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Abstract
SUMMARY: A discussion of trade in the North Atlantic during the 17th and 18th centuries is explored through the movement of commodities from mainland Europe to Iceland, specifically pottery vessels. The paper reconstructs the journeys of three cooking pots from different places in northern Germany and Denmark and along the way, attempts to situate these journeys within the social and cultural contexts through which they pass. In tracking these object itineraries, it is argued that the pots are caught up in fragmented spaces, where the varied material properties of the objects change in significance. In this way, our paper attempts to both revive and reinvent an economic dimension to historical archaeology, to conjoin terrestrial and maritime archaeology, and finally to stimulate more work on the early modern period for this region.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This project was made possible by the generous funding supplied by the Icelandic Centre for Research (Rannís) which sponsored our three-year project Commodity Entanglement. The Archaeology of the Trade Monopoly (Grant number: 152087-053). In addition, we would like to thank various people who have advised on the project since its inception in 2015: Audrey Horning, Guðmundur Jónsson, Natascha Mehler, Hrefna Róbertsdóttir and Timo Ylimaunu. Needless to say, the authors take all responsibility for the claims and interpretations offered in this paper. For the fieldwork, we would like to thank Minjastofnun Íslands for issuing permits to excavate at the various sites discussed in this paper, especially Magnús A. Sigurðsson (Minjavörður vesturlands/District Archaeologist for Western Iceland) for his support of the underwater archaeology. For the terrestrial excavations at Hólahólar and Arnarstapi, we are grateful to Snaefellsnesfélag for allowing us to use their guest lodge at Arnarstapi and to Hulda Björk Guðmundsdóttir and Gylfi Helgason who assisted on the excavations. For the underwater investigations on the Melckmeyt, a big thanks goes to Martijn Manders of the Rikjsdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed (RCE/Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands) for agreeing to the collaboration on this project, providing assistance with the fieldwork in 2016, arranging the archival research by Martijn Heijink and the dendrochronological analysis by Esther Jansma at the Netherlands Centrum voor Dendrochronologie (RING). Special thanks go to the underwater team of 2016 and 2018: Johan Opdebeeck, Thijs Coenen (Rikjsdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed), Fraser Cameron, Gunnar Örn Richter (Björgunarfélag Akranes), John McCarthy (Flinders University) & Héðinn Þorkelsson (Diving Island). Thanks also to Saeferðir for sponsoring our travel to Flatey. We also must not neglect to mention our gratitude to Bjarni. F. Einarsson for support and sharing his archive for the original underwater project on the wreck in 1993. Finally, to Torbjörn Brorsson for undertaking the ICP analysis of the ceramic sherds upon which this paper is so dependent.
SUMMARY IN FRENCH, GERMAN, ITALIAN AND SPANISH
RESUME
Des pots pour des chaussettes. Itinéraires des marchandises au nord de l’Atlantique aux XVII e et XVIII e siècles
La question du commerce au nord de l’Atlantique aux XVII e et XVIII e siècles est étudiée à travers le déplacement des marchandises, plus spécifiquement des poteries, de l’Europe continentale vers l’Islande. L’article reconstruit les parcours de trois pots de cuisson provenant de différents endroits au nord de l’Allemagne et au Danemark et, en parallèle, tente de situer ces trajets dans les contextes sociaux et culturels à travers lesquels ils passent. Notre article vise à (faire) revivre et réinventer à la fois une dimension économique de l’archéologie historique, pour lier l’archéologie terrestre et maritime, et finalement pour stimuler l’intérêt pour les débuts de la période moderne pour cette région.
ZUSAMMENFASSUNG
Töpfe für Socken. Warenrouten im Nordatlantik im 17. und 18. Jahrhundert
Im folgenden Artikel wird der Handel im Nordatlantik während des 17. Und 18. Jahrhunderts anhand von Waren – insbesondere Keramik – die vom europäischen Festland nach Island gelangten, untersucht. Der Artikel rekonstruiert die Reise von drei Kochtöpfen aus Orten in Norddeutschland und Dänemark und versucht dabei, diese Reisen in den sozialen und kulturellen Kontext ihrer Zeit zu stellen. Bei der Nachverfolgung der Objektrouten wird argumentiert, dass die Töpfe in fragmentierten Räumen gefangen sind, in denen sich die unterschiedlichen Materialeigenschaften der Objekte in ihrer Bedeutung geändert haben. Auf diese Weise versucht dieser Beitrag, eine wirtschaftliche Dimension der historischen Archäologie wiederzubeleben und neu zu erfinden, in dem terrestrische und maritime Archäologie miteinander verbunden werden und schließlich auch dazu anregen einen größeren Fokus auf die frühe Neuzeit für diese Region zu legen.
RIASSUNTO
‘Pentole per calzini’. Itinerari dei prodotti nell’Atlantico settentrionale durante il XVII e il XVIII secolo
La discussione sul commercio nell’Atlantico settentrionale durante il XVII e il XVIII secolo è presa in esame attraverso lo spostamento di merci fra l’Europa continentale e l’Islanda, considerando nello specifico il vasellame. Questo articolo ricostruisce il viaggio di tre recipienti da cucina provenienti luoghi diversi in Germania e Danimarca, cercando di collocare tali itinerari nel contesto culturale e sociale dei luoghi che attraversarono. Nel tracciare il percorso fatto da questi oggetti, viene discusso come i recipienti fossero conservati in luoghi non specificamente assegnati, dove le loro diverse caratteristiche materiali cambiarono di significato. In questo modo, il nostro contributo cerca di far rivivere e di reinterpretare la dimensione economica nell’ottica dell’archeologica storica, così da ricollegare l’archeologia marittima alle ricerche condotte sulla terraferma. Si vuole infine stimolare la ricerca sulla prima età moderna in questa regione.
