NOVEMBER 2007 ARTIFACT OF THE MONTH

Glazed Red Earthenware Jar
Accession # 8
approx. 9" H x 8" diameter
circa late 18th - mid 19th century

This jar has a matted lead glaze exterior and shows signs of wheel marks. The interior is unglazed and the paste is porous.

The jar was found at Belle Point, site of the first Fort Smith. It was found near other items that date from the late 18th century. 

Redware, or red earthenware, is perhaps one of the most common type of pottery, having been created by people in prehistoric America, ancient Egypt, and throughout Europe.   Red clay can be found almost everywhere and so is easily accessible to potters.

In late 18th and early 19th century United States, basic utilitarian jars, jugs, cups, plates, and pitchers were usually redware. By the 1880s, mass-marketed goods replaced much of the redware.