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FIRING OF VIKING AGE CERAMICS

Artefact type: Reconstructed clay vessels in an experimental firing.

Use: The firing of pottery in a covered kiln structure.

Location: Krookila.

Period: Modern.

Dating: 1997 A.D.

Photographer: Jari Näränen

The preheated, warm vessels are smeared with water free animal fat and laid into an oval pit kiln, in the bottom of which there is a thick layer of glowing charcoal. The fat will melt into the body of the vessels and help the charcoal particles that are present in the smoke to attach and fix into the surface and the layers underneath it.

Wood has been burnt in the bottom of a pit that has been dug into the clayey ground. The burning has dried the pit and hardened its walls. Thus there will not be any water present in the structure, thus there will be no danger of steam getting into the clay vessels, either.

The pottery is layered into the pit rapidly, yet with caution. A layer of wood will be laid between the glowing charcoal and the pottery in order to prevent too sudden and close a contact between the heat source and pottery. A good, solid bed of glowing charcoal is, however, essential for the kiln to burn evenly.

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