RUSSIAN ARCHAEOLOGY - FIRING EARTHENWARE IN FIREPLACES (ETHNOGRAPHIC EVIDENCE AND ITS ANALYSIS)

Yurii B. Tsetlin^a^,#

^a Institute of Archaeology RAS, Moscow, Russia

Keywords: fireplaces, vessel firing, ethnography, pottery traditions.

The article presents a comparative analysis and generalization of ethnographic evidence on the firing of earthenware in fireplaces. The information collected by ethnographers throughout the 19th and 20th centuries comes from various regions of the globe: Africa, North and South America, Europe, Asia and Oceania. The author considers various techniques for ware drying and firing, the number of vessels to be fired, types of fuel, fireplace designs, techniques for post-firing processing of products, etc. It was found that, despite the diverse natural conditions, the similarity of the fireplace designs and firing techniques in different regions of the world makes it possible to conclude that there are common patterns in the functioning and development of earthenware firing among different peoples. The article proposes a hypothesis about the connection between the methods of firing vessels in fireplaces and the use of household hearths. The author comes to the following conclusions: first, in economic terms the development of the traditions of firing in fireplaces is manifested in the transition from the firing of one vessel to the firing of a few and later a significant number of vessels in one fireplace, second, the trend of constructive development of fireplaces consists in the transition from placing vessels on the ground (very rarely) or on an individual platforms (made of stone, clay or fuel) for each product to creating a common platform for all fired vessels, third, mixing different traditions was probably an important factor in the development of fireplaces, which occurred due to the contacts between the bearers of the fireplace firing traditions with the bearers, on the one hand, of the hearth-firing traditions, and on the other hand, of the kiln traditions of ware firing. Finally, the author suggests a number of features to identify fireplaces for ware firing during excavations of ancient settlements.

DOI: 10.31857/S086960632204016