Socio-economics and Trade in Viejo San Juan, Puerto Rico

J. W. JOSEPH
STEPHEN C. BRYNE
SOCiO-eCOnOmiCS and Trade in
Viejo San Juan, Puerto Rico:
Observations from the Ballaja
Archaeological Project
ABSTRACT
The testing-phase investigation of the Ballaja Archaeological Project involved the archaeological study of two blocks
in Viejo San Juan, Puerto Rico. These field studies revealed
portions of two of the city’s late 18th- and 19th-century
barrios: Santo Domingo, one of the wealthier barrios in the
old city, and Ballaja, the city’s 19th-century slum. The late
18th century witnessed Puerto Rico’s entry into a world
economy, as trade restrictions were relaxed and goods from
beyond the Spanish empire first legally reached the island.
The analysis of materials from the Ballaja project indicates
that three trading spheres existed during this period: (1)
materials produced from outside the Spanish realm, ( 2 )
items produced by Spain and her colonies, and (3) items
produced locally in Puerto Rico Participation in each of
these trade networks appears to have been linked to social
and economic status, with the upper-status occupants of the
project area focused on non-Hispanic materials, the middlestatus inhabitants relying upon non-local Hispanic goods,
and the lower-status residents dependent on locallyproduced items. This article examines the relations between
socio-economics and trade in 18th- and 19th-century Old
San Juan, and discusses the implications of the observed
patterns for understanding the colonial Hispanic economy.
Cuartel de Ballaja and Hospital de Beneficiencia.
This area was located to the north of the historic
town core. Test investigations revealed substantial
domestic deposits dating from the late 18th century
through the present. o f critical interest is the period ca. 1785-1820, which witnessed Puerto RiCO’Sentrance to the world economy. This paper
considers the impact of relaxed trade restrictions in
Puerto Rico, especially as they were felt by individuals of differing socio-economic status.
Historical Overview
Puerto Rico was first settled in 1508 under the
direction Of Juan POnCe de Leon POnCe de Leon
established his initial settlement at Caparra, located to the interior of the island’s northeastern
shore. The Caparra settlement was occupied for a
period Of approximately l 3 years, after which the
Settlement fOCUS shifted to a peninSUla situated to
Caparra’s east. This new position offered one primary advantage which the older settlement did not:
an excellent harbor shielded between the arm of
the peninsula and the island’s interior. By the late
1520s this Settlement, present-day San Juan, had
become the major population focus of the island
(Anderson Cordova 1980; Caro Costas 1983;
Sepulveda Rivera 1989).
Topographically, this peninsula was somewhat
wedge-shaped, with steep bluffs along the northern, ocean shore and sloping terrain which reached
sea level on the harbor side. The focus of the new
settlement was at the base of this slope, along the
harbor. Early construction consisted of a wooden
Introduction
fort, a wood and thatch church, a tapia (mud and
lime) hospital, a customs house, and a foundry. In
In August and September of 1987, Garrow & 1525 construction of the Dominican Convent, loAssociates, Inc., conducted testing-phase investi- cated adjacent to the project area, commenced, and
gations on the site of a proposed subterranean in 1530 work on El Morro, the fort which domiparking garage and Fifth Centennial plaza in Viejo nates the point of the peninsula, was initiated. In
San Juan, Puerto Rico. This work was funded by that year there were five stone houses, 30 wooden
the Oficina Estatal de Preservacion Historica de houses with tile roofs, 30 tiendas (stores) of wood
Puerto Rico, under contract to the National Park and tile, and 20 bohios-huts built of wood and
Service’s Southeast Regional Office. The project thatch-as well as the Governor’s house, a hospiarea was bounded by Calles Cristo, Norzagray, tal, and a hermitage located on the outskirts of
and San Sebastian, and by two structures, the town (Pantel et al. 1986).
46
HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY, VOLUME 26
FIGURE 1 1625 Dutch view of San Juan, showing the project area (Courtesy of the Biblioteca Laurentiana, Florence,
Italy )
Throughout the 16th century, San Juan’s importance was derived primarily from its role as a port
and center of government. During the first half of
the century the mining of gold and silver was the
economic mainstay of the island, but these resources were greatly depleted by the 1540s. An
attempt was made by the Spanish crown to replace
mining with agricultural pursuits, yet staple crop
production would not become the core of the Puerto Rican economy until the 19th century. By the
close of the 16th century the population of San
Juan numbered some 1,600, while the number of
houses reported in San Juan ranged from 200 in
1575 to 400 in 1647 (Anderson Cordova 1980; de
Hostos 1983:21).
