Artefact of the Week Series: What One Porcelain Sherd Can Reveal!

For today’s artifact of the week, we have a piece of porcelain associated with the Newman & Co. occupation. This beautiful sherd of porcelain exhibiting a blue hand painted flower motif was one of the first exciting finds of the season for us newbies! It was recovered from Feature 5 in Test Pit 47 (excavated by Brendan), an unknown feature located towards the treeline on the west of Turpin’s Island. The excavation of porcelain tells us a few things about the dating of the occupation.

Fig. 1 Porcelain sherd from test pit 47

Porcelain can be identified and differentiated from other types of ceramic by observing the conchoidal fracturing along the breakage points and the milky texture of the matrix. Other diagnostic properties which help us determine what kind of ceramic the artifact is include observing the grittiness of the texture of the matrix. We can also observe the staining of the cracks around the brakes in the porcelain. Some types of ceramics and porcelain are impervious to staining, and this artifact is stained! Therefore, it could be a soft paste porcelain. 

The discovery of porcelain allows us to propose a date range for the occupation of Feature 5. We know that this type of porcelain began production in the mid-18th century and was popular in European markets until the early 19th century. While the provenance of this porcelain vessel has not been traced to a specific factory or location, we know that it is likely European and was produced before the mid-19th century. It could very well be associated with the Newman & Co. occupation of Turpin’s Island.

Source:

Diagnostic Artifacts in Maryland. https://apps.jefpat.maryland.gov/diagnostic/Porcelain/PorcelainWareDescriptions/SoftPastePorcelain-intro.html, accessed July 28, 2025.

Author: James Foss