tar or pitch

Twenty Years with Flint. The Society for Experimental Prehistoric Archaeology – Where are We Now?

Author(s)
Grzegorz Osipowicz 1 ✉,
Justyna Kuriga 1
Publication Date
EXARC Journal Issue 2017/3
The Society of Experimental Prehistoric Archaeology (SEPA, www.keap.umk.pl) is an organisation affiliated with the Nicolaus Copernicus University’s Institute of Archaeology since 1998. The first academic supervisor of SEPA was Jolanta Małecka-Kukawka, now led by Grzegorz Osipowicz...

Tar

Dark sticky liquid obtained from coal or wood.

Pitch

1. Thick black sticky substance obtained from coal tar.
2. To set up camp.
3. To throw something.
Definition source: Chambers 21st Century Dictionary

How is wood tar made (NO)?

Tar is made by placing pine roots in a conical hole in the ground, lined with birch bark. They are then covered by turf, and set on fire. The turf keeps the oxygen out, so the wood doesn’t go up in flames. The sap is boiled out of the roots and runs to the bottom of the hole, where it can be collected as tar.