Historic Marbles
by John Nass, Jr., Editor, President of Mon Yough
Chapter 3
Greetings and Best Wishes to Everyone!
Many type of material items found on Colonial era and 19the century sites were made in Europe. One of the common occurrences on 19th century domestic sites are toys, such as marbles. Most archaeological reports of 19th century rural and urban sites list marbles as one type of toy.
From Colonial times until the mid-19th century, German manufacture of marbles dominated the industry. Specific types of marbles produced in Europe for export to the United States were clay, limestone, and ceramic. Examples of these have been found at the Green Tree Tavern Stand. A good source to learn more about marbles at found at 19th century sites is by Jeff Carskadden and James Morton “A Preliminary Seriation of 19th-Century Decorated Porcelain Marbles.” Historical Archaeology, vol. 24, no. 2, 1990, pp. 55–69) and "Early Marbles in Historical Archaeology, vol. 5, pgs. 102-105, 1970)."
Less than a half-dozen marbles were found during excavations at the Green Tree Tavern Stand site. These were found in the extensive sheet midden in the backyard area of the site. Below are examples of three types of historic, 19th century marbles. The first image shows two clay marbles. These were hand-rolled, kiln-fired and mass produced in Germany well into the 19th century, before being massed produced in the U.S. The examples found at Green Tree are identical to those shown below.
Clay Marbles
Limestone marbles were also mass produced in Germany during the 19th century. Three exampes of these were found at Green Tree.
Limestone Marble
The final type of marble found at the tavern site are class marbles. The examples shown below had been burned which is why you cannot tell both are glass, unless broken.
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