h other vessels during firing. Indeed,
kiln scars left by the joining of vessels during firing are not uncommon on Border ware vessels.
|Vertical looped handles were constructed principally for drinking vessels, chamber pots, certain bowl forms, chafing dishes, and candle sticks. Horizontal loop handles tend to be found on porringers but are also found on bowls, chafing dishes, and fuming pots. As is shown opposite, handles were typically attached to the body at one end and smoothed all around the joint at the other end. Wiped handles, rather than those which are thumb-impressed, are more common on all vessel forms, although thumb impressions on wiped handle-attachments may be seen on occasion.||
To create green and brown glazes, powdered copper and manganese, respectively, were applied to a basic clear lead glaze. Brown glaze was generally relegated strictly to forms used at the table, such as mugs, bowls, and porringers. Brown was the most typical color for mugs, while green or yellow appear to be the most common colors used for all other vessel forms. Within each of the main glaze colors used, the range of hues is considerable, the end color being heavily dependent upon both the fabric color and glaze thickness. For example, depending on how thickly it is applied, clear lead glaze can appear clear, orange, olive, or brown on the red ware variety. It ranges from yellow through amber to a muted sandy shade when applied to white Border ware.
Forms with different glazes and fabrics were often fired within the same kiln. Abundant kiln scars on the forms from Port Royal attest to this practice. The orientation a given vessel assumed within a kiln may be reconstructed by the direction of the glaze run, as well as diagnostic markings left on the vessel. White Border wares, and to a lesser extent, red wares, may have lighter or darker patches in their fabric, demonstrating uneven firing.
HAMILTON, D. L. 1992. Simon Benning, Pewterer of Port Royal. In Text-Aided Archaeology, edited by B. J. Little, pp.39-53. CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida.
NOEL HUME, I. 1980. A Guide to Artifacts of Colonial America. Alfred A. Knopf, New York.
PEARCE, J. 1992. Post-Medieval Pottery in London, 1500-1700: Border Wares. HMSO, London.
THOMPSON, A., F. GREW, and J. SCHOFIELD 1984. Excavations at Aldgate, 1974. Post-Medieval Archaeology 18:1-148.
2000, Barrett, Jason and Madeleine Donachie, Borderware at Port Royal Jamaica, World Wide Web, URL, http://nautarch.tamu.edu/PROJECTS/PR-project/border/index.htm, Nautical Archaeology Program, Texas A&M University,
College Station, Texas. March 14, 2001
EXAMPLES OF BORDER WARE VESSEL FORMS
PORT ROYAL BORDER WARE ASSEMBLAGE
PORT ROYAL PROJECT
OTHER ARTIFACTS FROM PORT ROYAL
NAUTICAL ARCHAEOLOGY PROGRAM AT TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY