Lead Seals from Colonial Fort St. Joseph (20BE23)

Bottle seals or crests are one of the more intriguing categories of artifacts recovered from historic archaeological sites. These small blobs of glass were applied to the necks or shoulders of bottles. They were embossed with initials, shields, and other insignia. They bear dates, as well as the initials and names of individuals and families, taverns, vineyards, schools, retailers, and military units. Archaeologists seriating blown glass bottles from colonial sites in North America have employed them as important dating tools. They have also been interpreted as status markers. This paper provides a gazetteer of bottles with seals from eastern North America. It also argues that private seals, bottle seals employed by individuals rather than organizations, served as indicators of economic, social, and cultural capital in early America. They provide insights into various aspects of colonial culture, including the creation and maintenance of male identities, membership in elite groups, and knowledge of proper etiquette. Furthermore, the geographic disparities in their distribution serve to highlight the development of distinctive regional cultures. These simple seals provide a window into lifeways in colonial America and the aspirations, behaviors, and connections between the owners of vintages consumed long ago.

Northeast Historical Archaeology, 2005

Textiles represent a very significant component of the Dutch goods that were exported to New Netherland for trade with the Iroquois Indians. These textiles varied greatly in quality. These differences were indicated on lead cloth seals that were affixed to the cloths. The lead cloth seals that are excavated at Iroquois sites provide useful information about the origins and quality of the traded cloth; They also .are a source of information about Dutch textile manufacture in the 17th century, a period during which the cloth industry was the most important urban industry in the Netherlands. Amsterdam was the staple market from , which a,n kinds of textiles from various towns a,:d cities were exported. Amsterdam itselJ was specialized in the dyeing of cloth. A catalogue of the lead cloth seals found at Iroquois and Dutch sites, in New Netherland reveals that. between 1630 and 1670, four Dutch cities were represent~'d: Kampen, Leiden, Haarlem, and Amsterdam. There are both round and tubular seals from Kampen. Leiden seals are prima7;ily round. The Amsterdam seals found in Iroquois sites are all seals that verify the quality of the dyeing of the doth. ' Haarlem is represented by just one seal, found in Albany, suggesting that cloth from Haarlem was used by the Dutch .colonists themselves, rather than for the trade with the Iroquois. The numbers scratcl:zed on cloth " seals indicate cloth lengths. Actual textile fragments excavated at some Iroquois sites represent coarse duffels probably from Kampen as well as finer cloth types probably from Amsterdam. Based on the excavated cloth seals, it can be concluded that most of the cloth fC!r trade with the Iroquois came from Kilmpen. 'Een catalogus van de lakenloden die voornamelijk gevonden werden in de nederzettingen van de Irokezen in Nieuw Nederland laat zien-dat er tussen 1630 en 1670 vier NederlandsNteden-bij de handel in lakens betrokken waren, te weten: Kampen, Leiden, Amsterdam en Haarlem. Uit Kampen komen zowel ronde als cilindrische loden, de zogenoemde pijploden. De lakenloden l;lit Leiden bestaan voor het merendeel uit pij-c '

Hungarian Archaeology, 2019

In Hungary, lead cloth seals have gained increasing recognition by those in the profession as well as the interested public outside of it. These small metal objects were the trademarks indicating the origin and brand of textile products in the Middle Ages and Early Modern period, which ensured buyers that they were purchasing high-quality goods produced where the mark indicated. Behind the spectacular emergence of the importance of these finds is that before the appearance and general spread of metal detectors, there were only a few dozen of these seals known from the Carpathian Basin. Even these were often in private ownership and the scholarly literature hardly talked about them. This situation changed radically starting in the 1990s, when the number of finds increased by leaps and bounds, as well as in 2011 when the attention of the colleagues was drawn to these finds due to the excavations at Papa. Since then, Hungarian research into lead seals has been trying to catch up to the...

With an appendix by PAUL MULLARKEY Over the years, excavations in Carrickfergus have produced sizeable assemblages of artefacts dating from the late 12th century to the post-medieval and early modern. Amongst these are four lead cloth seals from early 17th-century contexts at Essex Street in the town. In the course of preparing this note, a London cloth seal of interest came to light in the National Museum of Ireland.

This article tells a story -perhaps not very significant but possibly interesting -of a captivating search to identify and attribute a lead seal previously bought by, but completely unknown to the writer. In the process of this search a wide range of subjects were encountered, some for the first time. The wealth and diversity of available published information and on the internet, are truly substantial. This seemingly humble lead seal has indirectly provided for many hours of interesting reading and research, for which the writer is thankful.

Estonian Journal of Archaeology, 2022

Starting from the 13th century at the latest, the textiles meant for long-distance trade were marked with leaden seals indicating the site of production, quality of the cloth, distributing merchant, etc. Whereas the initial product-woven cloth-normally does not allow to pinpoint the exact place of production or has not survived at all, these small artefacts are well-suited to reconstruct, among other things, the late medieval and early modern trade connections and consumption patterns. However, whilst the archaeological study of cloth seals began in western Europe already more than 40 years ago, there are still numerous items and even groups of seals that are until today either unidentified or have not been handled at all. The present paper discusses one distinctive category of leaden cloth seals that were recently ascertained as quality marks of the well-known medieval and early modern Flemish textile production centre Comines (Dutch: Komen). Alongside the finds, we also give an in-depth overview of the historical background of Comines' cloth production and trade during the 14th and 15th centuries. As of 2022, only eleven cloth seals of Comines are known to the authors but publishing this corpus will help to change the situation in the future. As the collected data shows, these finds can be expected from both rural and urban sites.

This piece examines a collection of archaeological fabrics never before published, from fifteen historic-period Seneca sites, held by the Rochester Museum and Science Center (RMSC). The collection includes one of the largest assemblages of early modern archaeological fabrics in the world and the single largest collection of such fabrics from Native North American sites. The documentary sources for this period mainly cover the frontiers of Iroquois-European interaction, but the RMSC collection represents a unique window on cultural entanglement and incorporation of new material culture in Native American homelands. Together with the textual record, the RMSC collection shows the ways in which Seneca cultural entanglement with European settlements on the fringes of Iroquoia allowed women to elaborate on existing decorative traditions with new raw materials and to craft a rising stan- dard of living. A careful reading of the choices apparent in the selection of fabrics at Seneca sites shows that the symbolic meanings of Iroquois material culture shifted between home and the diplomatic frontier while Seneca paradigms structured the integration of imported goods.

Journal of American Ethnic History, 2020

Gradhiva, 2022

Pearls of the Past Studies on Near Eastern Art and Archaeology in Honour of Frances Pinnock, 2019