2024 02 08 J. Schlagheck: Stoneware of the Baja California Manilla Galleon

Stoneware is a broad category of pottery that, like porcelain, is manufactured using a high-temperature firing process that produces a non-porous surface. Unlike porcelain, which is made from especially pure clay and crushed stone, stoneware can be made from lesser clays containing a variety of minerals and other impurities that impart a characteristic rugged texture, a wide range of color, and high durability. As European interest in Asian products increased through the early Modern Period (1150–1650), new strategies for world trade emerged, such as the Spanish Manila galleon trade system (1565-1815) between Mexico and the Philippines. As Asian products began to move around the world Asian stoneware storage jars came with them. A study of stoneware fragments from the Baja California Manila galleon wreck site is an opportunity for gaining knowledge about the contents of what was likely a late sixteenth century eastward bound Spanish galleon at the very brink of a revolution in global commerce. This talk will describe the main types of stoneware jar fragments found at the Baja California wreck site, comparisons with other stoneware jar assemblages of known provenience, and how the stoneware assemblage from the wreck site supports the hypothesis that the wreck site dates to the late sixteenth century, and thus is likely associated with one of two Manila Galleons lost without a trace: San Juanillo, lost in 1578 and San Juan, lost in 1586.