Pots for socks. Commodity itineraries in the North Atlantic during the 17th and 18th centuries

Abstract

SUMMARY: A discussion of trade in the North Atlantic during the 17th and 18th centuries is explored through the movement of commodities from mainland Europe to Iceland, specifically pottery vessels. The paper reconstructs the journeys of three cooking pots from different places in northern Germany and Denmark and along the way, attempts to situate these journeys within the social and cultural contexts through which they pass. In tracking these object itineraries, it is argued that the pots are caught up in fragmented spaces, where the varied material properties of the objects change in significance. In this way, our paper attempts to both revive and reinvent an economic dimension to historical archaeology, to conjoin terrestrial and maritime archaeology, and finally to stimulate more work on the early modern period for this region.