PROTECCIÓN DEL MEDIO AMBIENTE

Much speculation has been made about the intended volumes of jars, and whether the jars were used as pricing measures for the various commodities which they contained (Schafer, 1938:317,323). In light of the construction techniques discussed previously, it becomes clear that substantial variations would have occurred even though a specific volume may have been attempted. Only after reviewing the construction process is it ap­ propriate to attempt an understanding of the intentions of the potters. The only way it would have been possible to achieve absolute uniformity would have been through the use of a complete body mould, which, as we have seen above, was not the case.

Given the two methods of construction discussed, one can hypothesise on ways in which potters attempted to standardise volumes. With the shoulder mould technique, standardisation might have been attempted through a general control of the height and tapering of the vessel. Given the “bottom half first” technique and coiling of clay needed around the leather-hard mid-section to form the shoulders and neck, it would be possible to use the wheel head as a general size parameter for the point at which the shoulders would continue. Height would also be estimated for the forming of the bottom and again when the top portion was completed. Both methods may have simply involved using a standard weight of clay and working it accordingly.

If the jars were produced with specific volumes intended, the question then becomes what percentage variance could be expected from a roughly estimated size. Given normal conditions, it would be reasonable to assume that if even precise volume measurements were intended, the degree of variance as expressed in actual volumes would be considerable. Today, experienced potters can create amazingly close duplicates only using the eye as a guide, although precise reproductions are impossible

even for the most skilled craftsmen. In attempting to qualify volume measurements from jars recovered in archaeological contexts, the use of percentages and precise capacity measurements may complicate a relatively simple question.

One might assume, given the Spanish crown's preoccupation with accountability and documentation, that accurate measurements of provisions would be as closely recorded as the shipments of gold and silver. Most authors addressing the question of specific measurements for jars and intended uses have pointed to the lack of historical evidence addressing the subject. It is not known whether the lack of available historical evidence is merely a lack of modem day interest in the field or whether it relates to a relatively low level of importance given to the jars and exact quantities they held.

General guidelines of jar manufacture for a myriad of uses was sufficient control enough to keep the mechanism of supplying the colonies in good running order. As mentioned previously, the jars may have simply accompanied the large measured shipments and served as a more convenient transportation method of known approxi­ mate sizes. For buying or selling at the lower volume level, the jars may have been emptied and measured for resale. A similar method may have been used by resellers as cooks on board the trans-Atlantic vessels; “an almud was on hand for measuring beans and peas and various other measures for the cook’s use” (Arnold and Weddle, 1978:87). These foodstuffs were probably emptied from larger casks or even our olive jar-type botijas.

In an environment that places little importance on the precise measures of small containers, it does not make much sense attempting to quantify volumes beyond trying to associate jars with approximate size measures. Actual measurable samples available to archaeologists are only a small percentage of the jars that were produced, and one must

OLP/E JAR-TYPE BOTIJAS

exercise extreme caution in attempting to qualify statistically results from scarce archaeological examples.

It has been speculated that historical records seem to express that the jars represented a specific form of measure. Because of the enormous quantities that the colonists were dealing in, however, a more practical solution seems feasible. If one were to assume that it was customary that jars only approximated a specific volume, it would follow that the actual measuring of the contents was done at some other point of the process. It has been suggested that hundreds of jars were shipped empty accompanying large casks of wine (wooden pipas) for example (Lister and Lister, 1987:135). In this case, it would make little difference if the jars held specific volumes.

During the later half of the 16th century the process of shipping empty jars along with larger filled containers is reported to have ended, and the jars were then shipped already filled (ibid.). It is possible that the same principle was used before shipping the jars: the total of all the jars contained a measured quantity, with each jar holding an approximate measure. Knowing that the actual jars varied in volumes would not have mattered to wholesale merchants. When the smaller quantities were then later apportioned to consumers, the contents could then be remeasured in an accurate container.

The question then becomes the degree of importance one should place on volume relationships in proportion to the jars' overall meaning. With regard to contents and also to volumes and vessel forms, the Listers have aptly described the reasons behind the trouble modem archaeologists have in quantifying this period:

“Differences between archaic and modem terminology for Spanish vessel forms have led to considerable confusion about which jars were meant to hold which liquids. It is only academic, in any case, because that kind of invariability was not part of the

Andalusian attitude.” (Lister and Lister, 1987:133)

Volume studies on recovered complete olive jar-type botijas typically calculate capacity by filling the container to just below the neck, leaving room for a cork closure, and thus recording the volume ( Martin, 1979; James, 1987). When one orders a litre of wine in a restaurant, however, a litre container is delivered with a mark indicating the litre capacity, while the contents usually surpass the mark. A similar approach may have been used in producing botijas, the jars could hold the intended capacity and then some. It is also a presumption on our part to assume the jars were always completely filled. In any case, reviewing the capacities of jars in context helps us better to understand the complete picture. Using capacity as another temporal indicator in itself may in time help towards a better understanding of the evolution of colonial hfe.

Exploring the evolution of measures is another avenue of research that needs to be studied further before a full understanding is reached. The following table lists jars recorded during in this study:

OUVE JAR-TYPE BOTIJAS