🥇 BANNER Black glass bottle, a gator and a cameo appearance by the Bearded Man

DownNDirty

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Well, after Hurricane Hermine blew through South Carolina Dirtstalker and I made plans to dig the Swamp Pit on Labor Day. But the old man wore himself out digging some kind of old tag and wasn't able to go. So Monday morning I made the 90-minute journey and headed toward the pit. On the way I was greeted by a small (three foot) alligator that I have named Ollie; he must have come up from the swamp when it was flooded by the storm.

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No big deal, I just walked around him and headed to the pit. When I arrived I found a small pond where I have been digging the past few trips, courtesy of Hermine.

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I certainly didn't drive that far to turn around and go home, so I waded into the pit and dug through the slop. Basically I was feeling my way through the mire and lifting out anything solid to inspect it. As in all of the digs before I hit a layer of black glass shards and started working my way through them. After a while I found two or three shards of salt-glazed pottery that I thought were more pieces of a jar that I have been reconstructing, but the glaze looked more brown than the other pieces. When I dug a jug handle and spout of the same color I knew I was finding something different. Recognizing it to be from a Rhenish jug I thought to myself how cool it would be if it was a Bartmann jug, but I knew the odds of that were very slim.

As I worked through more glass I felt the base of a bottle and followed it with my hands around to the neck. I carefully dug it out with my screwdriver and pulled out a small bottle with a flat oval front. The back is missing but rest of it is intact.

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After that I continued to find a lot of good-sized pieces of the brown glazed jug. Then it happened-I pulled up a pottery shard that had part of the face of a bearded man-and then I found the rest of it. I was astounded, because I then knew that what I was finding was a Bartmann jug, also known as a Bellarmine jug. They were made in what is now Western Germany, during the 16th and 17th centuries, this one presumably being made in the 1600s. The signature of these jugs was the "Bartmaske," which is German for "Bearded Man." It was a representation of the "Wild Man," a mythological creature of Northern European folklore. The jugs are highly collectible and are fairly rare finds.

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I knew I had found enough for a partial reconstruction. After I got home and cleaned the shards I laid them out and took this picture:

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Then I began the slow tedious task of gluing the pieces back together.

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This is the final product:

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Most Bartmann jugs had from one to three ornate medallions/seals attached to the mid-section. This one originally had two, one to either side of (and below) the Bearded Man. They apparently broke off; you can see the clay blobs where they were attached. I would LOVE to find at least one of them.

Here is a shot of the Bartmann jug beside the bottle for a size reference:

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All of my finds for the day:

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And these are the bottle and ceramic reconstructions from the Swamp Pit so far; the ceramics are a work in progress. Hopefully I will be adding to them with shards found on future digs.

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Digging the Swamp Pit so far has been a wild ride, and there is plenty of pit left to dig. So until next time, I will leave you with an image of the Bearded Man; I think he looks a lot like Dirtstalker:

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OutdoorAdv

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Absolutely INCREDIBLE Glenn :notworthy: That Bellarmine jug is one of the most amazing pieces I've seen posted. I sure hope you can get your hands on the rest of the shards to it. They can't be far away. I'm blown away by the nearly complete onion bottles you are consistently pulling out of that slop. It's truly an unbelievable pit and I can't wait for your next trip out there.
 

PBR

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Very impressive reconstructions. And i enjoyed the step by step progression pics. Nice post...
That bearded man looks cool and i love the other bottles as well. Good Luck finding the other pieces.....

So would all of those black glass bottles be considered onion bottles?
 

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DownNDirty

DownNDirty

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Absolutely INCREDIBLE Glenn :notworthy: That Bellarmine jug is one of the most amazing pieces I've seen posted. I sure hope you can get your hands on the rest of the shards to it. They can't be far away. I'm blown away by the nearly complete onion bottles you are consistently pulling out of that slop. It's truly an unbelievable pit and I can't wait for your next trip out there.

Thanks Brad-I appreciate the compliment, especially from you. I have learned a LOT about pit digging from your posts and Bill D's, and the advice you have sent me.
 