The first substantive historic views of the city
date to 1625, when Puerto Rico was attacked by
the Dutch. Reportedly, 52 wooden houses, the
Convento de Santo Tomas de Aquino, and a portion of the Governor’s house, La Fortaleza, were
destroyed during this attack (Caro Costas 1983:
21-22). A plan view prepared by the Dutch
(Figure 1) shows the town laid out around a central
plaza on the harbor side of the peninsula. The fortress El Morro dominates the point of the peninsula, while the Dominican Convent and the Iglesia
San Jose are situated to the northwest of the town
core. This northwest section of the town includes
the study area, and the 1625 view depicts it as
largely uninhabited. A second view shows El
SOCIO-ECONOMICS AND TRADE IN VIEJO SAN JUAN, PUERTO RlCO
47
Morro, the town, and a star-shaped structure which the annual treasure fleet. During a period of 18
seems to be fortified and is situated to the north of years the population grew by 43 percent, from
the town. The word cuesta (slope) appears be- 4,506 in 1765 to 6,462 in 1783 (de Hostos 1983:
tween El Morro and this star-shaped structure, 21).
which appears to be the Dominican Convent.
A series of views demonstrates the effect of this
These views thus provide a sense of town plan- transformation on the project area. A plan of the
ning and relationships within 17th-century San city, dating to the period from 1775 to 1782
Juan. The community was laid out surrounding a (Figure 2), shows that the southern portion of the
central plaza, and it may be assumed that wealth project area had been substantially developed by
and status decreased as distance from the plaza this time, supporting the interpretation that this
grew (Deagan 1983:45). The location of the Do- area contained high ground. The sloping northern
minican Convent and the Iglesia San Jose outside half of the property remained uninhabited. By
the city core follows the dictates of Spanish urban 1792, however, the wall along the northern side of
design. Ordinances regarding town planning were the city had been completed, and development had
formally codified in 1573 by Phillip 11. Ordinance spread to within the northern boundaries of the
120 of the codified series states that “the temple of project area (Figure 3). It is likely that the area
the Cathedral, where the town is placed on the behind this wall was filled and leveled, as archaecoast, shall be built in part so that it may be seen ologist Carlos Solis Magana (1988), working on
on going out to sea and in a place where its build- portions of the southern city wall constructed durings may serve as a means of defense for the port ing the same time period, has documented substanitself” (Crouch et al. 1982:14). This ordinance tial trash fill deposits behind that section of the
explains not only the position of the Church and wall. Following 1792 buildings are found throughConvent, but also their apparent military role, as out the project area.
Between 1841 and 1845 San Juan was divided
shown in the Dutch views.
While the 17th century continued the quiescence into five barrios: San Francisco, San Juan, Santa
which characterized the previous 100 years, the Barbara, Santo Domingo, and Ballaja Of these,
18th century witnessed the transition of San Juan portions of both Ballaja and Santo Domingo are
from town to city. Following the Dutch attack, included within the project area. An appraisement
funds had been provided for the construction of the of the value of the lands contained within each of
southern and eastern city walls in 1638. A second these barrios offers a measure of the economic stawave of construction, pursued from 1765 to 1783 tus of barrios Ballaja and Santo Domingo. Barrios
under the direction of Field Marshal Alejandro San Juan and San Francisco, which bordered the
O’Reilly, saw the construction of the northern central plaza, possessed the highest average apwalls. This construction was initiated by Charles praised value, at 3.04 and 2.73 pesos per vara
III largely in response to the British seizure of respectively (a vara is a unit of measurement
Manila and Havana in 1762, and the protection of equivalent to 0.698
Barrio Santo Domingo
San Juan was considered as a “defense of the first was valued at 2.17 pesos per vara In contrast,
order” (Solis Magana 1988:9). This work was fi- barrio Ballaja received an average value of only
nanced at a rate of 100,000 pesos per year during 0.50 pesos per vara Further evidence of the dethe period from 1766 to 1771, and at 225,000 pe- pressed economic state of barrio Ballaja is found in
sos annually from 1771 to 1783 (Gonzalez Vales an 1854 address made by Governor Fernando
1983:48). The population of San Juan increased Norzagray at a ground-breaking ceremony for the
dramatically during this period, including a large construction of the Cuartel de Ballaja, the new
number of stonemasons, laborers, and soldiers as- infantry barracks. Norzagray stated that the consigned to the defense construction; an increasing struction offered ‘‘the additional advantage of
number of merchants who supplied the construc- transforming a repulsive conglomeration of shacks
tion force; and a growing number of deserters from into a solid and majestic building. The new build-
48
HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY, VOLUME 26
FIGURE 2 Plan of San Juan, ca 1775-1782, showing the project area (Courtesy of the Servicio Historico Militar,
Madrid, Spain, reproduced from Castro 1980 83 )
ing is going to beautify that sector of the city,
perhaps the most abandoned of all” (Pantel et al.
