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.