Porcelain and Ceramics
Since the dawn of human history, pottery of one form or another have been created by all civilizations that existed throughout the ages. As human history progressed from the earliest Paleolithic and Neolithic periods through the Bronze Age, Iron Age and Classical periods to as late as the nineteenth century; earthenware containers, in one form or another, were fashioned as a means of transportation and storage for almost every conceivable product or foodstuff.
Unlike land-based archaeological sites, which rarely yield large numbers of intact artifacts, shipwrecks often contain large numbers of intact specimens.Detailed studies and comprehensive catalogs of pottery and ceramics have been compiled by modern day archaeologists and historians. This information provides a means for identifying the nationality and age of a particular shipwreck to a relatively high degree of accuracy.
Like all ships throughout the ages, Spanish galleons also carried a wide assortment of pottery and ceramics that were used for storage of foodstuffs and other provisions. However, aside from typical pottery that was manufactured in Europe or the Americas, certain Spanish galleons, known as the Manila Galleons because they were involved in trade with the Far East, were known to carry large cargo shipments of Chinese porcelains and ceramics to sell in Europe and Spain�s colonies in the Americas.
