British Merchandise on the Cape Horn Route: Nineteenth-century Earthenware in Tierra del Fuego (Argentina)

Abstract

This paper refers to nineteenth-century refined earthenwares recovered between 2016 and 2018 from Playa Donata 3, an archaeological site on the Atlantic coast of Tierra del Fuego, Argentina. They were found in direct or indirect association with a series of wooden crates, which were located in the intertidal zone of the beach. The assemblage is attributed to an English origin, but it cannot yet be associated with the ship which transported it. Several phases of rescue archaeological fieldwork were undertaken in order to recover the crates and the artefacts. The different types of ceramics that make up this assemblage from the southernmost tip of South America are the backdrop for a discussion of the overseas trade of the period.