Stenton Archeology

Archeologist Debbie Miller, Curator at Independence National Historical Park, went LIVE on Facebook on April 30th and brought some ceramic curiosities out of the "cabinet" at Stenton. Visit www.facebook.com/stentonmuseum to view the presentation. Debbie inventoried and wrote her Master's thesis on the trove of broken artifacts that City Archeologist Barbara Liggett excavated behind Stenton in 1982. About a decade ago, Debbie led Stenton staff and a team of volunteers and Colonial Dames in mending many of the ceramics. And now these once discarded artifacts are "restored" to and interpreted in the spaces where they were used and displayed from about 1730 to 1760. Left Image: Colonial Dames, Stenton staff members, and volunteers puzzled over the porcelain sherds to restore plates, bowls, and tea wares, to often nearly whole condition.

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Image Captions: 1) An oval dining table, dressed with a Logan family tablecloth, displaying a range of Chinese porcelain, salt-glazed stoneware, and a tin-glazed plate in front. 2) Philadelphia red earthenwares undergoing mending phase one — masking tape. 3) Scratch blue salt-glazed stoneware mug. 4) Hexagonal white salt-glazed stoneware teapot with Chinoiserie (Chinese-style) molded decoration.