Found a 500-year-old pottery shard in my garden last month near Cincinnati

I was digging a new flower bed by my house and hit something hard. Pulled out this little piece of pottery with a blue floral pattern on it. Took it to the local historical society and they said it could be from a 16th century Native American trade site that used to be around here. Has anyone else randomly dug up artifacts at their place?

3 comments

3 Comments

william_harris1mo ago

Hold up. Historical society saying that a single pottery shard found in a garden near Cincinnati is from a 16th century trade site sounds like a stretch. Native American sites from that era did exist in the Ohio Valley, sure, but pottery with "blue floral pattern" doesn't match the typical local Mississippian or Fort Ancient styles from that time which were mostly shell-tempered and cord-marked or incised. Blue floral is way more common in 18th/19th century European stoneware or transferware that got brought over by settlers. You might have found a piece from an old farm dump or a later homestead, not a pre-contact trade site. I'd get a second opinion from a proper archaeologist, not just the local history buffs.

lee8471mo ago

Whoa, actually blue floral transferware did show up way earlier than most people think.

susanb341mo ago

Honestly, are we really getting worked up over a single piece of old pottery in someone's garden? It's not like they found the Lost City of Gold or something. Let's be real, half the time the historical society gets excited about anything that's not a beer can from last week. Blue floral patterns are super common, my grandma had a whole set of dishes with them. It's probably just a broken plate from the 1800s that got buried when they built the house. I'd save the drama and just toss it back in the dirt if it were me.