Report of the Archaeological Investigations of the New Castle Court ...

NEW CASTLE COURT HOUSE PLAZA
NEW CASTLE, DELAWARE
4.0 ARTIFACT ANALYSIS
activity. If viewed in terms of meals, Feature 20 yielded an assemblage that demonstrated a
preference for large cuts of meat, frequently beef, chopped or split from the larger animal. Similar
cuts were taken from sheep (leg of mutton), pig in the form of large hams, and even a small
amount of venison. In spite of the late eighteenth-century date, there was little wild food in the
assemblage. Even in early colonial settings, there was a decided reliance on domestic mammals
rather than wild game (Bowen 1998). This would have been even truer in established market
villages or port towns.
If not associated with a domestic occupation, this assemblage might be similar to that found in a
tavern or public house. Many varieties of “public houses” served government officers and
business communities in eighteenth and early nineteenth-century towns and government buildings
were often associated with taverns or coffee-houses (Rothschild 1990). In composition, faunal
assemblages recovered from tavern sites were likely similar to residential and/or domestic meals.
Cooking technology, likely open hearth, determined the type of meals. Large cuts of meat that
could be boiled, braised or broiled were emphasized in both domestic and public settings.
Although a variety of fowl and game might also have been served, the fragmented nature of the
Court House assemblages resulted in little archaeological evidence of diversity in diet and meals.
4.2 CERAMIC AND GLASS ASSEMBLAGE FROM FEATURE 20
Several fragments (n=5) of table glass were recovered from Feature 20 (Plate 18). Two of the
fragments are comprised of clear glass stems, while the remaining assemblage represents a
drinking vessel or tumbler. The aqua colored glass tumbler exhibits a mold blown lozenge or
bull’s eye shaped design (context 51). Following the typology presented by Noel Hume
(1969:191) the remaining examples (derived from context 43) are quatrefoil stems where the
baluster is pinched into four segments (type VI, dated 1685-1705). Although not derived from
Feature 20, a third stemware was recovered from nearby EU 7 (SU E, context 37); this vessel,
although similar, appears to be a heavy inverted baluster with tear (type VII, dated 1690-1710).
Two partial dark green bottles were recovered from Feature 20. Vessel 1 was composed of over a
dozen mendable fragments (5 from context 43, 9 from context 153, and 1 from context 61) the
vessel exhibits a globular body with slightly rounded sides, gradually sloping shoulders, and a
wide shallow kick (Plate 19). No bottle seal, neck or rim from the vessel was found and the
overall dimensions of the vessel are unknown. The bottle is best described as an onion bottle, a
widely available bottle style that spans the decades of the 1680s through the 1730s (Dumbrell
1983:56-67). Based on marked and dated examples provided by Dumbrell (1983:56, 62) the
physical characteristics of the Feature 20 onion bottle date it to the period circa 1699 to 1704.
Examples of similar onion wine bottles housed in the Museum of London collection also
reinforce a turn-of-the-seventeenth century date range (Museum of London n.d.). The second
vessel consists of three sherds from context 147, two of which mend at the base (Plate 18). The
wall thickness is thinner than the previous example, but a similar shallow kick is evident. Overall
bottle form is unknown, although it may represent a second onion bottle.
Fragments from the neck and rim of a gray Westerwald stoneware vessel (n=4) mended between
Feature 20 (contexts 43 and 44) and SU E within units 9 and 23 (contexts 62 and146). The rim
diameter measures 2.5 in. and a partial handle extends from the neck (Plate 20). A slight flaring
of the sides of the vessel indicates that its form is that of jug not a mug. The body is decorated
with blue cobalt, incised lines, and medallions. No body or basal sherds were recovered for this
vessel, so its overall dimensions remain unknown.
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