Measuring the quality of personal goods: challenges and opportunities for the archaeology of consumption

Penny Crook

Measuring the quality of personal goods: challenges and opportunities for the archaeology of consumption

Part of the An archaeology of colonial consumption: Sydney trade and material culture, 1788–1901 project

Year: 2015

Summary

The practice of the systematic indexation of quality in 19th-century mass-produced goods offers a new approach for historical archaeology and studies of consumption. This paper will discuss current efforts to expand the systematic measurement of quality of archaeological goods from ceramic and glass to personal goods, specifically footwear and and pressed-metal ornaments (including buckles, buttons and brooches) known as the ‘Birmingham wares’. This has the potential to address another important area of consumption—that of the individual rather than the household—but presents new challenges with regard to artefact preservation and assemblage diversification.

Cite this Record

Measuring the quality of personal goods: challenges and opportunities for the archaeology of consumption. Penny Crook. Presented at Australasian Society for Historical Archaeology (ASHA), Geelong, Melbourne, Australia. 2015 ( tDAR id: 455187) ; doi:10.6067/XCV8455187