(1)  In 1994 there was desultry correspondence about standardising 19th
century ceramic analysis.  Did anything come of this?  Did anyone
crack the secret?  We have sorted out the Dutch 18th century, and the
British period up to 1840 or even 1860; now we are onto the later
19th and early 20th century.  (Neither POTS nor Miller's Indices are
directly relevant to the Cape, so we had to set up our own system.)  We believe
it is indeed necessary to deal with
the later period and its problems.  We are tackling MNVs, basic description and
identification, a simple database (based on MSAccess).  Are we too
optimistic?  Any ideas or support welcome.
(2)  A sample of bones taken from a dump (c1900 AD) on an elite wine estate near
 
Cape Town has produced a pile of cattle skulls that have been broken
up into small pieces.  What were they doing with them?  Cooking them?
Rendering them down?  Did I miss something crucial in the recent soap
making discussion that would be relevant?
Thanks.
 
Dr Antonia Malan
Historical Archaeology Research Group
Department of Archaeology
University of Cape Town
7700 RONDEBOSCH, South Africa
Tel: (021) 650 2358  Fax: (021) 650 2352