DirtStalker

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Well first I'd like to say you have been very persistent with your Pit Addiction(Thanks Brad he won't go anywhere else until Every last piece has been pulled out of that Pig Pit. Did I say say thanks Brad for fueling his addiction with zero chance at rehab:laughing7:
But seriously that pit is deep and I know it has to hold some complete bottles and other relics if we ever reach the bottom. I sure this weekend the Pit will reveal a major surprise. One question Glenn why didn't you post that the bearded man looked like your ex-wife like you've been telling me since Monday....oops
 

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DownNDirty

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Well first I'd like to say you have been very persistent with your Pit Addiction(Thanks Brad he won't go anywhere else until Every last piece has been pulled out of that Pig Pit. Did I say say thanks Brad for fueling his addiction with zero chance at rehab:laughing7:
But seriously that pit is deep and I know it has to hold some complete bottles and other relics if we ever reach the bottom. I sure this weekend the Pit will reveal a major surprise. One question Glenn why didn't you post that the bearded man looked like your ex-wife like you've been telling me since Monday....oops

After studying it some more I decided it is not quite as ugly as the ex, but it bears a striking resemblance to you. And the whole Wild Man creature is right up your alley. Maybe I should start calling it an Allenmann jug?
 

villagenut

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Dont underestimate how great of a find you got, they have dug a few of these at jamestown and show their reconstruction of them on their archaeology website. I bet the rest of the pieces of both awesome artifacts are still there. I would drain the swamp if i could, they would be that important to me. I might even wrestle the little gator over those shards:laughing7: really though i think these are banner finds even if not complete. They are just rare to find. great job of saving them:thumbsup:
 

DirtStalker

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After studying it some more I decided it is not quite as ugly as the ex, but it bears a striking resemblance to you. And the whole Wild Man creature is right up your alley. Maybe I should start calling it an Allenmann jug?

That will be fine as long as I don't hear 1 Whoa Nelly this weekend or ever refering to your New toy that you claim is a Deus Buster.
 

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DownNDirty

DownNDirty

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Dont underestimate how great of a find you got, they have dug a few of these at jamestown and show their reconstruction of them on their archaeology website. I bet the rest of the pieces of both awesome artifacts are still there. I would drain the swamp if i could, they would be that important to me. I might even wrestle the little gator over those shards:laughing7: really though i think these are banner finds even if not complete. They are just rare to find. great job of saving them:thumbsup:

Thanks VN. I plan to do a thorough search all around the spot where I found the shards and expect to find at least some of them. What I really would like to find is one or both of the medallions.
 

DirtStalker

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Looks Like......hmmm A BIG waste of Money
But I hope it's something to Wack that baby gator over the head with. You know the baby one that kept you out of the creek. You see gator I see lunch
You get that from that last Giant that you got the beans from Jack?
 

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against the wind

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Great job on the reconstruction. Lots of good pictures. Can you turn that little guy into a Gator Burger?
Congrats
 

OutdoorAdv

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Well first I'd like to say you have been very persistent with your Pit Addiction(Thanks Brad he won't go anywhere else until Every last piece has been pulled out of that Pig Pit. Did I say say thanks Brad for fueling his addiction with zero chance at rehab:laughing7:
But seriously that pit is deep and I know it has to hold some complete bottles and other relics if we ever reach the bottom. I sure this weekend the Pit will reveal a major surprise. One question Glenn why didn't you post that the bearded man looked like your ex-wife like you've been telling me since Monday....oops

There is a fine line between pit digging and mud wallowing, and this falls in the latter. Since you taught DnD everything he knows about wallowing, I'll leave the rehabilitation ideas up to you.... :laughing7: Tough love is probably best... perhaps you dump a bucket of snakes in the bottle wallow... But even that wouldn't keep me out!

Dont underestimate how great of a find you got, they have dug a few of these at jamestown and show their reconstruction of them on their archaeology website. I bet the rest of the pieces of both awesome artifacts are still there. I would drain the swamp if i could, they would be that important to me. I might even wrestle the little gator over those shards:laughing7: really though i think these are banner finds even if not complete. They are just rare to find. great job of saving them:thumbsup:

Totally agree :thumbsup:
 

Scrappy

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Holy smokes that jug is incredible. And I'm astonished at the completeness of that bottle! I'm lucky if I find little bitty pieces of black glass, and really lucky if I find a piece of the rounded base!

Wonderful job with the reconstruction. The hours you spent sure look to be worth it. Thanks for posting your work
 

Carolina Tom

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Congrats DND. Once again, your zigsaw championship background, has served you well!

Congrats on the extraordinary finds.
 

JerV3

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Great finds

Nice job on the recovery and reconstruction. Those are def worth it

HH Jer
 

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