Fort McCoy ArtiFACT: Enamelware bowl

Archaeological researchers use the artifacts they uncover during the investigation of historic and prehistoric sites to tell the story of those sites. One of the most interesting aspects of investigating artifacts, many researchers say, is how they not only help tell a very local story, but are also part of a much larger global story.

An enamelware bowl was recovered by researchers with the Colorado State University Center for the Environmental Management of Military Lands (CEMML) in 2015 and is useful to tell the story of Ransom Bass, a man who lived in Angelo Township in the early 20th century and claimed both African American and Eastern Cherokee ancestry. The enamelware bowl is also a part of the story of the evolution of food preparation all over the world.

On top of the more than 400 historic artifacts recovered (including the enamelware bowl), Bass’ farmstead yielded a small handful of prehistoric artifacts, including one small piece of a ceramic vessel which could have been used by Native Americans for cooking meals between approximately 1,500 to 650 years ago, some 500 to 1,300 years before Bass moved to the area between 1910 and 1915. It is known that Bass brought his own ceramic vessels to his new home, because CEMML researchers found a few dozen pieces of stoneware and whiteware cups, plates, and bowls while digging at the site in 2015.

Enamelware originated in the early 19th century — developed at least in part to combat the taste of metal or rust which came from cooking with metal pots common at the time. The process for making enamelware involved coating the metal surface of a pot or pan with an enamel glaze, and then firing (heating at a high temperature) the vessel in a kiln. Initially, only the interior surfaces of cookware were enameled, because it made scouring those surfaces faster and easier, and reduced the likelihood of a metal or rust taste transferring to cooked food.

Enamelware became prominent around the world near the end of the 19th century, boosted by a manufacturing technique which created mottled or speckled blue and white designs at a low cost. This low cost led to a global supply which enabled indigenous people from North America to Africa to Australia to transition from primarily producing their own earthenware to purchasing the inexpensive enamelware instead.

By the 1930s, however, new cookware alternatives made out of materials such as aluminum, stainless steel, plastic, and Pyrex diminished the demand for enamelware. Ironically, this transition mirrors the change of ownership of the Ransom Bass farmstead from Bass to the buyers who shortly afterward sold the land to the U.S. government in 1935.

Very few artifacts were recovered from the site which could have been produced before 1890 or after 1930, which would seem to suggest that most or all of the artifacts recovered in 2015 were brought to the farmstead by Bass.

All archaeological work conducted at Fort McCoy was sponsored by the Directorate of Public Works, Environmental Division, Natural Resources Branch.

Visitors and employees are reminded they should not collect artifacts on Fort McCoy or other government lands and leave the digging to the professionals.

Any individual who excavates, removes, damages, or otherwise alters or defaces any historic or prehistoric site, artifact, or object of antiquity on Fort McCoy is in violation of federal law.

The discovery of any archaeological artifact should be reported to the Directorate of Public Works Environmental Division Natural Resources Branch at 608-388-8214.

(Article prepared by the Directorate of Public Works Environmental Division Natural Resources Branch and the Colorado State University Center for the Environmental Management of Military Lands.)