Canadian Historic Sites: Occasional Papers in Archaeology and History No. 16

The Western European Coarse Earthenwares from the Wreck of the Machault

by K. J. Barton

Preface

The coarse earthenware ceramics recovered from the Machault during the 1969 and 1971 field seasons were studied by K. J. Barton of the County Museum Service, Winchester, England, under contract to the National Historic Parks and Sites Branch. Parks Canada, Department of Indian and Northern Affairs. Supplementary analyses were made by R. H. Packwood. Metal Physics Section, Mines Branch, Department of Energy, Mines and Resources and R. J. Traill, Mineralogy Section, Geological Survey of Canada, Department of Energy. Mines and Resources. The Conservation Division of the National Historic Parks and Sites Branch arranged the thin-section examination and X-ray fluorescence analysis of selected sherds by the Geological Survey of Canada, carried out cleaning and restoration of a selection of the ceramics, and undertook an experimental program of refiring the blackened ceramics to reveal the decoration.

The following analysis was based on unpublished research by K. J. Barton. Subsequent to his study of this material, the writer studied similar items from Fort Beauséjour, New Brunswick, and the Fortress of Louisbourg, Nova Scotia. The latter collection considerably altered his early concepts and his latest thoughts are included here although research into the origins of the Louisbourg material has only just begun.