CONCLUSIONS
The artifacts from the Middleton Place privy present a unique opportunity to observe one aspect of this plantation’s past. This collection of ceramics, bottles, and other items constitute the refuse discarded by the occupants of Middleton Place following the Civil War. It reflects their needs and tastes and represents an unconscious record of activities a century ago. Artifacts in the collection include items from an earlier time as well as things purchased throughout the last half of the nineteenth century.
These materials also reveal much about the privy’s history. When compared with collections discarded around contemporary buildings, the artifacts from Middleton Place are similar to those often associated with abandoned buildings. The artifacts in the Middleton Place privy, then, are likely to have been deposited there, not as the result of day-to-day living, but as a consequence of cleaning out the rubbish of the house’s earlier occupants. We may identify the privy artifacts as a collection of items accumulated during a time of refurbishing as in the 1920s when J. J. Pringle Smith moved into the family residence and began restoring it.
Figure 30. Many hours are spent in the laboratory conserving and studying the artifacts.
Although interesting and informative as individual objects, the privy artifacts are much more informative as an “assemblage” resulting from past activities. The archeologist must study assemblages, like pieces of a puzzle, to reconstruct, interpret, and explain past events that produced them. It is important to record carefully all the artifacts found together as well as their relationships to one another and to the deposit from which they were removed. Artifacts taken from the ground without proper recording are removed from their archeological context, and the information they hold is forever lost. Aimless “treasure” digging has destroyed much of our historical heritage. The Middleton Place privy collection illustrates how proper care, recording, and analysis can reveal new information. With foresight and planning, archeology can increase knowledge of the past for ourselves and for future generations.
APPENDIX I
CERAMIC MANUFACTURERS’ MARKS
A. Arthur J. Wilkinson, Royal Staffordshire Pottery, Burslem, Staffordshire. White ironstone plate, 1891-1896. B. John Edwards, Fenton, Staffordshire. White ironstone plate, c. 1891-1900. C. John Maddock and Sons, Burslem, Staffordshire. White ironstone plate, 1891-1896. D. C. C. Thompson & Co., East Liverpool, Ohio. White ironstone nappy, 1884-1889. E. Limoges, France. White porcelain saucer, c. 1875. F. Haviland & Co., Limoges, France. White porcelain plate, c. 1876-1891. G. Unidentified mark, decal-printed porcelain plate. H. John and George Alcock, Cobridge, Staffordshire. Light blue, transfer-printed bowl, 1839-1846. I. Josiah Wedgwood, Burslem, Staffordshire. Impressed on creamware sauce tureen, 1769 to present. J. Unidentified impressed mark, white porcelain platter.
APPENDIX II
SIGNIFICANT DATES IN THE AMERICAN GLASS INDUSTRY
| First three-piece hinged mold | c. 1808 |
| Two-piece hinged mold first used in America | by 1809 |
| First widespread use of slanting collar finish | c. 1820 |
| Ricketts patent for three-piece mold with lettered base | 1821 |
| First side-lever glass press | late 1820s |
| “Lacy” pressed glass | 1820s-1840s |
| Popularity of smooth-patterned pressed glass tableware sets | c. 1840s-1880s |
| Development of jawed lipping tool for bottles | pre-1840 |
| Amasa Stone receives first U.S. patent for lipping tool | 1856 |
| Introduction into U.S. of non-pontil holding devices for bottles | late 1840s-1850s |
| Formula for kerosene patented by Abraham Gesner | 1854 |
| Development of two-piece mold with separate post base | pre-1858 |
| Mason jar patent | 1858 |
| Blow-back mold in general use | c. 1858-1900 |
| First oil well in Pennsylvania leads to widespread use of kerosene fueled lamps | 1859 |
| Introduction of French Square pharmacy bottles | early 1860s |
| Student lamp patented in Prussia | 1863 |
| Leighton formula for improved lime glass | 1864 |
| Development of plate mold for embossed bottles | pre-1867 |
| Widespread embossing of bottles | 1860s-1920s |
| Empontilling of bottles almost entirely replaced by use of holding devices | 1870s |
| Greatest popularity of turn-molded bottles | 1870s-1920s |
| Student lamp introduced in U.S. | 1870s |
| Louis Pasteur developed sterilization techniques for beer | 1870 |
