Document Type
Paper
Abstract
This report analyzes fragments of Kaolin tobacco pipes recovered at the Pritchard Shipyard archaeological site (38CH1049) in an attempt to assess the site’s stratigraphic integrity. Kaolin tobacco pipes, as a class of archaeological material has the potential to address this question because of their temporal attribute: the direct relationship between bore diameter to manufacturing period. As a result, tobacco pipes offer insight into the following questions: 1) When was the site’s earliest possible occupation? 2) On average, what were the most intensive occupational periods? 3) What was the site’s maximum possible occupational range? 4) To what extent is the site’s stratigraphy modified? Ultimately, one class of artifact alone cannot answer these questions in full; however, when the analysis of Kaolin tobacco pipe fragments are combined with other classes of recovered artifacts they can provide the site with a strong temporal anchor. For the sake of time, this report does not discuss decorative motifs or evidence of manufacturing technique.
Publication Info
Summer 2004.
© 2004 by The South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology