Archaeological Investigations at Yourhaney Plantation (38GE18)

ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS AT YOURHANEY PLANTATION107Table 7. Undatable imported ceramics from Feature 208Ceramic TypeCountStonewaresAlbany Slipped 1Unidentified 32Plain Gray Salt Glazed 40Plain Brown Salt Glazed 7RedwaresClear Lead Glazed 7Thin Manganese Lead Glazed 2Thick Manganese Lead Glazed 2EarthenwaresUID Coarse Earthenwares 10Manganese mottled bluff bodied 2UID White Bodied 1Total 104In addition, 111 fragments of low fired colonoware were recovered from this feature. Of those, 68were large enough for further analysis. The Lesesne variety consists of 24 sherds, there are 37River Burnished sherds, and seven Yaughan sherds. The Lesesne and River Burnished varietieswere represented as bowls, while Yaughan consisted of jars. One of the Lesesne vessels had anincised rim. The River Burnished vessels were flat bottomed.Bottle glass was exclusively aqua, clear, and green. A total of 76 sherds was recovered from thisfeature including one light olive green glass, 47 olive green cylindrical bottle fragments, two olivegreen case bottle fragments, 19 clear bottle fragments, and seven aqua bottle fragments.Tableware glass consisted of two fragments of a clear etched drinking glass and five clear plaindrinking glass fragments. The only other kitchen related items were a large portion of an iron tablefork and knife. Both probably had bone handles, which are now missing.Architecture Related ArtifactsA total of 676 nails, spikes, and tacks were recovered from Feature 208 (Table 8). Wrought nailsand cut nails with wrought heads were recovered. Cut nail fragments were also recovered, but itcould not be determined if they had cut or wrought heads. These nails provide some importantdating information. Hand wrought nails were universally used in house building until about 1800when cut nails nearly replaced them because of their cheapness. Although cut nails were preferredthereafter, hand wrought nails continued to be used to some degree. Cut nails with wrought headsdate from about 1800 to 1825. After that time cut nails were made with stamped heads (Mercer1976). The absence of whole cut nails with stamped heads suggests that the feature does not postdate 1825.Other architectural items include 12 fragments of flat glass and one padlock. In addition, sevenfragments of a mud dauber’s nest was recovered. While not actually architectural, they usuallyattach themselves to architectural features.