Breaking News: Mended Ceramics in Historical Context

Summary

Coupled with inventories, receipts, account books, trade cards, and newspaper advertisements, archaeology broadens the interpretation and understanding of an object’s value and worth in the period in which it was made and used. Evidence of mended ceramics in the archaeological collections at Colonial Williamsburg and in other collections provides a means to assist in the identification, dating, and contextual understanding of repairs made to ceramic objects of a variety of materials. Questions to consider are: "How did the ceramic object break?" "Who broke it?" "Why was it or was it not repaired?" "If it was repaired, who repaired the object and how?" With focus on 18th- and early 19th-century America, these questions will be addressed in order to place broken and mended ceramics in historical context.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Caring For The Past: Connecting To Archaeological Collections   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2016

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 516