Olive Jar Neck
Physical Object
1986.008.0972
Nuestra Señora de Atocha (1622)
circa 1620
The neck from an earthenware “olive jar” recovered from the wreck of the 1622 galleon Nuestra Señora de Atocha is stamped with a conjoined MB. This mark is the personal sigla of Miguel de Munibe, a Peru-based merchant who was sailing on the Atocha with a large cargo of silver. Olive jars (botijas in Spanish) generally carried wine, and this marked jar might have been part of Munibe’s personal cargo and carried his preferred wine. Munibe drowned when the galleon sank.