Ceramic Production on Barbados Plantations: Seasonality Explored

The fragments of unglazed red earthenware vessels used in the production of sugar and identified as ceramic sugarwares, were frequently used by plantations for processing and curing sugar and collecting molasses, and were a common sight on Barbadian plantations from the seventeenth into the late nineteenth centuries. The local production of these wares occurred in potteries operated by plantations along the east coast of Barbados. Planters managed these potteries while the workers themselves were typically enslaved males and females. Using period documents including contemporaneous sources and account books from two estates owned and managed by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (SPG) and archaeological evidence collected from the lower estate’s plantation pottery, details of the production process have been identified. This paper looks generally at the local process, but focuses on the seasonality of production at the SPG pothouse by the enslaved potters.