Baffle Marks and Pontil Scars: A Reader on Historic Bottle Identification

Glass bottles are one of the most ubiquitous finds on historic archaeological sites, no matter the locale. Hundreds of thousands of glass bottles have been recovered, and hundreds of thousands more were manufactured. This volume begins with an overview of bottle identification and dating, and a review of hand-production technology. After 1880, the mechanization of glass bottle manufacture revolutionized the industry. New manufacturing techniques, including new finishes, closures, design, and labels, allowed producers to exponentially bring more variety and numbers of products (and thus more bottles) to the consumer. This in turn greatly impacted the historical archaeo- logical record. For the archaeologist, the underlying theme of this volume is that more variety and number of consumer goods equals more potential for the understanding of everyday life.