Historic Artifacts

Question 1

What are artifacts, and what do they do? (3)

Answer 1

• known broadly as ‘material culture’
• anything made or modified by conscious human action
• provide information about the past

Question 2

What are the three basic types of ceramics?

Answer 2

• earthenware: fired at 650C
• stoneware: fired at 1200C
• porcelain: fired at 1200-1450C

Question 3

What were the earliest forms of English household tableware? (2)

Answer 3

• slipware (1580-1795)

- tin-enameled ware (1600-1740)

Question 4

What sort of tradeware ceramics were there? (3)

Answer 4

• Spanish olive jars, 1500-1850
• Chinese export porcelain, 1574-1830
• tin-enameled ware-majolica, 1400s-present

Question 5

Describe the three types of German stoneware.

Answer 5

• Rhenish 1550-1700
• Westerwald 1650-1775
• North Italian Marbled Slipware 1610-1660

Question 6

What are the four types of transitional wares (1740-1765)?

Answer 6

• white salt-glazed stoneware plates, 1740-1805
• whieldon wares, 1740-1780
• jackfield ware, 1740-1780
• english porcelain, 1745-present

Question 7

What are the three types of creamware (1765-1770)?

Answer 7

• deep yellow creamware, ca. 1762-1780
• overglaze enameled hand-painted, ca. 1765-1810
• light yellow/cream-colored, ca. 1775-1820

Question 8

What are the six types of pearlware (1770-1820)?

Answer 8

• undecorated, 1780-1820
• edge-decorated, 1780-1830
• annular, 1790-1820
• underglaze blue painted, 1720-1820
• underglaze polychrome, 1820-1840
• blue transfer-painted, 1795-1840

Question 9

What are the eight types of whiteware (1820s-1900s)?

Answer 9

• finger-painted polychrome slip, 1820-1900
• flow blue, 1820-1900
• engine-turned, 1820-1900
• spongeware, 1830-1900
• ironstone, 1800-1840
• white granite ware
• white porcelaneous ware, 1820-present
• yellow ware, 1820-1900

Question 10

What are the four types of glass found in archaeological settings?

Answer 10

• soda-lime glass
• lead glass
• vessel glass
• flat glass

Question 11

Describe the composition of soda-lime glass. (3)

Answer 11

• 70% silica
• 15% soda
• 9% lime

Question 12

Describe the properties of lead glass. (3)

Answer 12

• lead replaces calcium
• high refractive index
• aka ‘crystal’

Question 13

What does vessel glass refer to, and what is it used for? (3)

Answer 13

• includes all glass containers
• food and household chemical bottles and jars, beverage bottles, and canning jars
• glass service wares such as drinking glasses and dishes

Question 14

What is flat glass used for?

Answer 14

window panes

Question 15

What can glass color indicate?

Answer 15

age or use

Question 16

What sorts of colorless glass has been common from the 1870s? (3)

Answer 16

• lead glass
• ‘purplish’ hue, pre WWI
• ‘straw’ hue, 1915-1930

Question 17

When was white milkglass common?

Answer 17

1870s-1950s

Question 18

What glass colors can often be assigned an age? (4)

Answer 18

• aqua ca. 1750-1920s
• olive green, more common pre-1900
• purple ca. 1840s-1870s
• black, early 17th c.-1880s

Question 19

What glass colors cannot usually be assigned an age? (3)

Answer 19

• green
• amber or brown
• cobalt blue

Question 20

What are the characteristics of cobalt blue glass? (2)

Answer 20

• often associated with pharmaceuticals

- less common in general than previous glass colors discussed

Question 21

What are the characteristics of hand-blown glass? (4)

Answer 21

• generally not symmetrical
• no mold seams, embossing, decorations
• no hard corners or sharp lines
• heel or base tends to be thickest

Question 22

What are the characteristics of molded glass? (4)

Answer 22

• symmetrical
• mold seams always present, sometimes embossing or other decorations
• can have sharp lines or hard corners
• thickness may be unevenly distributed

Question 23

What features are common in the base of a glass bottle? (2)

Answer 23

• ‘kick’ or ‘push-up’

- pontil scars

Question 24

Name one disadvantage and one advantage of glass in archaeology.

Answer 24

• dating is not precise

- tons of resources for historic glass research