A Note on the Results of Recent Excavations at Camber Castle,Sussex

Abstract

A significant number of clay tobacco pipes in the style of the Ottoman ‘chibouk’ can be found in museums and private collections on the islands of Malta and Gozo. Indeed the smoking of these pipes remains a folk memory with the majority of senior citizens. It became obvious that very few of these artefacts were made locally and that the Maltese, being at the geographical centre of Mediterranean culture, might have received their imports from anywhere.

In 19th-century Tunisia (Malta’s nearest North African neighbour) three-quarters of the European population were Maltese migrants. Therefore, this study set out to discover whether Tunisia was a source of supply.

In Tunis it became obvious that although clay tobacco pipes had turned up in local excavations, little attention had been paid to them and a fuller examination was welcomed. A by-product of this examination was to establish a locally made Tunis pipe, although little evidence was found for trade to Malta in that particular commodity.     

The Politics of the Pipe: Clay Pipes and Tobacco Consumption in Galway, Ireland

In this paper, clay pipes and the historical record are used to explore the illicit importation of tobacco in seventeenth-century Galway, Ireland. This is part of a wider tradition of the politics of smoking, including the proliferation of the clay pipe, the widespread smuggling of tobacco, and the overtly political nineteenth-century pipes that touted nationalist emblems. Here, the juxtaposition of the archaeological and historical records locates subversive local agency in the face of overarching colonial mandates. Colonialism, trade, consumption, and identity are linked in an examination of a merchant community's maneuvers through the expanding Atlantic economy and the restricted colonial mandates that marked the world around them.     

Hunter-gatherer tobacco smoking: earliest evidence from the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America

Chemical analysis of residue extracted from stone pipes and pipe fragments excavated at sites in the southern Pacific Northwest Coast of North America demonstrate that hunter-gatherers smoked the psychostimulant tobacco (Nicotiana sp.) by at least AD 860. Non-farming ethno-historic Native Americans throughout the west gathered and sometimes cultivated tobacco for ritual and religious purposes, but until now the antiquity of the practice on this part of the continent was unknown. Method validation includes chemical characterization of a suite of smoke plants and experimental reproduction of “smoked” pipe chemistry; results indicate biomarkers are traceable for several species commonly smoked by ethnographic native peoples, including tobacco (nicotine, cotinine), tree tobacco (anabasine), and kinnikinnick (arbutin). Developed methods—where residue is extracted directly from the stone or clay matrix of whole and fragmentary archaeological pipes—may be applied in similar studies investigating the spread and use of ritual smoke plants in the ancient Americas and elsewhere.     

Clay Tobacco Pipes from a Colonial Refuse Deposit in Fort San Severino,Matanzas Province,Cuba

This article provides a detailed study of clay tobacco pipes excavated from a refuse deposit at Fort San Severino, Matanzas city, Cuba. The pipes date to the late eighteenth through the nineteenth century and are dominated by reed-stem typology. The collection includes Dutch, British, Spanish, and Balkan specimens. The study of these pipes contribute to the archaeology of clay pipes in Cuba and provide insight into the socioeconomics of pipe culture at fort San Severino. Moreover, it brings special attention to the occurrence of western Mediterranean reed-stem tobacco pipes, yet to be studied from other Spanish sites in the Caribbean.     

Chemical characterization of clay pipes and wig curlers from Roy’s Orchard,Pipe Aston,Herefordshire

Abstract

Excavation on the site of a late 17th-century and early 18th-century clay tobacco pipe kiln and workshop at Roy’s Orchard, Pipe Aston, in north-east Herefordshire has revealed that the site was probably used concurrently by a number of pipemakers, from c. 1680 to c. 1720 or slightly later. In addition to marked and unmarked pipes, the waste from the site includes unmarked wig curlers of two types. Chemical analysis of a sample of pipes and wig curlers and of pipeclays which might have been the source of the clay reveals that the wig curlers are probably products of the Pipe Aston pipemakers and that they were made in two batches, corresponding to their typological classification. The source of the clay used has been shown conclusively not to have been the locally available Silurian clays but a Coal Measures seatearth, comparable with the outcropping at Ironbridge Gorge. Samples of Devon Ball clay and Coal Measures clay from Clun, a closer outcrop than Ironbridge, have been analysed and can be discounted as potential sources of the Pipe Aston pipeclay.     

Clay Pipes and Smoking Paraphernalia from the Kitten Shipwreck,an Early Nineteenth-Century Black Sea Merchantman

Between 2000 and 2003, the Institute of Nautical Archaeology in collaboration with the Bulgarian Centre for Underwater Archaeology excavated the remains of an Ottoman period shipwreck in the southern bay of the town of Kitten, Bulgaria, dating to the reign of Sultan Selim III (1789–1807). This article discusses the smoking pipes and paraphernalia found on the wreck. The studied material offers a refinement to the dating of Ottoman pipes and proposes a reading of Ottoman pipe stamps from the Balkans that were hitherto considered undecipherable.     

