Border Ware Double Walled
Dish, ca. 1600-1610

This green-glazed Border ware double dish was
excavated from Pit 3, which has a fill date of ca. 1610.
It consists of two deep straight-sided compartments. The
base of the smaller front compartment is pierced with a
line of four holes, each 6 mm in diameter. This piercing,
along with the lower profile of the secondary dish,
suggests that perhaps some substance was to spill out of
the larger bowl and drain through the smaller. The vessel
is glazed only on the interior of the large compartment
and over the exterior rim cordoning of both sections.
Although unique in America, the double dish form is
known through at least twenty-two vessels that have been
excavated in England from late 16th and early
17th-century contexts. Suggested uses have ranged from a
flowerpot to a container for ecclesiastical Holy Water.
More recent speculation has considered candle or soap
making. None of these explanations is entirely
satisfying as evidenced by the recently released glossary
of ceramic forms by the Medieval Pottery Research Group,
which documents the form as "a rare ceramic form,
presumably with a specific function which remains
unknown."