Understanding the Medieval Ceramic Producing Process with use of Experimental Archaeology - conference poster
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| Year of publication | 2019 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
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| Description | Five years of archaeological experiments aimed at research of production of medieval ceramics in Panská Lhota near Jihlava city (Czech republic) by the Department of Archeology and Museology at Masaryk university in Brno is presented by the poster. The experiment is designed to understand and replicate the chaîne opératoire in it’s complexity – from search for raw materials and their obtaining, over the raw materials preparation, to vessel forming and firing. Ceramics firing is done either in laboratory environment as well as in field conditions. Each procedure is documented thoroughly. Interdisciplinary study on medieval ceramics found in the region is conducted simultaneously with the experiment. The main focus of the research is to find answers to wide scale of questions. Some questions, such as sources of potters clay and tempers, are of regional importance, others cover the whole spectrum of archaeological ceramics – e.g. formation traces on vessel walls, bottoms or rims and the ceramic firing process. One of the main questions is a black pottery, which has been part of the ceramic production in the Czech Lands since the Late Middle Ages until the middle of the 20th century. A significant feature of black pottery is a dark colour with metallic shine. The dark surface was achieved by a special step in the firing process, so-called smoking, which gives the pot lower water absorption. Observations and documentation of the experiment results in standards for description of technological features of archaeological ceramics. |
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