My hobby dig in York turned up a 1700s clay pipe bowl I almost missed

I was out with the local metal detecting group near York last Saturday and sifted through this pile of dirt. Saw a weird piece of white clay that caught the light, turned out to be an intact clay pipe bowl from the 1700s with a little leaf pattern. The before-and-after was just dirt clod to a carved artifact after a quick rinse in water. Anyone else find small things like this that need a second look to spot?

2 comments

2 Comments

rubyj112d ago

Oh you reminded me, I was reading this article the other day about how those old clay pipes actually helped date archaeological sites back in the 1900s because the bowl shapes changed so much over time. Like the really small bowls were from the early 1600s when tobacco was expensive so they made them tiny. Yours being mid 1700s with that leaf detail sounds like it was maybe a bit fancier than the plain ones workers used. The way you spotted it just catching the light is exactly how I found a tiny Roman coin once among gravel, just that little glint that makes you stop and squat down for a closer look.

umasullivan2d ago

Ask if there's a trick to telling the difference between a plain workers' pipe and a fancier one just from the bowl shape? I've got a clay pipe stem I found years ago and never knew what to make of it.