Let’s Talk Form: Using Vessel Form Analysis to Identify Food Provisioning Patterns on Spanish Ships in the 16th Century

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Paper / Report Submission (General Sessions)", at the 2023 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

As a discipline, maritime archaeology has prioritized the study of ship construction methods/design over the wealth of material culture associated with shipwrecks. However, shipwreck assemblages offer a unique opportunity to understand shipboard culture. The Emanuel Point II (EPII) shipwreck of the failed 1559–1561 Luna expedition contains large, mendable ceramic sherds that when analyzed offer a unique opportunity to study 16th–century Spanish vessel forms. By comparing the archaeological assemblage from EPII to the ceramic pattern identified in 16th–century Spanish provisioning records, this paper seeks to establish an interpretive foundation of the vessels employed for food storage, preparation, and consumption aboard 16th–century Spanish ships. This research simultaneously resulted in the identification of specific vessel forms found in ship assemblages and developed a stronger understanding of the unique characteristics which help identify vessel forms from individual sherds. Further, this paper argues that vessel form analysis is better suited to understanding the cultural past.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SHA 2023 General Sessions   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2023

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow