Knee, Garter, Girdle, Hat, Stock, and Spur Buckles from Seven Sites in Portsmouth, New Hampshire

Material culture studies have begun to take new directions within the field of historical archaeology. Shoe buckles are the most familiar and readily identifiable type of buckle to archaeologists, but there are many other buckles worn as part of a person’s dress that may be identified on archaeological sites. Knee, garter, girdle, hat, stock, and spur buckles are regularly recovered. These buckles can be used as an aid to dating archaeological strata and features, and can be employed to understand the kinds of clothing worn by site inhabitants. This paper presents and interprets an assemblage of buckles of assorted types recovered from seven 18th-century domestic sites in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.