Urban Life Through the Lens of Glass: A Brief Analysis of Glass Tableware and Flaked Objects from the 19th Century San Jose Market Street Chinatown, California

Summary

The Market Street Chinatown archaeological collection offers a diverse assemblage of artifacts that shed light on the urban social lives of Overseas Chinese communities in San Jose, California during the late 19th century (1866-1887). Glass objects constitute a considerable percentage of the total archaeological collection and includes a massive assortment of medicinal and cuisine containers, architectural features, and domestic objects. The bricolage collection of glass permits discriminate analyses of artifact functions and consumer choices commonly explored in traditional archaeological glass studies. However, it is argued that specific attention to particular functional forms of glass may represent subtle usages of glass in urban life. More specifically, I present quantitative and qualitative data on glass tableware, flaking retouch on fragmented vessels, and raise questions concerning depositional processes of glass in

historical archaeology.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2015   •
• New and Innovative Approaches to Overseas Chinese Archaeology

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 202