1986:D-8). The Cuartel de Ballaja was constructed
to the immediate west of the project area, the entire
slum was leveled at the time of its construction, the
streets in the area were realigned, and new government offices and housing were built on the
project property. A 1921 plan made for the “Porto
Rico Board of Fire Underwriters” presents the
most detailed view of the project area following
this construction, and shows that primarily singlestory residences were located in the project area by
the early 20th century. These residences were demolished in 1940 by the U.S. Army, as part of the
World War II mobilization effort, and the project
area was converted to a parking lot, a role it has
played since that time.
This historic overview indicates that the late
18th and first half of the 19th centuries are the
most significant periods in the project area’s history. This period is also critical to the history of
San Juan, since it is this time which marks the
urbanization and internationalizationof the city. In
1785, the census of San Juan recorded 1,971 free
white inhabitants, 2,046 free inhabitants of mixed
ancestry, 335 mulatto slaves, and 586 negro
slaves. The figures did not include the military
population stationed in the city, which accounted
SOCIO-ECONOMICS AND TRADE IN VIEJO SAN JUAN, PUERTO RlCO
49
FIGURE 3 1792 plan of San Juan, showing the project area (Courtesy of the Servicio Historico Militar, Madrid, Spain,
reproduced from Castro 1980 139 )
for roughly 2,000 more individuals. While Spaniards made up the majority of the white population,
both a sizeable Irish contingent as well as a number
of Frenchmen were also present (Solis Magana
1988).
The architecture of the city was described by
one visitor as consisting of three classes: those
houses occupied by the whites and well-to-do (the
acomodados), those occupied by mulattos, and
those of the negroes. The acomodados lived in
homes of mortar, stone, and brick construction,
generally one story in height although frequently
two-storied. These homes usually possessed balconies and tile roofs, and almost always had their
own interior cistern, as fresh water was a valued
commodity in the city. The mulattos reportedly
lived in wooden structures featuring a rectangular
floor plan and single set post and board construction. Gabled roofs were thatched with palm, and
the interior of these dwellings was frequently di-
vided into two rooms, one for sleeping and the
other for living space. The homes of the blacks
were described as being of the crudest construction, built of cane and palm, and featuring only a
single room. These were also rectangular in form.
All of these houses would have possessed an exterior garden space-the solar-where vegetables,
fruits, and herbs were grown; chickens, guineas,
and other fowl were kept; and most of the cooking
occurred. The solar also served as a gathering
point for social interaction (Abbad y La Sierra
1979; Solis Magana 1988:13-15; Joseph et al.
1988).
The interior furnishings of these homes and the
material world of San Juan were dependent not
only on the wealth of its inhabitants, but also on
availability. Commerce in Puerto Rico was strictly
governed in an attempt to confine all trade within
the Spanish colonial network. During the early
16th century such limitations were feasible, but
50
following the conquest of Peru and Mexico, Puerto
Rico was frequently bypassed, as trade ships focused on the wealth of those super-colonies. A
considerable contraband trade developed between
Puerto Rico and the other Caribbean islands, with
the Danes in particular attempting to supply the
island from their trading center in St. Thomas.
Several private companies were established by the
Spanish government which had official trading
rights within the Spanish colonial world, and La
Factoria, established in 1785, was also given permission to trade with the Dutch. One of the first
shipments carried to Puerto Rico under this arrangement included “paper, cloth, string, silk,
knives, spoons and forks, sabers, clothing, pottery, iron pots, shovels and other tools, mirrors,
silk stockings, wool, flints, leather goods, and resins” (Solis Magana 1988:17).
Regardless of these relaxations in the commercial laws, Spain’s authority and control over her
Caribbean and continental colonies weakened. A
series of revolts beginning in 1810 rocked the
Spanish empire, and although revolution was discussed in Puerto Rico, this path was not followed.
As a reward for this loyalty, and a hedge against
further rebellion, Ferdinand V issued the Real
Cedula de Gracias on 10 August 1815. Among
other reforms, this cedula allowed trade to exist
openly and directly with any port in which there
was a Spanish consul, as long as this trade was
conducted on Spanish ships. This date thus marks
Puerto Rico’s entry to the world economy.
The material culture of Puerto Rico prior to
1785 should therefore consist primarily of goods
originating within the Spanish empire, while trade
after 1785 should exhibit a more international appearance, and trade following 1815 should be almost unrestricted. The appearance and effect of
contraband trade cannot be ignored, however.
