Menu
≡
╳
- Home
-
Visit
-
Archaeology
- Dig Updates Explore Jamestown Rediscovery’s exciting finds in monthly archaeological updates. Archives cover years of archaeology at James Fort.
- Map of Discoveries Click each James Fort feature to learn more about what archaeologists have learned in 20 years of work.
- Excavations & Research
- Publications & Resources
- Collections
- History
-
Education
- Educators & Students Bring Jamestown to the classroom through our lesson plans and virtual school programs.
- Kids & Families Download kid-friendly activities and learn more about family fun on the island.
- Jamestown from Home Explore online resources to learn more about the archaeology and history of Jamestown.
-
Support
-
Delftware is a generic name for tin-glazed earthenware that was made by Italian immigrants in Antwerp, Belgium as early as 1512, but it wasn’t until after 1540 that delftware manufacture there became a well-established industry. 
Kraack porcelain was made predominantly between the mid 16th and the mid 17th centuries. This ware was China’s first porcelain mass-produced for export to Europe. 
Once commonly known as Swatow, this coarse export porcelain currently goes by the preferred name, Zhangzhou, for the location of kilns that produced the ware. Much of this ware was exported along the Southeast Asian trade routes by the Portuguese, then by the Dutch after 1602. 
Border ware was produced along the borders of west Surrey and northeast Hampshire counties from the mid-16th until the late-17th centuries. Large quantities and many varieties of these utilitarian vessel forms are found in James Fort features. 
The potters in Essex, just north-east of London, supplied London markets in the 16th and 17th centuries with a variety of wheel thrown ceramic objects for household use. Known as Essex post-medieval fine redware (EPMFR), this ware is well represented in the James Fort assemblage. 
Rare on Virginia sites, Beauvais stoneware has been found in the Chesapeake region at James Fort and at Jordan’s Journey sites in Prince George County. Most forms of this light gray stoneware found in Virginia are small, cylindrical jars, however a jug and a beaker were recovered from James Fort. 
Vitrified stoneware was produced in Frechen, just southwest of Cologne in the Rhine River valley from the early 1500s. Most of the examples from James Fort are bottles in a form known as Bartmann, German for “bearded man.”
Starred costrels are an early time marker for Virginia sites. Previously thought to have been made on the Iberian Peninsula, analysis of the clay fabric of examples found at James Fort indicates that these were almost certainly made in Italy, probably Liguria. 
Known as Hispano-Moresque lusterware, this ceramic type combines the techniques of tin-glazing and metallic luster decoration that were brought to southern Spain by the conquering Moors in 711. In the West, the ware is generally found in Spanish Caribbean colonies. 
Seville-type olive jars appear in the Americas by 1554, and with only subtle changes in form, continue into the 18th century, with some variations being made as late as 1839. They are common on 17th-century Virginia sites and Virginia Company records contain a likely reference to them. 
Iznik was the main production center for high quality tin-glazed earthenware pottery made in present day western Turkey from the late 15th century until the beginning of the 18th century. Only a few sherds have been recovered at Jamestown. 