furnace, kiln or oven

Hard Fun: Further Discussions on an Undergraduate Project to (Re)Construct and Fire a Medieval Tile Kiln

Author(s)
Gaynor Wood
Publication Date
This experiment, undertaken over a 12-month period in 2015 at Norton Priory Museum in Cheshire, formed part of a pedagogic case study and an experimental archaeology project. Here eight Archaeology and 12 Ceramics students from the University of Central Lancashire (UCLAN) researched, built, and fired a tile kiln using evidence from previous experimental archaeology projects on the site and other firing projects...

Scored Basins from Late Minoan Crete: an Experimental Interpretation from Construction to Functionality

Author(s)
Brianna Jenkins
Publication Date
During the Bronze Age in Crete, agriculture, pottery production, metallurgy, textiles, architectural feats, trade, and other specializations flourished. Throughout habitation on Crete, pottery production was an area of craftsmanship and practicality from the end of the Neolithic to Mycenean and Iron Age. This experiment, however, relates to the Late Minoan I period in the geographical region of Mochlos...

Experimental Archaeology of Iron Age Firing Structures from the Western Mediterranean

Author(s)
Maria-Carme Belarte
María Pastor Quiles
Marta Portillo
Carme Saorin
Marta Mateu Sagués
Alessandra Pecci
Sílvia Vila
Josep Pou
Georgina Castells
Jordi Morer
Joaquín Fernández
Publication Date
The main objective of the research is to deepen our knowledge of how Iron Age combustion structures worked and were used by protohistoric communities living in the western Mediterranean...

The Little Bowl That Could! Experimental Iron Smelting in a Bowl Furnace

Author(s)
Y. A. Marks
V. Lucas
D. O’ Frighil
Publication Date
The bowl furnace has been a somewhat neglected topic in the early history of iron making, often overshadowed in experimental work by the shaft furnace. This assessment attempts to re-evaluate the position of the bowl furnace in early iron-making - firstly by looking at how it is regarded in scholarly literature, and secondly, through an experimental reconstruction programme...

Copper Smelting Could Have Been Discovered in Connection with the Massive Production of Lime Plaster in the Near East During the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B, which is Much Earlier than Previously Believed

Author(s)
Ulf Fornhammar
Henry Hammarström
Publication Date
A common theory is that copper smelting first appeared in the Near East in close connection with the early pottery industry. However, copper smelting may well have been discovered many times in history and at many places. Our hypothesis is that copper smelting could have been discovered when the copper-bearing mineral malachite, accidentally or intentionally, was present in lime-burning kilns...

Standardized Reporting of Experimental Iron Smelting - A modest (?) Proposal

Author(s)
Darrell Markewitz
Publication Date
The development of effective bloomery iron smelting has progressed over the past decades from the first repeated experiments into documented, effective, methods. This progression has primarily been the work of often isolated individuals, many with great practical experience as artisans, but most often with little formal academic training. The overall result is a patchwork of recording methods and descriptions...

Smelting Conditions and Smelting Products: Experimental Insights into the Development of Iron Bloomery Furnaces

Author(s)
Y. Marks
N. Groat
L. O. Lortie
M. Hughes
H. F. Thompson
C. J. Woodland
T. MS Adams
T. Thorpe
B. Tang
R. Kenyon
B. Langhorne
J. Fraser-Darling
Publication Date
The material record for bloomery furnaces in Iron Age and Roman Britain is fragmentary and, because of this paucity of evidence, the reconstruction of the ceramic structures used in iron production is difficult. Experiments have nevertheless been carried out to ...

Fire Beneath the Dome: Project to Evaluate the Efficiency of Clay Ovens in the Viking Museum Haithabu

Author(s)
Volker Karl Lindenberg
Publication Date
Visitors to the museum should get an impression of Viking life in Haithabu as vivid as possible – that is why from time to time we heat the clay ovens for baking or cooking (See Figure 1). We noticed that quite high temperatures are reached, but these will decrease again quickly if there is no more fire inside the oven, although it tangibly keeps the warmth for a very long time...

The Experimental Reconstruction of an Early Neolithic Underground Oven of Portonovo (Italy)

Author(s)
C. Conati Barbaro
Vanessa Forte
A. Rossi
Publication Date
11th EAC Trento 2019
***This contribution presents the experimental reconstruction of an underground oven replicated according to the archaeological evidence unearthed from the Early Neolithic site of Portonovo-Fosso Fontanaccia (Ancona-Italy). A domed structure, measuring 190x180 cm diameter at the base and 50 cm in height, was dug in 15 hours...

The Mother of All Bead Furnaces: Testing a Hypothesis about a Natural Draft Bead Furnace

Author(s)
Neil Peterson
Publication Date
As a part of the ongoing exploration of Viking Era glass bead production, the Dark Ages Re-creation Company (DARC) team perform new pilot experiments on a regular basis. These experiments provide a preliminary understanding of a specific construct or research question, allowing us to judge the validity of further experiments, as well as what equipment or additional questions may be necessary as a part of...