‘To Clapham’s I go’: a mid to late 18th-century Cambridge coffeehouse assemblage

SUMMARY: The recovery of a large closely dated assemblage that can be unambiguously associated with a mid to late 18th-century Cambridge coffeehouse provides the first opportunity for a detailed consideration of material associated with these significant institutions. A cellar located off All Saints’ Passage in Cambridge, England, backfilled c. 1775–80, produced a substantial assemblage of over 500 objects; principally ceramics, but also including vessel glass, clay tobacco pipes, animal bone and other material. Marked items and assemblage composition allows this material to be unambiguously associated with Clapham’s Coffeehouse, run by William and Jane Clapham c. 1746/48–79. Relatively few archaeological assemblages related to these important 18th-century socioeconomic institutions have been recovered and the material associated with Clapham’s Coffeehouse possesses a distinctive ‘signature’, albeit one that is not necessarily generally applicable to other coffeehouses. There were a substantial number of ceramics associated with tea drinking. Coffee-drinking vessels were frequent but less common and there was relatively little evidence for chocolate drinking. A range of alcoholic drinks were also consumed and dining was common, with a particular emphasis on snacks, whilst smoking appears to have been uncommon. The assemblage is compared with other groups associated with coffeehouses, a series of groups from earlier inns in the vicinity and broadly contemporary domestic assemblages from Cambridge and inn groups from England. The archaeological evidence indicates that the materialities of coffeehouses were not significantly different to that of other establishments, such as inns, and challenges some currently held views of coffeehouses derived from documentary sources.     

‘Would I were in an alehouse in London!’: a finds assemblage sealed by the Great Fire from Rood Lane,City of London

During the development project at 20 Fenchurch Street in the City of London, archaeological excavations were undertaken adjacent to Rood Lane. This uncovered part of a 16th- to mid 17th-century brick built cellar which had collapsed sealing in situ pottery, glass, clay tobacco pipes and a stove tile, an event interpreted as the result of the Great Fire of London in 1666. The composition of this artefact assemblage suggests it was derived from a property used to providing large-scale entertainment, with a high proportion of the material associated with drinking. This article situates this group within the context of other similarly dated victualling establishments from the City of London.     

Clay Tobacco Pipes and Coffee Cup Sherds in the Archaeology of the Middle East: Artifacts of Social Tensions from the Ottoman Past

Nearly all discussion in historical archaeology exploring issues of consumption and commodities is focused on the Euro-American world. This paper contributes data from archaeological investigations in the Middle East for exploring modern consumption. Commodities of pleasure, such as tobacco and coffee, entered Middle Eastern social life after the fifteenth century and greatly impacted the cultural landscape of the Middle East, entangling the peoples of the region into larger socio-political arenas. Examples from provincial corners of the Ottoman Empire illustrate the potential of historical archaeology for uncovering the material self-definition of peoples in the Middle East and for breaking down perceived divisions between components of the modern world.     

The Middle Palaeolithic of the Nejd,Saudi Arabia

The Pleistocene archaeological record of the Arabian Peninsula is increasingly recognized as being of great importance for resolving some of the major debates in hominin evolutionary studies. Though there has been an acceleration in the rate of fieldwork and discovery of archaeological sites in recent years, little is known about hominin occupations in the Pleistocene over vast areas of Arabia. Here we report on the identification of five new Middle Palaeolithic sites from the Nejd of central Arabia and the southern margins of the Nefud Desert to the north. The importance of these sites centers on their diversity in terms of landscape positions, raw materials used for lithic manufacture, and core reduction methods. Our findings indicate multiple hominin dispersals into Arabia and complex subsequent patterns of behavior and demography.     

Churchwarden Clay Tobacco-Pipes and the Southorn Pipemaking Family of Broseley,Shropshire

Abstract

The origin of the term ‘Churchwarden pipe’, now used to describe any long-stemmed clay—and sometimes even brier—pipe, is examined and the suggestion made that it was originally invented by the prominent Broseley, Shropshire, clay pipemaking family of Southorn to describe a specific type among their long-stemmed pipes. The Southorn family, whose products were possibly the premier-quality British clay pipes of the nineteenth and early twentieth century, is also discussed in the light of available evidence, much of which is confused or contradictory.     

