Diana,

Thank you for reasking the question posted earlier. Sometimes people divert
the threads in unproductive directions without addressing the question. I
also have other interesting data from a maritime industrial site.

<< do you have any deposits that are tightly dated to the mid and late 19th
century?  If so, what are the more common patterns that are included?>>

I excavated a 1858-1886 shore whaling station at Ballast Point
(CA-SDI-12953), San Diego Bay, California in 1991-1992. Pat Garrow (European
and American ceramics) and Roberta Greenwood (Asian ceramics) analyzed the
ceramics and I have reexamined it myself. Private whaling companies of five
to 20 men operated on this small 2 acre spit of land that is one mile south
of the nearest community at La Playa. The latter had about 800 residents in
that time period. Ballast Point had about 30 people, including at least three
Chinese fisherfolk. The latter have been documented there as early as 1863
and as late as 1870. A distinct European American whaler's neighborhood lay
100-feet west of the three Chinese houses. My excavations exposed 28-square
feet at the Chinese camp and 27-square feet at the European American's camp.
The 1870 U.S. Census reports one of those Chinese worked for the European
American whalers.

We exposed one large trashpit at the Chinese camp and two trashpits at the
European American camp. The latter two trashpits comprise about the same
volume as the one at the Chinese camp. Both are believed to contain
residential and kitchen debris from the same time period, 1858-1886. Over
125,000 objects and artifacts were recovered. This includes human hair
specimens recovered at the Chinese camp that were (1) caucasian, (2) cut, and
(3) lacked the hair follicle. The County of San Diego Sheriff's Department,
Crime Lab, analyzed the hair and determined it caucasian. I now believe the
Chinese cut hair for the whalers.

The predominant ceramics in the European American whaler's trashpit were
white, improved (or hard paste), ceramics with a thin clear glaze and Gothic
molded patterns of fluted and paneled elements. There were a few sherds of
plates with oak leaf molding. All the ceramics were thick, heavy duty and the
surfaces of the plates show lots of knife cutting. Small quantities of floral
transfer-print floral patterns from the 1880s mark the end of the deposit. A
few serving platters and trays were present, as well as a few sherds of Asian
porcelaneous stoneware bowls. Most of the drinking vessels were mugs with
verticle fluting and heavy attached handles. Garrow identified some "blue
bodied" and "cream colored" vessels, but I found those terms difficult to
identify when examining the specimens. We also had a few dipped, annualar
bowls with London shoulders and pearlized glaze. The maker's marks are
primarily British, but a few American with British-looking marks. Application
of the 8-year Theory after the last use of those marks placed the ceramics in
the 1870 to 1890 time period, which is consistent with the historical
information. The volume of square or cut nails also confirms a pre-1890 date.

The Chinese camp yielded some surprises. The lowest level contained blue
shell-edged plates (non-impressed) of the style associated with 1850-1860.
None of this material was found in the European American trashpit. Associated
and in more abundance were plain, unmolded white, imporoved paste, plates,
tea or coffee cups with handles, one small demitasse cup, large quantities of
Asian porcelaneous stoneware bowls, a single Asian plate with a notch cut-out
to resemble Japanese barber bowls (sold to Europeans for arm-bleeding), and
brown-glazed food storage and wine bottle sherds. Some sherds of the same
dipped, annualar, London-shoulder bowls and pearlized glaze were recovered.

Although the ceramics are distinctive between the Chinese and European
American camps (100 feet apart), there is considerable cross-over of the same
types of ceramics. I believe the Chinese brought older blue shell edge plates
to the site when they arrived and later added white improved plates, cups and
bowls to their kitchens. The cut hair and 1870s U.S. Census demonstrates the
Chinese worked for the whalers. Tail vertebrae from California Gray Whales
were found with butcher marks in both the Chinese and Eurpean American
American trashpits, which I believe is evidence the Chinese cooked whale for
both communities. I found a published account of Japanese whaler's eating
marinated whale tail.

The report is not out as of yet, but some general comments are in order.
First, the Chinese worked for and interacted in the economic whaling industry
at Ballast Point. Second, although the Chinese clearly favored their own
porcelaneous stoneware bowls, they acquired and used white improved
tableware. The European American whalers, on the other hand, acquired large
quantities of white, improved, heavy duty tableware with Gothic and oak leaf
molded patterns and vessel shapes. I epect these were purchased by the
company owners as industrial service, rather than individual households.

I think the small quanties of transfer-print ware and early decal ware were
not associated with the core 1860-1880 whale hunting period. These ceramics
represent later visits, after the U.S. Army briefly occupied Ballast Point
and evicted the whalers in 1873-1874. Whalers clearly returned in the 1880s
to reuse the trywork ovens to render oil, but by then resided in houses one
mile north at either La Playa or Whaler's Bight. The colorful ceramics
represent the relocation period.

<< In most mid- to late- 19th century domestic deposits that I've worked with
in New York City, we tend to find more plain white ironstone molded in
various patterns and
 relatively little transfer printed (the data for some of the sites are in an
article in Historical Archaeology vol 33 no 1).  I think that these choices
depend on "taste' - the idea of what is appropriate, to set boundaries around
people who are appropriate (creating and maintaining the class structure),
and the meanings of domestic life and the different meals that help to make
it up.  In New YOrk, middle class families/women seem to have prefered
ironstone in the "Gothic" pattern for family meals, perhaps because it fit in
well with contemporary ideas about the "Christian" home. >>

In comparison with Diana's New York data, the Ballast Point whalers also
selected Gothic and oak leaf molded white tableware. There is evidence of a
few married families, including the Alphaeus and Saturinia Packard family of
Portuguese descent. Class is difficult to assign to whalers, as they made a
great deal of money were were "social lepers" because of the intense smell of
burned whale flesh that wafted around San Diego Bay (Old Town San Diego was 5
miles north). I would say they were also middle class, but lived in shanties
like lower class people. The emphasis on British ceramics is interesting.
Also, the extensive use of cheap dipped, annular ware bowls is interesting.
The latter were the only really colorful ceramics in the whaler's deposit.
However, the faint pearlized glaze makes me suspect the annular bowls were
either brought on arrival or are contemporary with the blue shell edged
plates in the Chinese camp trashpit.

The contents of the Chinese trashpit in the greater maritime community of
Ballast Point is extremely interesting with regards to cosumer choice. Here,
we have real evidence they selected blue shell edge and plain white tableware
to compliment their traditional Asian bowls. They also selected tea/coffee
cups, as opposed to the European American's selection of heavy mugs.
Greenwood interpretted the British ceramics to be cast-off pieces, which
could be correct except the patterns at the Chinese camp are more simple than
the Gothic and paneled specimens in the European American trashpit.

For those of you wondering where my report can be found, it is still under
preparation. I am analyzing the entire collection using Roderick Sprague's
functional typology and a few modifications of my own for the maritime
aspect. I do not anticipate hard data to be available until 2002, as I am
doing this in my spare time with the Fort Guijarros Museum Foundation.

I hope this addresses Diana's question and stimulates new comments from the
room.

Ron May
Legacy 106, Inc.