Review by Marie Blake Morton, M.A. R.P.A.
An Archaeological Guide to British Ceramics in Australia, 1788–1901

Alasdair Brooks. An Archaeological Guide to British Ceramics in Australia, 1788–1901. Sydney and Melbourne: Australasian Society for Historical Archaeology and La Trobe University Archaeology Program, 2005. vi + 87 pp.; 62 bw illus., 60 color illus. on CD-ROM, 9 tables, bibliography, 4 appendixes. $35 Australian (softcover).

The careful use of data from archaeological ceramic specimens can provide insight into a vast number of topics of interest to collectors, archaeologists, and social historians. Avenues of inquiry could include archaeological site dating and chronology, ceramic history and technology, trade, social status, gender, foodways, or any of a number of other topics a researcher might choose to pursue. However, ceramics must be accurately identified at a basic level in order to serve as the foundation on which subsequent work can be based. Such is the belief of Alasdair Brooks, and to that end he offers guidelines for making both accurate ceramic identifications and thoughtful analytical studies.

Quite a task for a slim volume, but Brooks’s scope is limited in such a way as to make it feasible. As the title implies, the book has both physical and temporal parameters. It focuses on British ceramics in Australia between 1788 and 1901, with a solid emphasis on nineteenth-century ceramics. Instead of serving as a negative constraint to the work, these boundaries allow Brooks to set out well-organized data and a tightly reasoned model for analysis. Brooks also provides a thorough overview and comparison of ceramics studies in North America, the United Kingdom, and Australia.

The book is organized into five chapters and four appendixes. Chapter 4, on ware, decoration, form, and date, is the heart of the book. Appendix A provides a list of British pottery manufacturers known in Australia. Appendix B is a “pottery timeline” that includes important innovations in ceramics alongside important dates in Australian history. It also supplies a guide to reading registration marks on ceramics. Appendix C discusses further reading, and appendix D reproduces the Society for Historical Archaeology’s Standards and Guidelines for the Curation of Archaeological Collections.

Brooks makes a number of important contributions to ceramics studies. In chapter 1 he reviews the history of work in both Britain and North America (with major emphasis on the United States and little specific discussion of Canadian research) and provides a context in which to understand past and current work in Australia. Admittedly oversimplifying his material, Brooks observes, “British work is descriptive and atheoretical, American work is analytical and theory-informed.” Despite this statement, he takes care to point out examples of British analytical work based on their descriptive tradition, as well as descriptive ceramics works that have laid the foundations for American analytical studies. Situated between these two approaches lies Australian research. The author laments the shortcomings of past ceramics studies in Australia but at the same time points out the huge improvements that have taken place there in recent years. Australia suffers primarily from little expert knowledge spread thinly across a vast country. In addition, Australia cannot simply co-opt either British or American research because of historical differences. Many British ceramics studies focus on the period before Australian colonization and are therefore not relevant. Much of the American work is based on the American ceramics market, which was on a much different scale than that of Australia and therefore not necessarily comparable. Thus Australia must build on previous scholarship when possible, but much original, substantive research is necessary.

In chapter 2 Brooks offers his model for ceramic analysis, which combines the best of British and American approaches. The new model is organized into two levels. Level 1, identification, encompasses ware, form, decoration, and date. At this level, a researcher would attempt to determine a ceramic sherd’s (or possibly cross-mended vessel’s) ware type, vessel shape, form(s) of decoration present, and, based on those data, a manufacturing date range particular to that specimen. Level 2, analysis, consists of economy, status, function, and meaning. Having identified and dated the sherd or vessel as accurately as possible, the researcher can use combined data from assemblages to address more complex issues. It is only possible to touch briefly on Brooks’s four analytical topics. The economy of ceramics tends to center on trade, particularly between the British imperial source of ceramics and the colonial or other consumers of those goods (such as Australia, the United States, Canada, South Africa). Questions of status and ceramics focus on combinations of real economic buying power and efforts to display goods of a perceived status within ethnic, gender, or other defined groups. Function addresses a number of complex questions facing researchers. The author’s excellent example points out the difference between a plate manufactured for the intended function of food consumption versus the intention of the purchaser to display that same plate on a dresser. In addition, the function of that same plate can change over time. The final category, meaning, is the most complex analytical subject of the group. It challenges the researcher to tease out ideological issues (such as gender or national identity) as expressed in ceramic acquisition and use.

In chapter 3 Brooks moves on to the basics for collections management (not necessarily limited to ceramics): processing, cataloging, and curation. As he notes in his acknowledgments, he hopes his book will be a volume that “an Australian historical archaeologist could just open and use” (p. v). As such, chapters 3 and 4 in particular stand as solid reference materials that should be used by Australians and anyone else interested in British ceramics. Rather than reiterating in this review the details of lab work discussed in chapter 3, it can simply be said that Brooks outlines what most researchers would consider “basic good practice.” As support, appendix D provides the standards and guidelines for the curation of archaeological collections adopted by the Society for Historical Archaeology.

In an effort to fill Australia’s void in expert knowledge, the longest portion of Brooks’s book, chapter 4, provides detailed descriptions of British ceramics. He deals separately with ceramic ware types (the body or fabric of the ceramic), decoration (which can be applied to a number of different wares), and the most common ceramic forms. Ware and decoration can be particularly diagnostic. Brooks’s dictionary-style definitions are thorough, useful, and well documented with citations from the best sources the ceramics literature has to offer. Many of the entries are illustrated with excellent black-and-white photographs in the text. In addition, the volume includes a CD-ROM with color versions (in Adobe Acrobat PDF format) of the same photos that are featured in the text. The color photos are exquisite in their high resolution, quality, and trueness of color, and will serve well as visual aids to researchers learning to distinguish differences among the various wares and decorative techniques. However, although the CD-ROM has much to recommend it, technology does have its shortcomings. Researchers with limited computer skills or access, or even just a limited computer, might not be able to take full advantage of the color images in this format. This detracts not at all, however, from the overall superior quality of this volume and the information presented in it. Chapter 4 closes with a discussion of dating techniques as they pertain to ceramics: maker’s marks, registry marks, the Mean Ceramic Date formula, and stylistic change.

The body of the book ends with chapter 5, “Analysis and Interpretation.” Brooks uses this chapter to provide discussions of and an example of level 2 ceramics analysis, without attempting to dictate “one sole straight and narrow ‘correct’ analytical path” (p. 56). The main example that Brooks presents is a brilliant miniature study in which he examines the impact of the American Civil War on worldwide ceramics exports from Liverpool and reports on its direct effects in Australia. This examination on the topic of economy is sure to inspire other researchers to look into historical cause and effect. With reference to status, he discusses some of the major previous works on that topic, such as Miller’s CC Index and its applicability to the Australian context.^[1] On the very complex topic of function, Brooks offers a number of cautions for attempting to ascertain the potential multiple uses of any one artifact. For meaning, he discusses a number of excellent examples of work where researchers have explored “myriad social, ideological, and symbolic implications of an artefact” (p. 65). The author closes this final chapter with a hopeful note for the great potential of ceramics studies in Australia. Simply put, if Brooks’s volume is used as a reference and guide, and other researchers produce work of the same caliber as his, then Australian research does indeed have great promise.

Marie Blake Morton, M.A. R.P.A., Bluestone Research