Pottery workshops, slavery, and the dynamics of production, circulation, and consumption of ceramic vessels in Campos dos Goytacazes in the 19th century

ABSTRACT

This article addresses the circulation of material culture in Campos dos Goytacazes in the 19^th century through the analysis of archaeological and written sources. The archaeological data concern the domestic ceramics (imported and locally-produced) exhumated from the planter´s house and slave quarters of the Fazenda do Colégio between 2012 and 2016. The remarkable differences between the assemblages found in these contexts indicate that the ceramic consumption was linked to the social and economic position of the agents who conformed these archaeological deposits. Next, we address the news and announcements in the newspaper Monitor Campista between 1834 and 1887 to characterize the production, circulation, and consumption of both locally and regionally-made pottery and imported wares. We also examine the Monitor Campista´s entries on pottery workshops and pottery-makers to discuss the pottery-making cultural exchanges in Campos dos Goytacazes in the nineteenth century. The final section confronts historiographic and archaeological sources to first address the ways in which they differentially inform the ceramic consumption between elite and subordinated, particularly enslaved, groups; and then the material and immaterial circulations orbiting the domestic ceramics in Campos dos Goytacazes.

KEYWORDS:
Ceramic vessels; Pottery production; 19^th century Campos dos Goytacazes; Monitor Campista; Slavery; Consumption