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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

On top of the supporting cover structure made of (split) boughs a large piece of grassy turf is rolled. The turf has been cut from the soil in one piece. The movability of the turf piece requires grass and roots to grow on it - they tie the structure together in a flexible way.

The clay in the turf cover is a benefit: The heat from the oven dries and burns the clay into a hard cover. A sandy turf would, in the same process, dry off and break into the oven. Should there not be any naturally clayey turf present, any turf can be made useful by impregnating it with clay on the other side. Likewise, any cracks on the cover can be stopped up by stuffing moist clay into them.

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