Sites on the southern coast of the island (Joseph et
al. 1988), as well as both the Casa Rosa Scarp site
(Solis Magana 1988) and the Ballaja site, have
been excavated which feature substantial quantities
of creamware, an English ceramic produced from
1763 through the early 19th century. The appearance of creamware in Puerto Rico, a ceramic generally out of vogue in England by the early 19th
HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY, VOLUME 26
century, could represent either contraband trade or
the dumping of outmoded English ceramics on an
unsophisticated market unfamiliar with developments in English ceramic technology. There is a
definite need for the excavation of historically
dated contexts in Puerto Rico, in order to compare
ceramic dates with historically-documented occupancies, and thus address the possibility of ceramic
time lag in Puerto Rico.
Archaeological Excavations
The goals of the testing-phase investigations
were three-fold. First, it was crucial that the vertical dimensions of the site be established. Prior
work at the site conducted by La Fundacion de
Arqueologia, Anthropologia, y Historia de Puerto
Rico (Pantel et al. 1986) had documented deposits
as great as 4 m in depth in auger excavations conducted across the project area. The northern portion of the project area in particular, which was
shown on the historic maps as a physiographically
depressed area, required examination to determine
the depth of deposits and their nature. Drawing
from Solis Magana’s work elsewhere on the city
walls, it was considered possible that deep trash
deposits associated with the construction of the
northern city wall might be found in this area.
There was also the possibility that the swamp area
shown in the historic maps might have been filled
with refuse during the 16th and 17th centuries, and
that this material could be well preserved in an
anaerobic environment. Second, it was considered
critical to examine, on a horizontal plane, occupation surfaces defined through vertical excavations.
The presence of features, their integrity, age, and
function, were research questions which could
only be addressed through horizontal exposure and
excavation. A third concern was that the areas examined represent a social cross-cut of the area,
including both sections of the impoverished barrio
Ballaja as well as those of the wealthier Santo Domingo.
The strategy adopted involved the use of backhoe test trenches to reveal site stratigraphy, and
2-m excavation units to examine occupation layers. Eight trenches and seven 2-m excavation units
SOCIO-ECONOMICS AND TRADE IN VIEJO SAN JUAN, PUERTO RlCO
51
backhoe. In general, occupation surfaces were
found at depths of no greater than 2 m, deeper
deposits consisted of fills, and no substantial trash
deposits were encountered within these lower
strata (Joseph 1987).
Complete analysis and reporting of these test
investigations did not occur due to the termination
of the project contract. However, field laboratory
studies did succeed in producing a catalog of materials recovered, and this catalog provided the
data used in the analysis presented herein. All artifacts, notes, and records are currently maintained
by the Oficina Estatal de Preservacion Historica de
Puerto Rico, and these data are being used in the
ongoing research of the site (Crane 1990).
Socio-economics and Trade
North
FIGURE 4
Site plan showing the locations of trench and
unit excavations.
were dug during the testing phase (Figure 4). Of
particular concern to the trench excavations was
the delineation of occupation horizons, remnant
living surfaces from various historic periods.
These were defined in several instances by the
presence of midden deposits, ranging in thickness
from only a few centimeters to more than 40 cm.
Occupation layers were also identified by their relationship to architectural ruins, as well as by correlation with identified strata in other trench excavations. Once defined, 2-m units were employed
to further investigate these layers. In all, 26 features were defined and examined during the testing
phase, including privies, trash pits, cisterns, and
post impressions (Joseph 1987). The trash features
and privies provide excellent closed-context assemblages for analysis.
Deposits were defined at depths of as great as 4
m in portions of the site, and the excavation of
these deeply buried deposits required the use of a
The assemblages were grouped by three categories-upper, middle, and lower socio-economic
status-in order to consider the relationship between socio-economic status and trade. The assemblage analyzed for the upper-status group consisted of those artifacts recovered from the
excavation of Feature 1. This feature was a large
(2.8 m x 3.2 m) rectangular privy dug into the
calcareous bedrock which underlies the southern
portion of the site. Historical research indicates
that the inhabitants of this former structure would
have been within the upper 10 percent of San Juaneros by wealth (Anibal Sepulveda Rivera 1988,
pers. comm.). Thus the assignment of this collection to an upper-status ranking is considered to be
secure. Four-hundred-twenty-seven ceramic artifacts were recovered from a 1-m unit excavated in
this feature. As no other securely identified upperstatus contexts were found during the testing investigations, this single context was employed for
the analysis of upper-status behavior.
The lower-status occupation was represented by
assemblages from two contexts: Feature 24, and
levels 5 and 6 of Unit 130.2N 31.1E. The former
was a small, unlined privy uncovered in Trench 1,
located within barrio Ballaja. It appears to date to
the early 19th century, and thus to Ballaja's OCCUpation as a San Juan slum. Levels 5 and 6 both
sampled a midden which overlay the privy deposit.
