Post-medieval Breton earthenwares in Newfoundland

Archaeological investigations of early modern European contexts at Ferryland and St John's, Newfoundland, produced sherds of a previously unidentified coarse earthenware. Petrological study, stylistic matching and ICP-MS/ICP-AES analysis indicate that they come from kilns at Saint-Jean-la-Poterie in south-east Brittany. Pottery from the same centre also reached early modern migratory fishing stations in Newfoundland's Great Northern Peninsula, where sherds closely resembling 17th-century wasters from kilns at Pabu-Guingamp in northern Brittany have also been found. The recovery of earthenwares from these areas is thought-provoking; the archaeological evidence offers a way to trace the intricacies of a vernacular economy which is only fitfully recorded in commercial records.