Introduction to Seventeenth- through Nineteenth-Century Ceramics and Site Interpretations Recording

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Presenter(s) Presenter(s)

Meta F. Janowitz, Ph.D.

Dr. Meta Fayden Janowitz has over forty-five years’ experience in historical archaeology, with an emphasis on the study of material culture, in particular ceramics. Her main research interests are ceramics made or used in the Middle Atlantic region from the 17th through the mid-20th centuries. The majority of her work has been with public archaeology/cultural resource management projects throughout the Northeast and Midwest. As part of this work, she has analyzed and written about artifacts from many archaeological sites in Manhattan, including the Stadt Huys Block (the site of New Amsterdam’s City Hall) and the New York African Burial Ground; sites from Philadelphia and other urban and rural areas in the Mid-Atlantic region; and the Caribbean; and she has been a primary or contributing author on numerous archaeological reports. She has published articles in various peer-reviewed periodicals, including the American Ceramic Circle, Ceramics in America, the Journal of the Society for Historical Archaeology, the Journal of the council for Northeast Historical Archaeology, and New Jersey History. She has taught students at the School of Visual Arts, the Cooper Union, and New York University about the archaeology of New York City as a faculty and adjunct faculty member.

Course Description Course Description

This course will cover the basics of ceramic identification and analysis from 17th- through 19th-century sites and will give examples of the information archaeologists can gain from studying excavated vessels and sherds. No prior knowledge of ceramic analysis is required to benefit from the course, but those with experience should find it useful to refresh or expand their identification methods and analytical techniques.

Course Objectives Course Objectives
  1. To teach participants how to identify historic period ceramic ware types, decorations, and forms.
  2. To provide examples of the sorts of information that archaeologists can and cannot get from historic period ceramic vessels and sherds.
  3. To provide background information about how and why historic period ceramics changed from the 17th through the 19th centuries.
  4. To examine how the craft of making salt-glazed stoneware in the German tradition became established in North America during the early 18th century and how it expanded.
When
3/4/2026 7:00 PM - 3/4/2028 4:00 PM
Eastern Standard Time

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