52
This midden also dates to the occupation of this
area by the Ballaja slum, and both contexts are
confidently considered as representing lower socio-economic status.
Definition of middle-class occupations was less
readily made. Cartographic sources dating from
ca. 1765 indicate a possible status break from the
surface of the hill which formed the southern portion of the project area to the slope and adjoining
low area. Specifically, a 1765 map shows a substantial masonry structure on the southeast corner
of the project area (in association with Feature 1)
and a scattering of frame structures to its immediate north, to the crest of the slope which descends
into what would become Ballaja This pattern appears to indicate an upper- and middle-class separation at this point. Later, this slope area would
have marked the boundary between barrios Santo
Domingo and Ballaja and it seems likely that individuals of a middle socio-economic status would
have occupied this transitional zone. Three contexts were selected as representative of the middleclass occupation. Features 22 and 26 were both
privies found in Trench 3, near the base of the
slope. Both appear to date to the early to mid-19th
century. Levels 3 through 5 of Unit 22N 52E represented midden deposits found adjacent to Trench
7, and of an apparent late 18th- to early 19thcentury provenience. Materials from these three
contexts were considered in the development of a
middle socio-economic status profile.
It should be noted that several qualifications exist
regarding these contexts. The first is the issue of
age. Given the relaxations in trade policy which
occurred from 1785 to 1815, it would be expected
that material assemblages from before 1785 would
differ greatly from those deposited after 1815, regardless of socio-economic status. The assemblages presented in this section are all believed to
date to the early 19th century, and most likely to the
period after 1815, but secure dating for these collections is not possible at present. For example,
Feature 1 has a mean ceramic date of 1787 using
South’s (1977) formula, yet the considerable quantities of English ceramics found in this feature
strongly suggest a post-1815 deposition. As noted
above, the issue of ceramic time lag in Puerto Rico
HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY, VOLUME 26
has not yet been addressed, and analyses like the
mean ceramic date formula must be used with caution in Puerto Rican, and other colonial Hispanic,
contexts.
A second qualification has to do with the identification of Afro-Caribbean earthenwares from the
site. While the existence of this ceramic type in
Puerto Rico had previously been suspected, the
paucity of historic site excavations made an absolute assignment impossible. The Ballaja project
succeeded in producing definite Afro-Caribbean
wares from secure closed historic contexts. A
pitcher fragment recovered from secure contexts
dating to the late 18th to early 19th centuries indicates that this ceramic tradition persisted at least to
this date in Puerto Rico. Because no rural assemblages are available for comparison, it is not possible to say whether those Afro-Caribbean wares
found in San Juan were produced for sale to an
urban clientele, and thus exhibited greater refinement than vessels made for rural use or trade. The
ceramics recovered did possess a considerable degree of sophistication in their manufacture, supporting hypotheses advanced in the southeastern
United States that an urban market and Afro-Colon0
style existed. For sealed contexts, such as privies,
the identification of Afro-Caribbean wares for this
analysis was straightforward, and all plain earthenwares were considered as such. However, for the
midden assemblages included in the sample, the
identification of Afro-Caribbean wares was more
tenuous. A Saladoid-phase (A. D. 100-600) prehistoric site is known to exist adjacent to the project
area, and at present, sorting criteria for distinguishing plain Saladoid sherds from Afro-Caribbean ceramics have not been developed. Both types of plain
earthenware are sand-tempered, thin-bodied, wellmade, and frequently burnished. It is thus possible
that plain Saladoid sherds could exist within the
midden deposits, and hence skew the interpreted
frequency of Afro-Caribbean wares in the assemblage. The solution chosen for this potential bias
was to count half of all plain earthenwarescollected
from midden contexts as Afro-Caribbean wares.
This technique appears valid, since the resulting
percentage distribution from the midden deposits is
comparable to that recovered from the sealed con-
SOCIO-ECONOMICS AND TRADE IN VIEJO SAN JUAN, PUERTO RlCO
53
texts. It should also be noted, with regard to the
frequency distributions discussed below, that the
trends of these distributions do not change substantially if the midden data are eliminated from the
sample, although sample size and hence statistical
reliability do significantly decrease. Efforts to develop and test sorting criteria to distinguish AfroCaribbean sherds from prehistoric wares (and in
particular the stylistically similar Saladoid ceramics) should be a research topic for future Puerto
Rican studies, with Thermo-Luminescence (T-L)
dating offering one means of assessing the reliability of any developed sorting scheme.