RESUMEN
Ollas por calcetines: itinerarios de productos básicos en el Atlántico norte durante los siglos XVII y XVIII
El artículo explora el comercio en el Atlántico Norte durante los siglos XVII y XVIII a través del movimiento de productos básicos intercambiado entre la Europa continental e Islandia, específicamente el movimiento de cerámica. El artículo reconstruye los viajes de tres ollas procedentes del norte de Alemania y Dinamarca e intenta situar estos viajes dentro de los contextos sociales y culturales por los que pasan. Planteamos que las ollas están atrapadas en espacios fragmentados, donde sus variadas propiedades materiales cambian de significado. De esta manera, nuestro artículo intenta revivir y reinventar la dimensión económica de la arqueología histórica, unir la arqueología terrestre y marítima y, finalmente, promover la investigación del período moderno temprano en esta región.
Gavin Lucas, Department of Archaeology, University of Iceland, Háskoli Íslands, 101 Reykjavík, Iceland [[email protected]]
Notes
1 Þorláksson Citation2017, 12–31.
2 Aðils Citation1919.
3 Gunnarson Citation1983; Gunnarson Citation2017, 283; Róbertsdóttir Citation2014.
4 The project was a three-year program on the archaeology of the Trade Monopoly, funded by the Icelandic Centre for Research (Rannís). It funded the doctoral studies of Kevin Martin and Jakob Orri Jónsson and the fieldwork. The PI was Gavin Lucas.
5 Lucas Citation2012, Citation2017a.
6 i.e. provenancing artefacts, whether on typological or scientific grounds; e.g. Hurst et al. Citation1986; Hook & Gaimster Citation1995.
7 see Agbe-Davies & Bauer Citation2010; Dillion & White Citation2010.
8 Deetz Citation1977.
9 Mullins Citation2011; also see Gaimster Citation2014 for a European, albeit late Medieval perspective.
10 DiPaolo Loren Citation2010, 197.
11 Agbe-Davies Citation2010.
12 Nyman & Beaudry Citation2019.
13 Mehler et al. Citation2019.
14 Tsing Citation2009, Citation2015; Hopkins & Wallerstein Citation1986.
15 Joyce & Gillespie Citation2015; Hahn & Weiss Citation2013.
16 Sveinbjarnadótttir Citation1996.
17 Brorsson Citation2019.
18 A detailed publication on the ceramics from Iceland is being planned in collaboration with Torbjörn Brorsson who conducted the ICP analysis on which this paper is based.
19 Demuth Citation2015, 346–7; Stephan Citation1981.
20 Demuth Citation2015, 347
21 Gaimster Citation1997, 134–5.
22 Demuth Citation2015, 348; Grohmann, Citation2012, 177–8.
23 Gunnarsson Citation1983, 67–70.
24 Rasch Citation1964; Feldbaek Citation1964.
25 Grandjean Citation1953, 41–9, 67–70.
26 Demuth Citation2015, 360.
27 Blussé & Gaastra Citation1981.
28 Thór Citation1996, 128.
29 Ungur Citation1997, 126.
30 Eriksson Citation2014.
31 Davies Citation1961, 150.
32 Gunnarsson Citation1983, 139.
33 Wallerstein Citation2011, 46.
34 Blanning Citation2007, 96.
35 De Vries Citation1976, 93.
36 Van Tielhof Citation2002, 185.
37 Gardiner Citation1994, 121; Martin Citation2018.
38 Gardiner Citation1994, 122.
39 Van Tielhof Citation2002, 186.
40 Eriksson Citation2014, 12.
41 Due to the absence of sapwood in the dedrochronological samples analysed, the exact felling dates were not possible to determine, though were likely to be in the later 1640’s, indicating the ship was about 10yrs old when it sank. See Jansma Citation2016.
42 Heijink Citation2017.
43 Martin Citation2018, Citation2019.
44 van Duivenvoorde Citation2009, 62.
45 Heijink Citation2017, 3.
46 The Icelandic annals describe the cargo as comprising only 60,000 pieces of wet fish (blautir fiskar). The Dutch archive reference to the cargo manifest is used in the text.
47 An alternative translation of tallow has also been suggested instead of talc.
48 Heijink Citation2017, 5; Baldursson Citation2017.
49 Lucas Citation2017b.
50 Brorsson Citation2019.
51 Simon Thomas 1935, 94.
52 Davies Citation1961, 151.
53 Gunnarsson Citation1983, 65.
54 Aðils Citation1919, 67–85.
55 Brück Citation1993; Blakemore Citation2017, 1174–8.
56 Sanden Citation1988.
57 Taxstations-og vurderingsforretninger over handelshuse, Island
58 Martin Citation2017.
59 Martin 2017; Brorsson Citation2019.
60 Aðils Citation1919, 304–12.
61 Aðils Citation1919, 432–6.
62 Róbertsdóttir Citation2001.
63 The originals of these accounts books are all stored in the archives in Copenhagen; however some copies exist on microfilm at the National Library of Iceland and these were transcribed by Emil Gunnlaugsson for this project with the assistance of Árni Daníel Júliusson.
64 Aðils Citation1919, 552–60, 570–3.
65 Manntal á Íslandi árið 1703, 101–2; JÁM V, 188–90.
66 JÁM V, 187–90.
67 Jónsson Citation2016, 2017.
68 Brorsson Citation2019.
69 A democratic pattern of coarse earthenware consumption was also noted for eighteenth century sites in North America and as with Iceland, it seems this lowest grade pottery was least sensitive to inequalities in income or wealth. See Bloch Citation2016.
70 Jónsson Citation1998.
71 Tsing Citation2015.