A short history of Mulabbis (Petah Tikva,Israel)

The following article summarizes our current knowledge of the history of Tell Mulabbis (in modern Petah Tikva). As a key archaeological site in the Yarkon River basin, it was inhabited during the Roman, Byzantine, Early Islamic, Crusader, Mamluk and Late Ottoman periods. Based on the published results of recent excavations, older scholarship, and hereto-unnoticed written evidence, the article examines and interprets Mulabbis's material culture within the broader contexts of the region's historical geography. Although possessing important advantages like access to water and arable land, the site was inhabited only intermittently due to malaria and changing economic and political circumstances. Within the framework of Ottoman Archaeology, the article suggests the need to pay closer attention to ‘recent’ archaeological layers. For example, the few Ottoman material remains published so far, testify to continued cultural exchange and economic ties between Mulabbis, the mountainous interior, and the southern parts of Palestine.     

Interpreting Socioeconomic Changes in 17th-Century England and Port Royal, Jamaica, Through Analysis of the Port Royal Kaolin Clay Pipes

The Port Royal pipes reflect a growing consumerism in 17th-century English economy. The desire for tobacco fueled a tobacco-growing economy in the Chesapeake colonies, which then contributed to England's economic growth. This growth was aided by small preindustrial manufactures like clay pipes, which helped supplement family household incomes, so that small luxuries could be purchased. Along with tobacco smoking, novel types of food and drink were consumed, resulting in the adoption of new customs and habits, particularly in frequenting public institutions like coffeehouses and taverns in both England and Port Royal.     

The Noble Traders: the Islamic Tradition of “Spiritual Chivalry” (futuwwa) in Bosnian Trade‐guilds (16th−19th centuries)

Abstract: Originally linked to the military associations of the Middle Ages, the Islamic tradition of futuwwa was with time inherited by artisanship associations. The Anatolian Akh?s of the 14^th century represent an important link in the evolution of the futuwwa tradition, and it was thanks to them that this tradition survived well into the Ottoman era, this time within the framework of the more centralized, professional trade‐guilds. Together with other Ottoman institutions, administrative, military and economic, Ottoman crafts and their trade‐guilds appeared in Bosnia soon after the final fall of the country to the Ottomans in 1463. Sources which provide information on the organization and activities of Bosnian guilds also give a picture of their religious character and, related to it, the presence of futuwwa tradition within them. The most important of these sources are those that originate from the guilds themselves, the guild defters and their statutes, which are often called fütüvetnames. A number of documents of this kind found in Bosnia illustrate a strong presence of different futuwwa traditions within Bosnian guilds from their establishment well into the 19^th century, while some also provide valuable information on the futuwwa tradition in Ottoman guilds in general.     

Settlement Reorganisation and the Rebirth of the Ottoman Empire: Bayesian Modelling Narrows Dates for Post-Medieval Occupation at Kaman-Kalehöyük,Kırşehir Province,Turkey

The Ottoman reoccupation of the site of Kaman-Kalehöyük (K?r?ehir Province, Turkey) apparently occurred sometime during the fifteenth century CE, a time of massive territorial and administrative transformation in the Empire. A rich suite of archaeobotanical material recovered from the site offers a potentially invaluable source of information on Ottoman-era Anatolian agroeconomy, especially since historiographic research on the topic has uniformly ignored archaeological perspectives. Here we present results of a multi-proxy analysis aimed at establishing an absolute multiphasic chronology for Kaman-Kalehöyük’s Ottoman occupation, founded upon Bayesian statistical modelling of high-precision radiocarbon dates from cereal remains. We use the new chronology to position Kaman-Kalehöyük’s resettlement within a historical context, allowing a new perspective on settlement responses to large-scale Ottoman sociopolitical change in Anatolia.     

PAUL COURTNEY BSc,MA, PhD,FSA1955–2013

Abstract

Based on the first extensive research into Bavarian clay tobacco pipes dating from 1600 to 1745, this paper synthesizes written sources and material culture with the aims not only of contributing to post-medieval ceramic studies but also of examining the implementation and impact of a tobacco monopoly within an early modern state. After discussing the methodology, pipes are examined as a medium for mercantilist-driven actions and as indicators of socio-cultural change. The archaeology of Bavarian clay tobacco pipes throws light on the operation of an economic system and on only partly recorded or unrecorded activities such as smuggling and illicit manufacture.     

Archaeology of consumption in Ottoman urban centres: the case study of Iznik ware from the Belgrade Fortress in the 16th and 17th centuries

SUMMARY: This article advocates a holistic approach to consumption studies in the urban centres of the Middle Danube region during the Ottoman period (16th–17th centuries) using the example of Iznik ware from the Belgrade Fortress. Combined results of archaeological and scientific research provide insight into regional consumption patterns, which is important for the understanding of cultural variability across the Ottoman Empire. This work emphasizes the importance of contextualized studies of archaeological ceramics in the development of post-medieval archaeology.