Abstract
A tentative scheme for classifying vessel shapes excavated in the Chesapeake region of Maryland and Virginia is presented. The result, dubbed “The Potomac Typological System” (POTS), links gradations of forms of vessels commonly excavated on Tidewater sites to terms used in inventories and other documents of the period. Although many of the colonial terms also belong to the modern lexicon, their connotations and referents were not always identical in the past. The aim is not to produce a standardized, all-purpose typology but rather a preliminary foundation for comparisons enabling the exploration of what sorts of functional variability exist within and between assemblages. The important role of data from documentary sources in the interpretation of excavated ceramic material is also discussed.
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Beaudry, M.C., Long, J., Miller, H.M. et al. A vessel typology for early Chesapeake ceramics: The Potomac Typological System. Hist Arch 17, 18–43 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03374029
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03374029