Pit fired pottery
Pit firing is the oldest known method for the firing of pottery. Examples have been dated as early as 29,000–25,000 BCE.[1][2] Kilns have since replaced pit firing as the most widespread method of firing pottery, although the technique still finds limited use amongst certain studio potters.
Unfired pots are nestled together in a pit in the ground and are then covered with combustible materials such as wood shavings, leaves, metal oxides, salts, sawdust and dried manure. The top of the pit may be protected with moist clay, shards, larger pieces of wood or metal baffles. The filled pit is then set on fire and carefully tended until most of the inner fuel has been consumed. At around 1,100°C (2,000°F) the maximum temperatures are moderate compared to other techniques used for pottery,[3] and the pottery produced counts as earthenware. After cooling, pots are removed and cleaned to reveal patterns and colours left by ash and salt deposits. Pots may then be waxed and buffed to create a smooth glossy finish.[4]
Modern use
Pit-firing continued in some parts of Africa until modern times. In Mali, a firing mound, a large version of the pit, is still used rather than a brick or stone kiln. Unfired pots are first brought to the place where a mound will be built, customarily by the women and girls of the village. The mound's foundation is made by placing sticks on the ground, then:
[...]pots are positioned on and amid the branches and then grass is piled high to complete the mound. Although the mound contains the pots of many women, who are related through their husbands' extended families, each women is responsible for her own or her immediate family's pots within the mound. When a mound is completed and the ground around has been swept clean of residual combustible material, a senior potter lights the fire. A handful of grass is lit and the woman runs around the circumference of the mound touching the burning torch to the dried grass. Some mounds are still being constructed as others are already burning.[5]
Kalabougou pottery is commercial, made to be sold in the towns.
References
- ^ "Modern Ceramic Engineering: Properties, Processing And Use In Design." D.W. Richerson. CRC Press. 2006.
- ^ "On the Origins of Pottery." P.M.Rice. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory. Vol 6, No.1. 1999.
- ^ "Ceramics: A Potter's Handbook." G.Nelson. Holt, Rinehart & Winston. 1984.
- ^ "Mastering Raku." S.Branfman. Sterling Publishing Company. 2009.
- ^ Goldner, Janet (Spring 2007). "The women of Kalabougou". African Arts. 40 (1): 74–79. doi:10.1162/afar.2007.40.1.74.
- Hamer, Frank and Janet. The Potter's Dictionary of Materials and Techniques. A & C Black Publishers, Limited, London, England, Third Edition 1991. ISBN 0-8122-3112-0.