Initial attempts to examine socio-economics and
trade for this project divided the material assemblage into two broad classifications: Hispanic and
non-Hispanic wares. Because ceramics offered the
best diagnostic evidence of origin for fragmentary
artifacts, it was decided to focus this analysis on the
ceramic assemblage and to ignore categories such
as bottle glass, metal artifacts, and clothing implements, whose provenience of origin could not always be securely determined and assigned. Following initial tabulations and observations of the
ceramic materials, it became apparent that three
classes of materials were included within the assemblage: non-local Hispanic wares, local Hispanic
wares, and non-Hispanic wares. These three categories were ultimately selected for further study.
almost certainly locally produced, while the origin
of the other is somewhat debatable. Both AfroCaribbean wares and El Morro wares were included in this classification. The former, discussed
above, were almost certainly produced in Puerto
Rico, as research indicates that most of the Caribbean islands had their own Afro-Caribbean ceramic tradition (Heath 1988). The origins of El
Morro wares are less secure. As a type, El Morro
was defined by Hale Smith (1962) through excavations at the historic fort in San Juan. The paste of
this ceramic is compact and sand-tempered, and a
lead glaze is applied to the interior of these wares
and rarely appears on the exterior. El Morro sherds
were very common in the site assemblage. This
analysis concurs with Smith (1962) and Solis Magana (1988) in postulating that these ceramics were
locally manufactured, although Deagan (1987:51)
notes that their presence in St. Augustine suggests
they were manufactured in either Puebla or Havana, the origins for Florida’s situado supplies.
Deagan also notes that while a substantial leadglazed earthenware tradition existed in Mexico
(Barnes 1983), El Morro is not found in the southwestern United States, suggesting it is not a Mexican ware but rather a Caribbean product.
This analysis suggests that distinctive El Morro
varieties may exist on the various Caribbean islands, each representing local production, and that
this low-fired, rough earthenware would not have
warranted shipping and trade, especially given the
Non-Local Hispanic Wares
local ceramic traditions which existed on many of
The first-non-local Hispanic wares-is a rela- the Caribbean islands (Heath 1988). The similarity
tively straightforward category, and primarily in- of the paste found in the El Morro sherds and of the
cludes tin-enameled wares produced in Spain and Afro-Caribbean wares recovered from the project
Mexico, olive jar fragments, greyware, and rare may also suggest a continuity in this ceramic traoccurrences of Mexican redware. The study of dition, with El Morro representing a lead-glazed
18th- and 19th-century majolicas is a maelstrom variant of the Afro-Caribbean ceramics. For the
into which few analysts have ventured, and the purposes of this analysis, El Morro is considered
classification system used here followed the very as a Puerto Rican, local Hispanic ware, although
useful class series analysis presented by Solis Ma- the ultimate verdict on this assignment has yet to
be rendered.
gana (1988) for the Casa Rosa scarp artifacts.
Local Hispanic Wares
Non-Hispanic Wares
The second-local Hispanic wares-consisted
primarily of two ceramic types, one of which is
The third category-non-Hispanic wares-consisted primarily of English industrial earthenwares,
54
augmented by occasional pieces of delft, faience,
and other tin-enameled European wares. Also included in this category is Rey ware, a lead-glazed
redware found in Puerto Rico and other Spanish
colonies. Rey ware can be distinguished from El
Morro by a more refined paste, interior and exterior glazing, and higher firing temperature which
produces a red glaze as opposed to the dull greenish-brown of El Morro. As Deagan (198752)
notes, Rey ware bears a strong resemblance to English and French lead-glazed redwares; and Mark
Barnes (1987, pers. comm.) has observed that Rey
ware is encountered primarily in those colonies
engaged in the Triangle Trade. Thus both Deagan
and Barnes suggest that this ware may be a nonHispanic ceramic. If this is the case, then within
Puerto Rican contexts, Rey ware should be found
in post-1785 deposits, or else be introduced as contraband. While no secure evidence was gained in
support of this supposition during the testing
phase, Rey ware, like the Afro-Caribbean and El
Morro ceramics, was most frequently found in
barrio Ballaja, which postdates ca. 1783. Assuming Rey ware is a French or British type introduced
to Puerto Rico primarily after the trade embargos
were lifted in 1785, with a florescence after the
Cedula de Gracias in 1815, and that El Morro is a
locally manufactured ware, then a decrease in the
frequency of El Morro after 1785 and a corresponding increase in Rey ware would be predicted,
as this superior ceramic replaced the locally-manufactured type.
HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY VOLUME 26
FIGURE 5 Distribution of ceramics by origin and socioeconomic status
assemblage. These were followed in frequency by
local Hispanic types, which represented 37.70 percent of the assemblage. Non-local Hispanic wares
were relatively uncommon in the upper-status occupation, contributing only 6.56 percent of the assemblage. This pattern is notably different from
the middle- and lower-status assemblages. The
middle-status collection was dominated by nonlocal Hispanic wares, which contributed 40.50
percent of the total assemblage. Next most frequent were the local Hispanic wares, at 35.47 perDiscussion
cent. Non-Hispanic ceramics contributed only
24.03 percent of the ceramics found in this status
As noted above, ceramics from five contexts, group. A third pattern is exhibited by the lowerone of upper socio-economic status, three of mid- status occupations. Here, local Hispanic wares
dle socio-economic status, and two of lower socio- were the dominant type, accounting for 39.37 pereconomic status were analyzed to determine cent of the assemblage, followed by non-Hispanic
whether ceramic preferences and trade relations wares (32.34%) and non-local Hispanic wares
differed by status rank. The results of this analysis (28.30%). These three patterns suggest three difare shown in Figure 5. Three distinct patterns ap- ferent sets of market relations, with the upperpear to exist which distinguish upper, middle, and status households focused on non-Hispanic matelower socio-economic status. For the upper-status rials, the middle-status inhabitants on non-local
occupation, non-Hispanic wares were the domi- Hispanic wares, and the lower-status dwellings on
nant type, contributing 55.74 percent of the total locally-produced items.
SOCIO-ECONOMICS AND TRADE IN VIEJO SAN JUAN, PUERTO RlCO
These trade relations appear at first mostly to be
the product of the different costs of each of the
ceramic sets. Although pricing data currently do
not exist which would allow the relative worth of
non-Hispanic, non-local Hispanic, and local Hispanic ceramics to be compared, it appears logical
that there would be a descending scale of value,
with non-Hispanic wares representing the most expensive ceramics, and local Hispanic items the
least. Thus each socio-economic stratum sought
out its corresponding market stratum when procuring materials. A corollary of this observation
might be that the percentage occurrence of each
ceramic class should be tiered according to socioeconomic class. In other words, the upper-status
group would be expected to exhibit a distribution
favoring non-Hispanic ceramics, followed by nonlocal Hispanic wares and then local Hispanic
wares, while the lower-status occupation should
exhibit the opposite ranking. This expectation is
not borne out by the data, however. The lowerstatus occupation possesses the second greatest
quantity of non-Hispanic ceramics, while the local
Hispanic wares are the second most common ceramic type for both the upper-and middle-status
groups. There appear to be at least two factors in
this variance from the expected results.
First, the range of ceramics included under the
heading of “non-Hispanic’’
must be considered in
order to evaluate the significance of this group.
The distribution of non-Hispanic wares was calculated for Features 1 and 24, an upper-and lowerstatus privy, respectively, in order to gauge the
distribution of materials. Non-Hispanic ceramics
were sorted by rough counts into decorated tablewares, undecorated tablewares, and utilitarian
wares (Figure 6). For the upper-status occupation,
decorated wares were most common and comprised 61.45 percent of the assemblage. Plain ceramics followed at 21.27 percent, while utilitarian
wares were least frequent, contributing only 10.28
percent of the total. Within the decorated wares
found from upper-status contexts, hand-painted
floral polychrome pearlware and transfer-printed
wares appear to have been most popular (cf. Crane
1990). The former would have most resembled the
high-status polychrome majolicas, yet offered the
55
FIGURE 6 Distribution of non-Hispanic decorated, plain,
and utilitarian ceramics for upper and lower socio-economic status assemblages.
additional advantages of a more durable body and
resilient glaze, while transfer-printing offered a
non-traditional decorative motif whose use was
perhaps intended to reflect ceramic sophistication.
For the lower-status occupation the frequency distribution is quite different. Plain ceramics contributed 55.43 percent of the assemblage, utilitarian
wares 23.23 percent, and decorated wares 21.34
percent. This observation illustrates the fact that
non-Hispanic ceramics served a variety of markets, and that this class probably contained both
the most expensive ceramics available in Puerto
Rico, as well as some of the least expensive.
The significant percentage of local Hispanic ceramics found in each socio-economic tier (ranging
from 35.47 to 39.37 percent) appears to indicate
ceramic function and cultural behavior as well as
socio-economic status. When vessel form is considered, it is apparent that the Afro-Caribbean
wares and El Morro wares which comprise the local Hispanic ceramic group most commonly represent kitchen vessel forms such as pitchers and
HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY, VOLUME 26
56
cusuelas. While the use of these vessels in the
kitchen may reflect socio-economics, and the purchase of less expensive wares for non-social settings, it is also likely that these ceramics were used
because they provided traditional forms and materials for food preparation, and forms which were
not likely to be duplicated by non-Hispanic wares,
or, in some instances, by non-local Hispanic
wares. Hence this area of ceramic acquisition appears to reflect cultural behavior as well as broadbased socio-economics.
