Members,
 
Excavations by the University of West Florida at the Spanish presidio site of
Santa Maria de Galve on the Naval Air Station in Pensacola, Florida have
produced a ceramic type that we cannot currently identify.  I am posting this
description and brief site background with the hope that someone can point us
in the right direction for identification of these pieces.
 
Santa Maria de Galve and the related fort, San Carlos de Austria, was
established by the Spanish in 1698.  The site was also captured and held by
the French for a short period from 1719 to 1722.  The Spanish settlement was
then relocated to another site on Pensacola Bay.
 
Artifacts and historic documents show evidence of trade between Santa Maria
and the French settlement of Old Mobile.  There are relatively few French
artifacts; however, there are a significant number of Spanish artifacts from
the same time period at the site of Old Mobile.
 
There is no well-defined prehistoric component on the site, but there are a
relatively large number of Native American ceramics in direct association
with Spanish and French artifacts.  The vast majority are plain; however, we
have identified some ceramics associated with the Apalachee from the mission
period, and other ceramics from the Leon-Jefferson period in Florida.
 
The following is a brief description of the pieces that we have recovered
over the last two field seasons:
 
Form:  Small (approximate diameter 8-9 inches), bowls with  slightly flared
rims.
Paste:  Grainy sand paste, ranging from dark gray to reddish gray.  There
also appears to be some mica (biotite?) included in some pieces.
Manufacture:  The pieces are wheel-turned and smoothed, if not completely
wheel thrown.
Surface Treatment:  A zone of approx. 2 to 3 inches below the flaring rim is
stamped with a semi-circular design resembling what looks like half a modern
crown bottle cap impression.  These impresions have 7 to 11 points on each
small semi-circle (approx. 1 inch in length for each stamp).  There is one
incised line above and below the stamping.
Glaze:  They are typically unglazed, but one small piece seems to have a thin
clear lead glaze.
 
The nearby contempory sites of Old Mobile and the San Luis Mission site near
Tallahassee have not produced any of these ceramics.  The general conclusion
so far is that these are neither Spanish nor French, and not of Native
American manufacture.  In our early stages of analysis, we have recovered
less than 100 of these sherds.  A Spanish feature produced over 1/3 of a
vessel, not including any portion of the base, along with Spanish and Native
American artifacts.
 
I hope that this description is adequate.  If there are any other questions
about the vessel that would be helpful in identification, please contact me
at the address below.
 
Thank you,
 
Norma Harris ([log in to unmask])
Lab Supervisor
University of West Florida