The Artifacts
TOBACCO PIPES
Pipes (fig. 14) were not plentiful, no more than 100 fragments being found in any one deposit. The datable bowls and fragments of pipes closely followed the site's two periods as indicated by the various refuse pits; that is, examples from Pits A and B date from around 1700-1720, and those from the rest of the pits are of types loosely attributed to the period of about 1710-1780. On the evidence of association and by the use of the Harrington system of stem-hole dating, there is no reason to date any of the pipes later than the first half of the 18th century.
A few deposits yielded a sufficient number of stem fragments to provide tentative dating, as follows:
| Deposit | No. of fragments | Stem diameters | Date | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4/64" | 5/64" | 6/64" | 7/64" | |||
| Pit B (T.N. 30) | 91 | 29% | 60% | 11% | 1700-1720 | |
| Pit C (T.N. 17, 18) | 82 | 17% | 78% | 5% | 1730-1750 | |
| Pit D (T.N. 23) | 49 | 16% | 63% | 21% | 1730-1740 | |
| Kitchen (T.N. 1) | 55 | 57% | 43% | 1720-1740 | ||
It should be noted that in all cases the samplings are too small for accuracy and that they are based on Mr. Harrington's elementary chart which he, himself, claims to be no more than a point of departure for a new approach to the dating of tobacco-pipe fragments. Nevertheless, the above results do follow fairly closely the dating of the groups arrived at on the evidence of stratigraphy and on the study of associated artifacts of all types.
Since this report was first written, Lewis Binford of the University of Chicago has developed a mathematical formula based on Harrington's chart which enables one to arrive at a mean date for the deposition of a group of pipes. Audrey Noël Hume has subsequently demonstrated that a sampling of approximately 900 fragments is needed to maintain consistent results, and that the degree of accuracy rapidly falls off when dealing with groups of pipes dating earlier than 1670 and later than 1760.[117] Fortunately, the Tutter's Neck pipes, though few in number, do fall within the period of greatest accuracy. The following table illustrates the relationships between dates arrived at on the basis of all artifactual and documentary evidence (I), by the use of the Harrington chart (II), and by the Binford formula (III).
| Deposit | I | II | III |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pit B (T.N. 30) | 1702-1710 | 1700-1720 | 1709 |
| Pit C (T.N. 17, 18) | ca. 1740 | 1735-1750 | 1745 |
| Pit D (T.N. 23) | 1730-1740 | 1730-1740 | 1739 |
| Stratum (T.N. 1) | ca. 1740 | 1720-1740 | 1724 |
The discrepancy in the dating of layer T.N. 1 must be explained by the fact that the soil and its contents were dug from somewhere else and redeposited outside the kitchen building. Had this stratum predated the building, it would undoubtedly have been found on both sides of the foundation and would not have overlaid the red clay level (T.N. 2) which was similar and probably identical to that sealing pits C and D, the latter containing a wine bottle of about 1740 (fig. 19, no. 18).
The following maker's marks were found on pipes:
R M
One initial on either side of the heel. Two examples (see fig. 14, no. 3). The initials are not uncommon on pipes of the same shape found at Williamsburg and Rosewell Plantation.[118] There were at least seven pipemakers with these initials working in the late 17th and early 18th centuries.[119] T.N. 30, Pit B.
H S
One initial on either side of the heel. One example (fig. 14, no. 5). Other pipes with these initials have been found at Williamsburg and Rosewell Plantation. Maker not known. T.N. 1.
I S
One initial on either side of the heel. One example (fig. 14, no. 6). The mark is not recorded among previous finds from either Jamestown or Williamsburg. At least five makers with these initials were working in Bristol in the appropriate period. T.N. 17, Pit C.
Figure 13.—1, Iron saw fragments found under the Tutter's Neck kitchen (T.N. 15); 2-5, iron sickle, padlock, scissors, and dividers, respectively, from various deposits on the site (see figs. 15, 16).
RICH
ARDS
AYER
Richard Sayer. Two examples had the name stamped on bases of flat heels; five others had the stamp on the upper sides of stems (see fig. 14, no. 1). All seven stamps occur on glazed pipes of good quality. No previous examples of his pipes have been found at either Jamestown or Williamsburg. Possibly Richard Sayers who is recorded by Oswald as having been working at Newbury in about 1700. T.N. 30, Pit B.
...IP
...ET
This fragmentary stamp on a molded cartouche on the side of a bowl came from a context of about 1730-1740 (T.N. 2) and was presumably made by the Robert Tippet of Bristol who became a freeman in 1713 and whose pipes have been found in Williamsburg contexts dating as late as the mid-18th century.[120]
RICH
TYLER
Presumably Richard Tyler, but the last two letters of the surname are unclear. The stamp appears on a stem fragment within an oval of impressed square dots. Oswald lists a Richard Tyler who was working at Bath in about 1700. Stem-hole diameter, 5/64 in. Unstratified.
W
Fragment from base of bowl of pipe with neither heel nor spur, probably similar in shape to no. 4 of figure 14. The first of a pair of initials molded on either side of the base.[121] Stem-hole diameter, 7/64 in. Unstratified.
METAL OBJECTS
Metal items (figs. 15-17) from the site provide a valuable series of common domestic and agricultural objects of a period that has as yet received little study. The majority of the principal items came from a single refuse pit beneath the kitchen (Pit D, T.N. 23) and although deposited in the second quarter of the 18th century they are generally of earlier date. The surprising preponderance of late 17th-century items in this and other contexts tends to support the theory that the house served as a quarter toward the end of its life and that the furnishings, tools, and utensils consequently were already worn and old-fashioned when provided for use by the slaves.
CERAMICS
Like the metal items, the ceramics are predominantly of the late 17th and early 18th century, though frequently found in contexts of the second quarter of the latter century. The quality and variety of the wares is somewhat surprising, the finds including some items that are today of considerable rarity. Notable among them is the saucer in a reversed "Nevers" style that is seemingly without parallel (fig. 18, no. 8), a London delftware "charger" of massive proportions and uncommon design (fig. 18, no. 10), a lead-glazed Staffordshire bowl fragment (see fig. 19, no. 9), and part of a brown-surfaced white stoneware jug that may have come from the factory of John Dwight of Fulham near London.[122]
The majority of the delftwares have the appearance of London manufacture, rather than that of Bristol or Liverpool. As a broad generalization it may be claimed that the former trend in Virginia was characteristic of the 17th century but was reversed in the 18th.
An unusually large percentage of Colono-Indian pottery was present, predominantly in pits dating from the second quarter of the 18th century. The same contexts also yielded a high proportion of lead-glazed earthenware cream pans manufactured at Yorktown, presumably at the factory of William Rogers that may have been operating as early as 1725.[123]
Although all the items found on the Tutter's Neck site emanate from contexts of 18th-century date, most of the delftwares and some of the stoneware items are without parallel in nearby Williamsburg, the 18th-century cultural and economic center of Virginia that lay only three miles away. Once again, therefore, the artifacts point to a 17th-century survival and perhaps, by projection, to a low standard of living.
An indication of a terminal date for the life of the site is provided by the total absence of English white salt-glazed stoneware from all except one stratified deposit (Pit F), a ware that does not seem to have reached the colonies before the third decade of the 18th century,[124] most of it arriving after about 1740. It must be recorded, however, that fragments of this later period were found scattered on the surface, but it was impossible to determine whence they came.
GLASS BOTTLES
Wine bottles[125] provided the key to the entire excavation, first by possessing seals (fig. 6) that identified the owner of the property and secondly by providing dating evidence for the construction of the kitchen; thus there was avoided an error of dating that would otherwise have been inevitable. In addition, the group of bottles from Pit B (T.N. 30) provided a valuable series of specimens of varying shapes, all of which were in use together at the beginning of the 18th century. (See fig. 19, nos. 11-20.)
A few small fragments of green pharmaceutical phials were also recovered, but none was sufficiently large to merit illustration.
TABLE GLASS
Although wine-bottle glass was plentiful, table glass was comparatively scarce. It was confined to the three wineglasses illustrated as nos. 16-18 of figure 17, a 17th-century wineglass-stem fragment similar to no. 17 of figure 17 (see footnote 94), heavy tumbler-base fragments of typical 18th-century type (from T.N. 24, 27), and a fragment from a fine gadrooned Romer of late 17th-century date (fig. 20, no. 8).