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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

In between and on top of the vessels dry wood is piled as fuel. Smaller twigs, dry grass and wood chips are sprinkled all over the fuel in order to aid the burning process. It is advisable to use deciduous wood, since coniferous wood containing resin tends to snap and move abruptly during burning, thus causing possible damage to the vessels.

Dried peat and dung, which burn slowly and evenly, is recommended as a fuel. Fuel is layered into the kiln in contact with the vessels, but this calls for special caution in the loading process: a piece of wood, carelessly thrown into the kiln in haste easily cracks a vessel.

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