| Anheuser-Busch begins first commercial bottling of American beer | early 1870s |
| Heavily embossed and colored poison bottles | 1872-1930s |
| Improved finishing processes result in smoother and more uniformly applied bottle finishes | by 1880 |
| Argobast patent for semiautomatic press-and-blow machine for wide-mouthed jars | 1881 |
| H. W. Putnam acquires patent rights for lightning stopper | 1882 |
| Borosilicate glass developed in Germany | 1883 |
| Macbeth-Evans Co. patents “pearl top” lamp chimney | 1883 |
| William Painter patents crown cap | 1892 |
| Enterprise Glass Co. puts Argobast semiautomatic into commercial production | 1893 |
| South Carolina dispensary system | 1893-1907 |
| Michael Owens patents semiautomatic turn-molding machine for light bulbs, tumblers, and lamp chimneys | 1894 |
| First lamp chimney and tumbler production on Owens turn-mold machine | 1898 |
| Most wide-mouthed jars produced on semiautomatic machines | by 1901 |
| Owens automatic bottle machine patented | 1903 |
| Owens machine put into commercial production: first narrow-necked machine-made bottles | 1904 |
| First production of narrow-necked bottles on semiautomatic machines | c. 1907 |
| Corning Glass Works develops Pyrex heat-resistant glass | 1915 |
| Use of manganese to decolor glass | 1917 |
| State prohibition law goes into effect in South Carolina | 1916 |
| National beer and wine production halted under Wartime Food Control Act and Volstead Act | 1918-1920 |
| National prohibition of alcohol under eighteenth amendment and Volstead Act | 1920-1933 |
| Machine-made bottles comprise 90% of total United States production | 1925 |
APPENDIX III
MARKS LEFT BY DIFFERENT TECHNIQUES OF BOTTLE MANUFACTURE
Free-blown bottles usually date before the second half of the nineteenth century and are characterized by an absence of mold lines of any sort. Because no molds were used, these bottles are often asymmetrical. Dip-molded bottles, or bottles molded for basic body shape below the shoulder, are also generally pre-Civil War and can only tentatively be distinguished from free-blown bottles by their symmetry below the shoulder and a slight tapering from shoulder to base. Bottles blown in a two-piece mold have mold lines extending up two opposite sides, usually to just below the tooled lip. On early nineteenth century bottles of this sort, the mold lines continue across the center of the base, but after the 1850s, most two-piece molds had a separate base part, either a cup bottom, in which the seam encircled the outer edge of the base, or a post bottom, which left a circular seam on the bottom of the bottle. Most bottles from the Middleton Place privy were blown in two-piece molds with cup bottoms.
The three-piece mold leaves a single horizontal line around the shoulder of the bottle, and vertical lines extending up either side of the shoulder. The height of these lines can vary from partway up the shoulder to nearly to the top of the neck. A turn-molded bottle has been rotated in the mold to erase mold marks and will exhibit faint horizontal scratches and striations on the body and neck.
Embossing, very popular after the Civil War, usually consists of the name of a company or product printed in raised letters on the sides or base of the bottle. Isolated numbers and letters on or just above the base are usually, but not always, mold numbers used by the manufacturer for identification. Embossed letters are sometimes carved into the body of the mold, but for smaller runs a plate mold, with a removable lettered plate on one or more sides, was used.
Mold lines on bottles finished with a specialized lipping tool are usually obliterated by faint horizontal striations extending to about a quarter inch below the lip. The two-piece blow-back mold, however, leaves mold seams to the very edge of the lip, and a lip surface that has been ground smooth rather than shaped with a lipping tool.
A pontil mark is a circular scar left on the base by the iron rod used to hold the bottle for finishing the neck and lip. Although there are many different methods of empontilling, only two types of marks were found on bottles from the Middleton Place privy. One is a “sand pontil mark,” a roughened grainy area covering most of the base, apparently the result of dipping the glasscoated pontil iron in sand before attaching it. The other is a “blow-pipe pontil mark,” which results from empontilling a bottle with the same pipe that was used to blow it. A blow-pipe mark is a distinct ring of glass the same size as the bottle neck.
