Which town did it come from?: Sourcing locally-made ceramics in the Mid-Atlantic

Abstract

Historical archaeologists working in the Middle Atlantic rarely use archaeometric techniques to source ceramics. Yet, there are several important research questions we can ask if we sourced more of our ceramics. This article presents the findings from a neutron activation analysis study that sourced 100 presumably locally-made vessels recovered from an early to mid-19th century enslaved quartering site in the northern Shenandoah Valley determined that 99 vessels were made in the region and were able to source 90% of the vessels to three towns in the region. Using these results, we argue that in the northern Shenandoah Valley it is not only possible to determine where consumers went to acquire locally-made ceramics, but that doing so lets us create histories of local ceramic industries that highlight consumer agency.