| Standing Costrel |  |
 Description | |
Discussion: Standing costrels, sometimes called "Iberian costrels", are one of the most common European earthenwares found in early Virginia. The vessels were almost certainly made on the Iberian peninsula, but their source has not been identified (John G. Hurst 1994, pers. comm.). Seville has been suggested, but Neutron Activation Analysis of a sherd from Virginia (site 44PG302) indicates they are not a Seville product (John G. Hurst 1995, pers. comm.). The costrels are primarily found in the United Kingdom and Virginia, and near navigable water. In Virginia, they are found on most sites occupied between circa 1619 to 1645, and two or more per site is not unusual. In the United Kingdom, at least 17 vessels have been reported from the London area (Roy Stephenson 1998, pers. comm.). Elsewhere in the United Kingdom, they have been reported from Newcastle-upon-Tyne in the northeast to Cork in southern Ireland (Pearson 1979:10, Table 10; Meenan 1992: 188; John G. Hurst and Alan Vince 1998, pers. comm.). In this thin distribution, all but two come from ports or within 15 miles of the sea; the two vessels were found inland but on the headwaters of the Thames and the Severn. (John G. Hurst and Alan Vince 1998, pers. comm.). Beyond the United Kingdom, there are no known finds of these costrels in Europe (John G. Hurst 1995, pers. comm.). Despite their probable Iberian origin, there are no known reports of the vessels from Iberian or Spanish colonial sites. Outside of Virginia, the only other findspots in the Western Hemisphere are St. Mary's City, Maryland; Ferryland, Newfoundland (John Allan 1998, pers. comm.); King's Castle, Bermuda, and also in Bermuda, the Warwick wreck (Noël Hume 1995:41). The 1619 Warwick provides the earliest date for these vessels in the New World, reinforced by their absence from the earliest contexts at Jamestown. It seems almost certain that the costrels were being traded from English ships, and that the importers had strong ties to Virginia. The form implies liquid contents, and liquids were typically shipped in bulk. It seems probable that English ships loading barrels of wine or oil in an Iberian port also purchased the costrels as empty containers to be used when the barrels were tapped for retail sale.
One clue to their contents is the fact that in Virginia a number of costrels have been excavated in restorable condition, showing they were largely intact when discarded. This seems odd behavior for a community with few European goods suggesting that the porous costrels may have been contaminated beyond reuse, perhaps by oil. | |
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Form: Standing costrels are rounded with a long tapering neck flanked by two vertical loop handles. Two sides are flattened, bases are flat and slightly splayed. They stand about 22 cm tall.