Pressed glass is formed with a plunger in a mold on one or more pieces. Pressed glass items are comparatively thick-walled, have smooth molded lips, usually with mold seams, and often are distinguished by a short, straight shear mark, like an isolated mold line, on the inside base. This mark is from the severing of the “gob” of glass before it is dropped into the mold. Bottles that are made on either automatic or semi-automatic machines will have mold lines encircling the top of the lip, as well as on the sides and base.
APPENDIX IV
ARTIFACT CATALOGUE FROM THE MIDDLETON PLACE PRIVY EXCAVATION
| Artifacts | No. of Fragments | Minimum No. of Whole Items | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ceramics | |||
| Porcelain | |||
| Undecorated Haviland & Co. plate | 9 | 1 | |
| Undecorated saucer, D & Co., Limoges | 5 | 1 | |
| Undecorated saucer | 6 | 1 | |
| Undecorated plates | 17 | 2 | |
| Undecorated platter | 13 | 2 | |
| Gold-banded cup | 9 | 1 | |
| “Cornflower” pattern tea or bread plate | 4 | 1 | |
| Decal-printed tea plate or saucer, hallmark Alice / Austria | 5 | 1 | |
| Decal-printed Austrian teacup | 11 | 1 | |
| British meat dish, hand-painted oriental design | 16 | 1 | |
| Chinese export porcelain serving dishes | 4 | 4 | |
| Creamware | |||
| Banded Wedgwood sauce tureen | 1 | 1 | |
| Undecorated baker | 1 | 1 | |
| Whiteware | |||
| J & G Alcock “Tyrol” pattern transfer-printed bowl | 5 | 1 | |
| Blue transfer-printed mug, rural English scene | 6 | 1 | |
| Fragment of blue transfer-printed cup or bowl, bucolic scene | 1 | 1 | |
| Undecorated ironstone or graniteware nappy | 5 | 1 | |
| Undecorated ironstone or graniteware plates | 23 | 4 | |
| Undecorated ironstone or graniteware cup | 1 | 1 | |
| Molded white ironstone chamber pot | 4 | 1 | |
| English majolica pitcher handle | 1 | 1 | |
| Glass Tableware | |||
| “Four Band” style pressed glass tumbler | 1 | 1 | |
| Fluted pressed glass tumbler | 2 | 1 | |
| “Thumbprint” style pressed glass tumbler | 5 | 1 | |
| Engraved tumbler, floral design | 1 | 1 | |
| Wheel-cut champagne flute glass | 2 | 1 | |
| “Almond Thumbprint” pressed wine glass | 1 | 1 | |
| “Mascotte” pattern pressed wine glass | 1 | 1 | |
| Pressed glass lid | 2 | 1 | |
| Cut glass pitcher | 9 | 1 | |
| Fluted cut glass decanters | 8 | 2 | |
| Free-blown bowls | 75 | 2 | |
| Bottles and Jars | |||
| Food Containers | |||
| Armour & Co. beef extract jar, white milk glass | 1 | 1 | |
| Olive oil bottles, aquamarine glass | 2 | 2 | |
| American preserve jar, clear glass | 4 | 1 | |
| Alcohol Bottles | |||
| Palmetto Brewing Co. champagne beer bottle, aquamarine glass | 1 | 1 | |
| Export beer bottles, amber glass | 2 | 2 | |
| South Carolina Dispensary Jo-Jo flask, clear glass | 4 | 1 | |
| South Carolina Dispensary Jo-Jo flask, aquamarine glass | 3 | 1 | |
| South Carolina Dispensary cylindrical whiskey bottle, clear glass | 2 | 1 | |
| Unembossed Union flasks, amber glass | 15 | 2 | |
| Unembossed Union flask, aquamarine glass | 1 | 1 | |
| Rhine Wine sample bottle, amber glass | 1 | 1 | |