Conclusions
As the archaeologists of Hispanic America have
entered the debate concerning world systems and
world economies (Wallerstein 1980; Braudel 1982;
Wolf 1982), they have learned that, from a material culture perspective, trade economies were not
static or structured, but instead offered complex
and dynamic relationships dependent on socio-economics, cultural tradition, geography, and specific
historical sequences and events (cf. Williams, this
volume). The data recovered from the Ballaja
project show evidence of both
relations and local industry, production, and sufficiency, and the interpretation of whose formulation of a world-system applies to these data is
largely dependent on the socio-economic class under study. The analysis of assemblages recovered
from Viejo San Juan indicates that ceramic acquisition in Puerto Rico in the late 18th and early 19th
centuries was geared to socio-economic status, and
that three markets existed which were differentially used by the socio-economic tiers: the nonHispanic, non-local Hispanic, and local Hispanic.
In retrospect, such an observation is not especially
surprising or insightful. What is of interest, and
what has perhaps been neglected in previous studies of Hispanic trade relations, is the role of local
production in trade and the economy. There has
been a tendency to divide Hispanic material culture
into two realms, the Hispanic and the non-Hispanic, when considering socio-economics and
trade. Had such an approach been applied here,
there would have been little difference noted be-
tween the lower- and middle-class occupations of
Old San Juan, nor would the role of local Hispanic
ceramics within the ceramic assemblage of all
three status groups have been recognized.
This tendency to minimize or ignore the role of
local production in Hispanic settings is one noted
by historians as well as archaeologists, as each
outpost of the Spanish empire appears to have tried
to cast itself in the poorest possible light, in order
to receive the most favorable shipments of materials from the mother country. While it is known
that ceramic production existed in Puerto Rico,
and that a reportedly major ceramic center was
found at Caguas, some 50 km inland from San
Juan, during the late 18th and early 19th centuries
(Joseph and Rodriguez 1987:30), such local industry has not received attention in Puerto Rican historiography of the past or present. Historians and
archaeologists must both begin to recognize the
role of local production and use within the Hispanic economies, in order to understand better the
full dynamics of changing trade relations and culture change. The items produced by the local economy may reflect local cultural adaptation, may indicate the items which were most difficult to obtain
from the mother country, may symbolically represent the formation of and participation in Creole
cultures, or may suggest the means by which selfsufficiency was gained. Local production is clearly
critical to the understanding of Hispanic America,
as opposed to merely studying Spain in the New
World.
While the traditional view of the Spanish colonial empire has presented it as a series of production outposts which supplied raw materials (gold,
silver, sugar, etc.) to the mother country and in
exchange purchased finished goods and supplies,
the actual economics of Spanish colonization appear to have been far more complex. Factors which
must be taken into account when interpreting the
Spanish world economy include the contraband
market, areas of self-sufficiency, local production,
and local trade. As none of these topics was noted
in detail by contemporary historians (in many
cases purposefully), archaeologists are left as those
best armed to seek out and understand local production and the local economy.
“core/periphery”
SOCIO-ECONOMICS AND TRADE IN VlEJO SAN JUAN, PUERTO RlCO
57
of an earlier draft, and her comments and advice
were very beneficial. We also thank the SHA reviewers for their comments and criticisms of the
paper draft. Finally, we must thank the staff of the
Oficina Estatal de Preservacihn Historica de Puerto
Rico: Jeff Walker, former State Archaeologist;
Michael Cinquino, current State Archaeologist;
Ethel Ramirez, former Deputy SHPO; and Mariano
G. Coronas Castro, SHPO, for their support and
sponsorship of this research under frequently trying circumstances. We are certain that the data
recovery phase of investigations, currently being
conducted by their office, will offer a major contribution to our knowledge of Viejo San Juan and of
Hispanic culture in the 19th century, and we thank
them for making this work possible.
This study, as outlined above, also demonstrates
that non-Hispanic wares were not limited to any
one socio-economic class, and instead crosscut
class and functional/behavioraldistinctions. With
the opening of trade relations in 18 15, Puerto Rico
entered not only the international trade market but
also the industrial world. It seems likely that European industrially-manufactured ceramics could
compete with both local and non-local Hispanic
wares in terms of cost and quality, and that by later
points in the century, non-Hispanic wares would
represent significant, if not the major, components
of all status groups. Thus the 19th century represents a critical period toward the understanding
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The Ballaja testing phase investigations benefited
from an exceptional research team. We are indebted to the efforts of our colleagues: Dr. Anibal
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NEW SOUTHASSOCIATES
4889 LEWISROAD
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