Coarse earthenware

Used by cultures around the world throughout history, coarse earthenware is a handmade, utilitarian ceramic.

Who would have owned it: Produced by enslaved and freed peoples throughout the Caribbean, typically for cooking and storage in their own homes, coarse earthenware was also sold in markets. In Cayman, there was no tradition of production, so this earthenware is thought to have been imported from nearby Jamaica. Glaze inside the porous vessel would have made it capable of holding liquids. The dark, burnt areas on the outside of several sherds testify to their use in cooking over open fire.