| Dark Green wine or spirits bottles | 21 | 4 | |
| Medicine Bottles | |||
| Panknin Apothecary plate-molded prescription bottles, French Square shape, clear glass | 3 | 3 | |
| Panknin Apothecary plate-molded prescription bottles. Philadelphia oval shape, clear glass | 4 | 4 | |
| Unembossed French square prescription bottles, clear glass | 20 | 14 | |
| Narrow-mouthed round prescription bottles, clear glass | 2 | 2 | |
| Narrow-mouthed round prescription bottles, aquamarine glass | 3 | 3 | |
| Narrow-mouthed round prescription bottles, light green glass | 1 | 1 | |
| Wide-mouthed round prescription bottles, clear glass | 3 | 3 | |
| Unembossed Baltimore oval prescription bottle, clear glass | 1 | 1 | |
| Unembossed Philadelphia oval prescription bottles, clear glass | 2 | 2 | |
| Unembossed taper neck oval prescription bottles, clear glass | 2 | 2 | |
| Neck fragment from round or oval prescription bottle, clear glass | 1 | 1 | |
| Paneled pharmacy bottles, clear glass | 26 | 3 | |
| Paneled pharmacy bottle aquamarine glass | 1 | 1 | |
| Free-blown apothecary vials, aquamarine glass | 8 | 4 | |
| Maltine Mf’g Co. bottle, double Philadelphia oval shape, amber glass | 1 | 1 | |
| Keasbey & Mattison Bromo-Caffeine bottle, round, cobalt blue | 1 | 1 | |
| Rumford Chemical Works Horsford Acid Phosphate bottle, octagonal, blue-green glass | 1 | 1 | |
| Bullock & Crenshaw decagonal vial, clear lead glass | 1 | 1 | |
| Unidentified embossed French square bottle, amber glass | 5 | 1 | |
| Whitall Tatum quilted poison bottle, cobalt blue | 1 | 1 | |
| Ointment or Cosmetic Jars | |||
| White milk glass patch box with lid | 2 | 1 | |
| Aubry Sisters white milk glass screw top ointment pot | 1 | 1 | |
| Pharmaceutical Accessories | |||
| Corks | 2 | 2 | |
| Clear glass Lubin stopper | 1 | 1 | |
| Clear glass medicine dropper | 2 | 1 | |
| Ink, Glue, and Polish Bottles | |||
| Clear glass conical ink bottles, machine-made, Carter’s Ink Co. | 1 | 1 | |
| Clear glass cylinder ink bottle, machine-made | 1 | 1 | |
| Amber glass conical ink bottle, blow-molded | 1 | 1 | |
| Bell mucilage bottle, aquamarine glass | 2 | 1 | |
| British brown stoneware blacking or master ink bottle | 1 | 1 | |
| Tappan’s Relucent gold and silver polish bottle | 1 | 1 | |
| Ink bottle cork | 1 | 1 | |
| Lamp Glass | |||
| Student lamp chimney | 2 | 1 | |
| “Pearl top” and crimped lamp chimney | 19 | 4 | |
| Laboratory Glass | |||
| Pontil-marked beaker | 2 | 1 | |
| Metal | |||
| Pewter Spoon | 1 | 1 | |
| Brass curtain rings | 7 | 7 | |
| Pill box with lid | 1 | 1 | |
| Square-cut spike | 1 | 1 | |
| Machine-cut nails | 4 | 4 | |
| Hand-wrought nails | 3 | 3 | |
| Hazel hoe | 1 | 1 | |
| Coins | |||
| Liberty head quarters | 5 | 5 | |
| Liberty head nickel | 1 | 1 | |
| Personal Items | |||
| French toothbrushes | 2 | 2 | |
| Lady’s leather shoe heel | 2 | 1 | |
| White clay pipestem | 1 | 1 | |
| Other | |||
| Isinglass stove windows | 3 | 3 | |
| Delft tile fragment | 1 | 1 | |
| Terracotta drainpipe fragment | 1 | 1 | |
| Window glass | 1 | 1 | |
| Slate tile fragment | 1 | 1 | |
| TOTAL | 473 | 164 | |