: Changing patterns in the New France ceramic market (2014)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Melanie Johnson Gervais.

    Material culture from the French colonial period forms a distinctive ensemble but it is far from homogeneous in time and space. This paper will explore differences between ‘early’ and ‘late’ French ceramics, as seen particularly on one site that has a clear stratigraphic separation about 1688. At Pointe-à-Callière in Old Montréal, the same site was occupied by two successive governor’s residences, those of Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve and Louis-Hector de Callières. While the ceramics from both...

  • Poteries du quotidien à Lyon (France) aux 16e-18e siècles : l’apport des fouilles archéologiques (2014)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Alban Horry.

    La découverte de plusieurs dizaines de milliers de fragments de céramiques de la période moderne lors des fouilles du site du Parc Saint-Georges à Lyon au début des années 2000 a largement contribué à relancer les études sur les céramiques entre le début du 16e et la fin du 18e siècle. Des fouilles archéologiques préventives majeures et ce depuis près d’une trentaine d’années ont livré des lots considérables dans divers secteurs de la ville. Ces mobiliers offrent la possibilité de travailler sur...

  • Un Canari dans la Cuisine: What Ceramic Cookware Shows about Enslaved Cooks in Colonial Guadeloupe, French West Indies (2014)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Myriam Arcangeli.

    Sherds of ceramic cookware are almost all that remains of the work of slaves who toiled away in Guadeloupean kitchens during the colonial period. In Guadeloupe, cooking was a profession divided by gender. It included a few professional chefs ‘often men’ and a multitude of unspecialized servants, who were in many cases women. Ceramics offer a glimpse into their world and into the realm of the vernacular Creole detached kitchen. The coarse earthenware cookware used by the majority of cooks were...

  • Un lot de céramiques du milieu du XVIIe siècle à Toulouse (France) (2014)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Jean Catalo.

    Les fouilles du palais de justice de Toulouse entre 2002 et 2006 ont permis la découverte d’un important lot de poteries dans des latrines. Bien daté par des monnaies entre 1652 et 1655, ce lot offre un éventail complet du vaisselier, décoré ou culinaire, en usage au coeur du Parlement judiciaire de Toulouse.