An Investigation of Daily Life and Trade Through Bottle Glass

Summary

This is a poster submission presented at the 2025 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Glass bottles and bottle fragments recovered from historic archaeological sites provide information on trading patterns, domestic uses, and alcohol consumption. For instance, the shape, color, and thickness of vessels can provide insights on how they were used and what they likely contained. During the eighteenth century, olive-green glass was generally used for wine and alcohol, whereas blue-green glass was used for miscellaneous storage of medicines, cosmetics, condiments and other liquids. To explore this further, the collection of bottle glass fragments found at Fort St. Joseph, an eighteenth-century mission, garrison, and trading post located in present-day Niles, Michigan, was analyzed for each of the buildings identified thus far, providing insights on the trade and usage of glass at this important historic site.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2025   •
• 2025 SHA Poster Submissions

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow