European Journal of Archaeology

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Medieval Pottery Kilns in the Carpathian Basin

Zsolt Vgner European Journal of Archaeology 2002 5: 309 DOI: 10.1177/146195702761692338 The online version of this article can be found at: http://eja.sagepub.com/content/5/3/309

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MC

EDIEVAL POTTERY KILNS IN THE ARPATHIAN

BASIN
Zsolt Vgner

Etvs Lornd University, Budapest, Hungary

Abstract: This article discusses tenthsixteenth-century pottery kilns in the Carpathian Basin in the territory of medieval Hungary. Kilns are classified on the basis of their structure, building technique and firing technology and these characteristics are examined using archaeological evidence, ethnographical sources and also technological and pyrotechnical analysis. The archaeological and stratigraphical features and some methodological problems of medieval pottery kiln study are also discussed and a topographical analysis of the pottery kilns in relation to the workshops and settlements on the basis of archaeological and historical evidence is presented. The history of the development, origin and distribution of the types of medieval pottery kilns in the Carpathian Basin is also presented. There is a brief discussion of the contribution that pottery kiln studies can make to the understanding of workshop organization. Keywords: Carpathian Basin, classification, medieval pottery kilns, technological history

I NTRODUCTION
Pottery, basically a handicraft product, is the most frequent and determinant find of medieval archaeology. Accordingly, detailed analysis of potters workshops is indispensable for the typological and chronological evaluation of the ceramics and the interpretation of its technical characteristics. Pottery kilns are the most important equipment of potters workshops. The technical properties of the kiln and the firing standard are the major factors that define the quality of pottery production. This justifies the very detailed archaeological, technological and technological-historical study of the pottery kilns uncovered during archaeological excavations. The purpose of the present study is to describe the types of pottery kilns discovered in the Carpathian Basin in the territory of medieval Hungary, and to outline the problems that have been raised with regard to these finds. The territory in question is the closed geographical region of the Carpathian Basin, which is nearly entirely enclosed by the high mountains of the Carpathians and the Alps. Large rivers like the Danube, the Tisza and the Drava cross the territory, which is the meeting point of major European geographical regions. The Basin is segmented by extensive plains, hill ranges and mountains. The clay types

European Journal of Archaeology Vol. 5(3): 309342 Copyright 2002 Sage Publications (London, Thousand Oaks, CA and New Delhi) and the European Association of Archaeologists [14619571(200212)5:3;309342;030958]

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that determine the existence of workshops show an uneven distribution. Kaolin and clays with high kaolin content, which can be fired at a high temperature, can be found mainly in the northern and eastern mountains of the area. Secondary clay of good or mediocre qualities can be met within large quantities in the hill ranges and the mountains. The clay types in the plains, apart from a few restricted areas, are usually poor quality with many impurities and much lime, which can be fired at a low temperature (Kalecsinszky 1905; Kresz 1985; Liffa 1935). The chronological frames of medieval Hungary are defined by the Hungarian conquest around 895 and the Turkish occupation of Buda, the capital of Hungary, in 1526. Significant divergences can be observed between the social and economic features of the transitional period of the tenth century, the elevenththirteenth centuries, called the rpdian Era after the ruling dynasty, and the late Middle Ages. The elevenththirteenth centuries were determined by strong royal power and centralized property. The economy was based primarily on closed, selfsupporting, small communities, where large markets played a minor role. This system started to disintegrate in the thirteenth century and the process was accelerated by the Mongolian invasion in 12411242 and the fall of the royal power at the end of the century. As an effect of the stabilization process that started in the second third of the fourteenth century, economic development began, although relatively late and slowly, which followed western European patterns. This progress was fatally broken by the Turkish occupation and the war against the Turks, which lasted until the end of the seventeenth century.

H ISTORY

OF RESEARCH

Similar to other archaeological topics, the study of pottery kilns began in late Iron Age and Roman archaeology. Some technical-historical syntheses were made about earlier European pottery kilns: Drews (19781979) and Duhamel (19781979) published short historical and morphological overviews of European pottery kilns and V.G. Swan (1984) produced a complex wide-ranging work about the pottery kilns of Roman Britain. In addition, Peacock (1982) adopted an ethnoarchaeological approach to the pottery production of Roman Britain. At the same time, alongside the development of prehistoric and Roman archaeo-parks, there were experimental studies of the construction technique of kilns and firing technology (e.g. Bryant 19781979; Pieta 1995). There have been various studies of medieval pottery kilns in different European countries, but they are mostly local or regional studies and no European overview has been published to date. Janssen made a brief attempt to outline the technical development of Carolingian and Medieval pottery kilns in the Rhineland (Janssen 1985), while Nekuda and Reichertova published the most important pottery kilns in Moravia in their historical pottery study (Nekuda and Reichertova 1968). Moorhouse discussed in his two articles the development of pottery workshops and their kilns in central England (Moorhouse 1981, 1987). Contrary to the study of ancient kilns, relatively few papers have analysed the kilns from a typological point of view and discussed the construction technique

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and the firing technology (Guadagnin 2000; Stephan 1988), and in some countries hardly any such studies have been published. The majority of studies on European workshops deal with the typological analysis of the wares produced in the kilns and the distribution of these types (Janssen 1983). Gaimster (1997) published a wide-ranging archaeological and culture-historical review of German stoneware, in which he briefly discussed medieval and early-modern stoneware production, and Guadagnin (2000) produced an excellent historical-archaeological study of medieval pottery production centres in the Ysieux valley in the le-de-France. Chris Gerard (2000) recently completed a magnificent project, the English database of Medieval pottery production centres. Most of these studies, however, focused primarily on the products and their interpretation, and kilns are generally discussed as accessory to the main subject. Technological analysis and reconstructions of kilns or their classification are seldom to be found and there is little use of ethnographical, historical or geographical sources and approaches. In the Carpathian Basin, the study of medieval pottery kilns started with village (Csalogovits 1937) and town investigations (Balogh 1928) at the beginning of the twentieth century, yet it has remained on the periphery of research, although the investigation of potters workshops could contribute, among others, to the clarification of ceramics typology. One of the reasons is that the majority of the kilns were found during small-scale rescue excavations, often under very poor conditions, and many of them are known, in consequence, only from short reports. Even these reports concentrate on the description of the finds material found in the kilns. Due to the spatial and scientific segmentation of the Carpathian Basin, the results of the investigations of settlements, the material culture and the history of handicrafts in the successor states of historical Hungary do not always meet. Typological evaluation of kilns is rarely included in the studies, as e.g. in the case of Hcs-Bndekpuszta (Pardi 1967). Pardi was the first to call attention to the existence of horizontal-draught kilns, which had not been recognized in Hungary until then, as well as grated up-draught kilns. This type was published mainly from the territory of the presentday Slovakia, where it was usually determined as a single-chambered kiln as opposed to the two-chambered grated up-draught kilns. Pyrotechnical analyses were also rarely made on kilns as, for example, in the workshop unearthed at the becse/Beej Botra site (Stanojevi 1980). Furthermore, for lack of written sources about potters workshops, very few studies have been published on the history of workshops. Even these are restricted to the listing of short data concerning late medieval guilds workshops. The study of the medieval and modern period potters in the town of Pozsony/Bratislava is an interesting exception (Spuransky 1968). The traditional wood-burning firing kilns that still operate in the territory of the Carpathian Basin are also extremely useful. Professor Gyrgy Duma, who recently died, surveyed the majority of the workshops and pottery kilns in 83 sites in the territory of present Hungary with an engineers precision between 1958 and 1960 (Duma 1966, 1982).

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OF THE POTTERY KILNS FOUND IN THE

D ESCRIPTION

C ARPATHIAN B ASIN

1. Distribution of the kilns found in the Carpathian Basin From the period under discussion, altogether 53 features that could be identified as pottery kilns were observed in 30 sites. Their distribution is varied, as can be seen from Table 1, and mirrors the research conditions in the different countries.
Table 1. Distribution of pottery kilns by country Country Hungary Slovakia Yugoslavia Serbia Romania Sites 12 10 4 5 Kilns 15 24 9 6

2. Topographic characteristics of medieval pottery kilns Due to the varied geographical setting in the Carpathian Basin, these kilns can be found in the plains as well as in the hills (see Fig. 1). There are few kilns in the central and eastern parts of the Hungarian Plain, which can be explained not only because of incomplete research, but by the lack of raw material. The low number of kilns in Transylvania is primarily due to the absence of research on medieval sites.

Figure 1. Distribution of medieval pottery kilns in the Carpathian Basin.

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It may clearly be seen that, logically, the kilns always stood on dry ground, on peninsulas, on banks, on hillsides. The simple reason is that groundwater can easily make pottery kilns inoperable. It may also be observed that the majority of the kilns were built near water, which was necessary for the building and maintenance of the kilns, and as a precaution against the danger of fire. The distribution of pottery kilns according to settlement types Every potters kiln stood within the territory of a medieval settlement. The number of kilns in rural and urban settlements was approximately the same, and only a single kiln stood in the territory of a manor. Their distribution shows a varied picture but also mirrors the specific preferences of investigation according to settlement types. The location of kilns inside settlements 1. In villages, the kilns were always built in the central area of the settlement. In villages of the rpdian Era showing a scattered pattern, the majority of the pottery kilns were excavated in kiln clusters composed of exterior household ovens, as well as kilns which could be used at the same time or separately. The kilns and ovens shared the same working pit. These clusters were found in the centre of the settlements. The pottery kilns of late medieval villages were also in the interior of the settlements in Szelezsny/Slaany next to the church (Ruttkay 1988:127). 2. The pottery kilns excavated in the territory of Als Poltr/Doln Poltar manor were located around the productive buildings. Igor Hrubec, who excavated the site, identified the building next to the kiln as a potters workshop building (Hrubec 1971:76). 3. Urban settlements. The pottery kilns unearthed in late medieval towns fortified by stone walls, such as Kassa/Koice (Pstor 1959:617), Kisszeben/Sabinov (Slivka 1978:175), Brtfa/Bardejov (aplovi and Slivka 1988:99) or Pozsony/Bratislava (Egyhzy-Jurovsk 1984:272), stood outside the town walls, usually beside the wall or the moat, in all four cases near one of the gates. This extra-mural position can be explained as protection against fire. This is suggested by the regulations of the towns of Pozsony/Bratislava (Spuransky 1968) and Kisszeben/Sabinov (Slivka 1978:182), which banned pottery kilns from inside the town walls because of the danger of fire. The kiln excavated in Brtfa/Bardejov was found beside the moat running along the town wall near Fazekas Street, which is known from written sources (plathea lutifiguli, lutifigulorum, Tpfergasse). The workshops of the potters stood, according to the sources, ultra aquam. Later this area became the street of the potters guild (aplovi and Slivka 1988:9293). In other urban settlements the pottery kilns stood, as in the villages, in the interior areas of the settlements. A good example is offered by the kiln in the onetime episcopal centre of Kalocsa, which was excavated next to the cathedral (Vgner 2001:104). The pottery kiln was built in the area between the inner and

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outer ramparts of Babcsa, which functioned in the Turkish period as a specific fortified administrative centre (Magyar 1990:133134). 3. Kiln numbers at individual sites Owing to the circumstances of the discovery of kilns, there was often no possibility of studying the wider environment of the kilns during the excavations. In such cases we have only fragmentary information about the number of kilns in the workshops. More than one pottery kiln was observed in only eight cases at the 30 excavated sites. At five sites two kilns were found and one site yielded three. Only one site contained more than that, namely becse-Botra, which had five kilns (Stanojevi 1980). 4. Medieval pottery kiln types In the territory of the Carpathian Basin both the main European types, up-draught and horizontal-draught kilns, can be found together with their subtypes. The analysis of the kiln types shows a varied picture.
Table 2. Pottery kiln types in the Carpathian Basin Up-draught 43 Single chamber Two chambers Single chamber Two chambers 4 39 10 1

Horizontal-draught

11

The main types were distinguished according to the draught between the firebox or the stoke hole and the flue of the kiln, which determines the direction of the flames. The flame direction is vertical in up-draught kilns (Figs 2a and 2b) and is horizontal in horizontal-draught kilns (Figs 2c and 2d). Up-draught kilns usually have an oval, sometimes a rectangular ground plan because of the vertical direction of the flame or the draught. The firebox and the firing chamber are built one above the other. The kiln is vertically loaded. Since the draught and the flame have a shorter way to go, the control of the atmosphere of the kiln and the firing temperature is limited, so the size of the kiln can be decisive to the quality of firing. It may be added that Roman and medieval brick-kilns also belong to this type. The medieval horizontal-draught kilns had an elongated oval or oblong-shaped ground plan because of the horizontal direction of the draught. The firebox and the firing chamber were arranged lengthwise or stepwise one above the other. The kiln was usually loaded from the side because of the elongated shape of the kiln. The draught and the flame had further to go, and could be better controlled than in the former type, and, accordingly, the atmosphere of the kiln and the firing temperature could better be controlled and balanced than in the case of up-draught kilns. To use this technical property, however, greater skill, attention and experience were necessary.

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Figure 2. Scheme of the major kiln types: a. Up-draught, single-chambered; b. Up-draught, twochambered; c. Horizontal-draught, single-chambered; d. Horizontal-draught, two-chambered.

The following subtypes can be differentiated according to their internal organization, that is, the arrangement of the firebox and the firing chamber in the same space or their being divided by a grate: single-chambered and twochambered grated kilns. To ensure that the firing in the kilns may be controlled, heating channels need to be created and the path of the flame must be suitably determined, while the firebox and the firing chamber have to be separated to a certain degree. In kilns with a single chamber this was usually solved via the loading of the pottery. Ethnographic analogues suggest that sometimes temporary grates could be built from pottery (Fbin 19341935:32; see also Fig. 3). There are several variants of single-chambered kiln structure, which is easier to repair, but firing is less controlled and can become dangerous. Making good use of the properties of the kiln type needs greater expertise. At the same time, firing is more controlled and safer in grated kilns, but there are fewer possibilities for the individual arrangement of the pottery and the application of diverse firing techniques. 5. Distribution of the medieval pottery kiln types Definite tendencies can be observed in the distribution map of the kilns in the

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Carpathian Basin. To better understand this picture it is worth outlining the history of the kilns.

Up-draught kilns Only up-draught kilns are known in the Carpathian Observation hole Basin from the period between the beginning of the tenth century and the end of the thirteenth century. Most of the kilns had two chambers with a grated structure; Brny-Lamb from this period, only one single-chambered kiln was found, dated to the turn of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, at Als Poltr/ Doln Poltar (Hrubec 1971: Figure 3. Modern horizontal-draught, two-chambered 76). kiln from Hungary. Surveyed at Jk. There are two Up-draught kilns are vertical bars (brny) behind the stoke hole. (After known from the late Middle Fbin 19341935.) Ages and the Turkish period (fourteenthseventeenth centuries) mainly from the southern, central and eastern parts of the Carpathian Basin. Kilns with a single chamber have been published in two cases from Szkelykeresztr/Cristuru, Transylvania (Fig. 4), besides the above-mentioned kiln from Als Poltr/Doln Poltar, which also functioned in the late Middle Ages (Benk 1992:159160, 176177). According to ethnographic observations, up-draught kilns with a single chamber were common in Transylvania and the rsg in south-western Hungary in the twentieth century (Duma 1982:78; Ks 1986). Two-chambered grated kilns dating to the fourteenthseventeenth centuries were mainly found in the central and southern regions of medieval Hungary. They were probably the developed versions of the kilns of the rpdian Era. The type was used to the present day, and they were the characteristic pottery kilns of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries in the Hungarian Plain and in part of Transdanubia (Duma 1982:78). The antecedents of up-draught grated kilns were also known before the Hungarian conquest. They existed in the eastern and southern territories of the Carpathian Basin from the late Neolithic (Coms 1976; Ellis 1984:130163) and a reappeared and diffused in the late Iron Age (Jerem et al. 1998) and the Roman period (Bnis 1981), mainly as a result of exterior influence, and the ancient traditions survived in the Migration period as well (Rosner 1981). The Hungarians may also have brought the type with them, as it was commonly used in their

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Stoking pit

Pottery kiln B

Stoking pit

Pottery kiln A Stoking pit

Figure 4. Up-draught, single-chambered kiln. Excavated at Szkelykeresztr/Cristuru Secuisec. Dated to c. fourteenthfifteenth century. (After Benk 1992.)

earlier homelands, among others in the settlements of the Saltovo-Majack culture, where pottery kilns identical with the elevenththirteenth century types were unearthed (Pletneva 1981:48, 74). Horizontal-draught kilns The antecedents of the type are not known in the Carpathian Basin. The origin of horizontal-draught kilns has not yet been clarified. There are a few Iron Age examples, for instance in Denmark (Lucke 19781979: 269). Horizontal-draught kilns are first known from the end of the early Middle Ages, the late Carolingian period in the northern and western territories of present-day Germany, then they were diffused as a result of the fast development of the pottery industry on the Rhine in the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries (Gaimster 1997:4144). The pottery industry on the Rhine was based on a high-quality raw material with a high kaolin content, which needed a high firing temperature. This necessitated a special kiln type that could produce a higher firing temperature and afforded a better than average control. This explains why the kiln type appeared in

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the region of the Rhine pottery industry and in its diffusion area and the territories where it was traded (northern France, Netherlands) (Janssen 1983:320396; Gaimster 1997:4144; Flambard-Hricher 2000). Then, in the fourteenthseventeenth centuries, the population that moved to the east from these territories, or wandering craftsmen or tradesmen, brought it to Moravia and Bohemia (Nekuda and Reichertova 1968:3949), southern Poland (Gajewski 1959; Kwapieniowa and Walowy 1966:217225; see Fig. 5) and the above-mentioned territories of Pannonia. The eastward diffusion of these kilns was in parallel to the economic development of these central European territories. New versions of the type such as the so-called German or Kassel type kilns were developed in the modern period in many parts of Europe (Duma 1966:9394, 1982:6063). At the same time, some archaic singlechambered versions of the horizontal-draught kiln type have remained in use in the Carpathian Basin region (Fig. 3), in Austria and Hungary (Duma 1966:103) and Slovakia (Plickov, 1952, 1959; see Fig. 6) and in Eastern Europe, especially in the Slav territories: Poland (Kwapieniowa and Walowy 1966:217219), Byelorussia (Moszynszki 1929:349) and Russia (Rybakov 1948; see Fig. 7). The type first appeared in Pozsony/Bratislava on the Danube, at the northeastern gates of the Carpathian Basin, at the beginning of the fourteenth century

Figure 5. Horizontal-draught, single-chambered kiln from Poland excavated at Igoomia. Dated to. c. sixteenth century. (After Gajewski 1959.)

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Figure 6. Reconstruction of a nineteenth-century modern horizontal-draught, single-chambered kiln from Pazdics/Pozdiovce, Slovakia. (After Plickov 1959.) Although this is an interpretation it is nevertheless an excellent model of the archaic kiln type.

Figure 7. Early modern horizontal-draught, single-chambered kiln. Surveyed at Medy (Byelorussia). Dated to eighteenthnineteenth century. (After Moszynszki 1929.)

(Egyhzy-Jurovsk 1984:277). It spread through the Carpathian Basin especially between the middle of the fourteenth century and the beginning of the sixteenth century, first of all in areas of present-day Slovakia and less characteristically in the northern part of Transdanubia. After the Turkish wars, the German population settled in Hungary in the seventeentheighteenth centuries brought in a more modern version of the type in Transdanubia: the so-called Kassel or German kiln (Duma 1966, 1982:6063; Mszros 1968:2728). The majority of the kilns had a single chamber without a grate. A horizontal grate was found only in Bajna Csima kiln n.1 (Fig. 8), which was built into the kiln when it was rebuilt (Horvth et al. 1979:40). The ceramics made in the kilns found in the Carpathian Basin were made of

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relatively good raw material fired at a high temperature (9501200C). Pure kaolin, which can be fired at a higher temperature, up to 1200C, was found only at Bajna-Csima (Vgner 2001:59). Astonishingly, no horizontal-draught kiln has so far been found in the potters centre based on the large kaolin outcrop in the Gmr region, which is beyond the distribution area of the type. Figure 8. Horizontal-draught, two-chambered Only up-draught kilns are known kiln. The grate is made of arched clay bars supported on a central and an external from the Als Poltr/Doln Poltar platform. The grate and the kiln platforms are workshop excavated in the centre secondary. Excavated on Bajna-Csima of this region (Hrubec 1971:76). In (Hungary). Dated to c. fifteenthsixteenth century. (After Horvth et al. 1979.) the horizontal-draught kilns of the workshops excavated in the territory of present-day Slovakia, high quality clay types of so-called secondary occurrence were used, which contain iron oxide that turns reddish grey during firing. The products match the proto-stoneware/Protosteinzeug (10001100C) and near-stoneware/Faststeinzeug (10501200C) categories with their raw material and firing quality (Stephan 1988:9496). However, stoneware fired at 12001400C did not appear in the Carpathian Basin together with the diffusion of the kiln type. 6. Characteristics of the structural arrangements of the pottery kilns The most important characteristic is that each kiln was a pit kiln. The most evident explanation is to ensure thermal isolation and, at the same time, it afforded an easier, quickly built and often more secure structural solution than overground kilns. Kilns with wall constructions have rarely been observed. Most frequently the entire structure was sunk into the ground similar to the kilns recorded from earlier periods and modern ethnographic fieldwork (Duma 1982:5559). Up-draught kilns Most of the kilns had a round-oval or elongated oval ground plan. Their diameter measured between 0.8 m and 2 m, their height varied between 0.9 m and 2 m. The firing chamber was probably always open to the top and the pottery was loaded through this hole. The firing chambers have perished in many of the kilns studied or they were badly damaged. Nevertheless, stratigraphic observations reveal that they were entirely sunken and it is unlikely that they had a closed dome since in that case a hole would have had to be opened for loading somewhere on the side, which is impossible, or at least very difficult to make in pit kilns. Yet in some cases these kilns were reconstructed with fireboxes with closed domes and a lateral loading hole (Pleiner 1988). This solution, however, is not really effective since loading is difficult because of the narrower firebox and firing is less easy to control.

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Furthermore, ancient and modern ethnographic kilns suggest that kilns with closed domes were built to create reductive firing or for the production of special wares (Duek and Hohmann 1986; Kresz 1991:524600; Rhodes 1973:917). Such wares, however, have never been found in up-draught kilns. Single-chambered kilns Altogether four single-chambered up-draught kilns have been found from three sites in the Carpathian Basin. All four were pit kilns. The plastered walls were parallel or slightly narrowed downwards. Structural differences can be found in the number of stoke-holes. The kilns excavated at Als Poltr/Doln Poltar (Hrubec 1971:76) and Szkelykeresztr/ Cristuru (6, Iskola Street) had a single stoke-hole (Benk 1992:159160). This parallels the arrangement of the most common up-draught kilns in Europe. The two kilns at 2, Katustava Street, Szkelykeresztr/Cristuru had two facing stokeholes, and the southwest hole of kiln A was covered with a large stone (Benk 1992:176177). This arrangement favoured better control of the draught and kiln atmosphere (Fig. 4). This type is relatively rare in Europe apart from the kilns in England with many holes (Moorhouse 1981). The kiln dimensions also varied. The Als Poltr/Doln Poltar kiln was especially large. The interior dimensions of 350 cm and the interior height of 240 cm are not characteristic of up-draught kilns of the period. The diameters of the three Szkelykeresztr/Cristuru kilns (120150 cm) are about average, yet their interior height was different: Katustava Street: 4050 cm, Iskola Street: 125 cm (Fig. 4). Two-chambered, grated kilns The grate that separated the firebox from the firing chamber of the up-draught, two-chambered kilns was built in various ways. The grate could be made without support or added later with support. 1. The firebox and the firing chamber of kilns with unsupported grates were entirely sunk into the ground. The wall and the grate were soil, which baked hard during the firing. The building of this structure is very simple: a pit was dug from above and another from the side and the horizontal layer between the two was opened via a vertical hole (Fig. 9). This can be observed clearly at the eleventh century kiln excavated in Pusztaberny (Fig. 10).

Figure 9. Reconstruction of the building technique of up-draught, two-chambered, unsupported grated kilns.

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Stoke hole

Figure 10. Up-draught, two-chambered kiln with unsupported, monolith grate. Excavated at Pusztaberny (Hungary). Dated to c. twelfththirteenth century. (After Brdos 1978.)

Vertical section of the kiln

Figure 11. Up-draught, two-chambered kiln with unsupported, monolith grate. Excavated at Felslupk/Gornea (Romania). Dated to c. thirteenth century. (After Uzum and T ,eicu 1978.)

Unsupported kilns, especially common in the rpdian Era, were usually small, their diameter measuring 90120 cm on average (Fig. 11). Due to this feature of the kiln structure, the firebox was often wider than the firing chamber. The total height of the kilns is often impossible to tell since the firing chamber or its top is frequently damaged. The height of the complete kilns can be estimated from the intact examples and fragmentary structures to about 90110 cm. Usually the firebox was the smallest chamber measuring 2030 cm on average. The grate was often very thick because of the building technique, measuring 2540 cm on average. The firebox could be 3050 cm high on average. At the same time, two large late medieval kilns at bese-Perlek (Fig. 12)

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measuring 150 cm in diameter had been built with unsupported grates (Stanojev 1996:7173). In this unique case the kilns were built in a clayey soil, which gave solidity to the grates. As well as tradition, the practical structure of the kilns, which was easy to build, may explain why only this kiln type was found in rpdian Era potters workshops. Pyrotechnical analyses of earthenware finds suggest that firing at an average temperature of 800950C could be achieved (Pleiner 1988; Stanojevi 1980:25). This sort of structure, however, has limited dimensions, as the kilns that are built in this manner cannot be larger than 120150 cm. 2. In the case of kilns with supported grates, the grates were Figure 12. Up-draught, two-chambered kiln with wide unsupported, monolith grate. always made after the pit had Excavated at becse/Beej-Perlek (Yugoslaviabeen dug. The late medieval kilns Voyvodina). Dated to c. fifteenth century. with supported grates are larger (After Stanojev 1996:4274.) than the kilns of the tenth thirteenth centuries. The inner diameter varied between 150 and 200 cm. In the kilns excavated at Kalocsa (Fig. 13) and Decs-Ete (Fig. 14), the width of the firebox is smaller than that of the firing chamber above it, since the arms of the grate rest on the shelf projecting from the wall of the firebox. Such kilns could be around 150170 cm in height. The lower firebox was 3050 cm high. The grate was relatively thin compared to the monolithic small kilns, and measured 1020 cm on average. The interior height of the firing chamber was 70100 cm. The relatively low, 6070 cm interior height of the kiln excavated in Kalocsa (Fig. 13), which measured 120150 cm in diameter, shows a slight divergence. The grate rested on a small ledge or a fire-bar. The walls and the fire-bars that supported the grate were made of soil as in the kilns excavated at BabcsaNrciszos (Fig. 15), Esztergom-Szenttamshegy and Trkeve-Csudaballa (Fehr and Pardi 1960:36; Magyar 1990:133134; Vgner 2001:180), or the clay fire-bars were built after the firebox had been prepared as at Kalocsa (Fig. 13) and Decs-Ete (Fig. 14). The grate usually had arms, which rested, like spokes, on the central wall or on a fire-bar and the side wall of the kiln. Two types are known: adobe type arms

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Figure 13. Up-draught, two-chambered kiln. The grate is made of arched clay bars supported on a pillar. Excavated at Kalocsa (Hungary). Dated to c. sixteenth century.

Reconstructed firing chamber

Figure 14. Up-draught, two-chambered kiln. The grate is supported on a pillar. Excavated at DecsEte (Hungary). Dated to c. sixteenth century. (After Csalogovits 1937.)

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Figure 15. Up-draught, two-chambered kiln. The grate is supported on a wall. Excavated at Babcsa (Hungary). Dated to c. sixteenth century. (After Magyar 1990.)

made of dried walling elements were used most frequently (Fig. 16), especially at Decs-Ete (Fig. 14), Babcsa (Fig. 15), and Trkeve; however these were usually daubed, so that they look like a perforated clay plate (Csalogovits 1937:329; Vgner 2001:51, 180). This arrangement is most characteristic of the kilns documented ethnographically from Hungary (Fig. 17). A grate made of arched clay bars was found in the kiln excavated at Kalocsa (Fig. 13). Contemporary analogues are known from the territory of Romania, from the kilns unearthed at Coconi (Constantinescu 1972:8291) and Tomesti (Andronic 1970:408410). The supported grate allowed the kiln to be enlarged, thus increasing its efficiency. Grates made of arms are easier to repair than a monolithic structure of supported grates made of earth. This arrangement was frequent in the Roman period (Duhamel 19781979) and is also common in modern kilns (Duma 1982:7077). The remains of a monolithic grate daubed on a wattle structure were found in the Turkish period kiln unearthed at Esztergom-Szenttams hill (Fehr and Pardi 1960).
Figure 16. Daub building material for modern up-draught, twochambered, supported grated kiln. (After Duma 1966.)

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Figure 17. Modern up-draught, two-chambered, supported grated kiln. Surveyed at Mohcs in Hungary. (After Duma 1966.)

The kiln stoke holes were often equipped with a stoking channel extending in front of the firebox. This allowed better control of firing, reducing the hazards of unexpected changes of draught and wind force in the kilns. Horizontal-draught kilns The kilns usually had elongated oval, or rarely, as in Szelezsny, oblong-shaped ground plans (Fig. 18). They had closed domes, with the kiln being made of the soil. To direct the draught, most of the kilns had a bottom that slightly rose toward the end (Figs 8, 18 and 19). A similar arrangement was observed in nineteenth twentieth-century archaic horizontal-draught pit kilns in central and eastern Europe (Duma 1966:105; Moszynszki 1929:349; Plickov 1959:39). The kiln could be loaded through the stoke hole or through the flue as in BajnaCsima kiln n. 2, where the firing chamber was built stepwise behind the flue. The dimensions of horizontal-draught kilns vary, but they are usually much larger than up-draught kilns. In this case length, width and interior height are the most characteristic measurements. After these we may differentiate:

a group with smaller dimensions with an average length of 200250 cm, width of 100 cm and height of 6080 cm (Fig. 18)

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1. Humus 2. Modern mixed soil 3. Greyish black soil 4. Plaster 5. Yellow clay soil

Figure 18. Horizontal-draught, single-chambered kiln. Excavated at Szelezsny/Slaany (Slovakia). Dated to c. sixteenth century. The stoking hole is destroyed. (After Ruttkay 1988.)

a group with medium dimensions: length 350 cm, width 160 cm, height c. 80 cm and a group with very large dimensions: length 430600 cm, width 200220 cm, height 150160 cm.

As may be observed, width and height are not really proportionate to length. This is because the fire can be controlled by lengthening the path of the flame or the heat. All the known kilns were originally built with a single chamber, only BajnaCsima kiln n.1 was rebuilt to have two chambers (Fig. 8). To ensure even quality firing and to protect the vessels, it was important to control the path of the fire and the flame and to prevent direct contact between the loaded pottery and the flames. Single-chambered kilns The bottom of the kilns may be flat as in the case of Felso-Szelezsny (Fig. 18), Bajna-Csima 2, and Pozsony/Bratislava, or segmented by elongated, shallow, 1015 cm deep draught channels, as in the kilns excavated at Jesensky
Figure 19. Fragment of kadlub found on the firing floor of the Szelezsny/Slaany kiln. (After Ruttkay 1988.)

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Figure 20. Horizontal-draught, single-chambered kilns from the Rhineland, Germany, excavated at LangerweheJrgensdorf. The firing floors of the kilns were segmented by elongated parallel shallow channels. Dated to c. fourteenth fifteenth century. (After Jrgens 1988.)

Street, Galgc/Hlohovce at Michalsk Street, Galgc/Hlohovce (Pastorek 1985:114) and 39, Kossuth Street, Bajna. These channels helped the diffusion of the fire and the flames, and contributed to the separation of the pottery from the fire. Similar channels were found in kilns from the fourteenth century along the Rhine, e.g. at Langerwehe-Jrgersdorf (Fig. 20) and Hauptstrasse (Gaimster 1997:4243; Jrgens 1988:126 129, 134136). Clay slabs, called kadlub (Fig. 19) in the Slovakian literature, were found in the flatbottomed Szelezsny/Slaany kiln (Ruttkay 1988:128) and in the Galgc/Hlohovce kiln, the bottom of which was segmented by channels (Polla and Rejholec 1961:262). The slabs, which show the imprints of the vessel mouths, attest to the way the kilns were loaded. These slabs served to separate the pottery from the fire burning on the bottom of the kiln. The imprints of the vessels suggest that the vessels loaded on the bottom of the kilns were surrounded by unfired clay slabs. The vertical clay slabs or horizontally-perforated bars standing behind the stoke hole of the kiln also served to separate the pottery from the flames. They were observed in the kilns excavated at Hurban Square in Pozsony/Bratislava, and under 39, Kossuth Lajos Street, Bajna. They are probably identical to the structure described from the medieval kilns at Paffrath in Rhineland (Fig. 21), Dmmerin (Fig. 22) and Granzin in Saxony (Bhner 19551956; Drews 19781979:4647; Lung 19551958) and Saint-Denis in northern France (Meyer 1987:52), and those in horizontal-draught kilns discussed in the recent ethnographic literature (Duma 1982:6263; Fbin 19341935:32). They seem to have separated the firebox from the firing chamber in the same way as the grates in the up-draught kilns (Fig. 3). However they only helped the better distribution of the flames. As the firebox is horizontal and longer, the fire extended into the firing chamber, and its path had to be secured further on. A good example is provided even in a fragmentary state by the kiln excavated under 39, Kossuth Lajos Street in Bajna, where the floor of the firing chamber was further segmented by channels behind the fire-bar. Two-chambered grated kilns A grate was found only in a single case in Bajna-Csima kiln n.1, which was made during the rebuilding of the kiln (Fig. 8). A bench was built in the centre of the medium-large, 3.5 m long kiln, then a shelf was added to each of the two sides. They enclosed two horizontal 50-cm-wide draught channels, which were bridged

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Figure 21. Horizontal-draught, single-chambered kilns from the Rhineland, Germany, excavated at Paffrath. In kiln n.1 there are vertical clay slabs behind the stoke hole. Dated to thirteenthfourteenth century. (After Lung 1958.)

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Figure 22. Horizontal-draught, single-chambered kilns from Germany excavated at Dmmer. Vertical clay slabs were observed behind the stoke hole. Dated to eleventhtwelfth century. (After Drews 19781979.)

by fired clay bars. This construction helped to control the heat in the kiln and, at the same time, temporary modifications were still possible due to the distance between the bars of the grate. This arrangement is similar to the above-mentioned horizontal draught channels excavated in the Langerwehe kilns, which did not have a grate (Fig. 20). A similar, smaller kiln with a more regular ground plan was found from the same period in Brno, Moravia, where the grate was composed of mobile, removable plates. These structures are the forerunners of the so-called Kassel or German kilns, which were introduced in the seventeentheighteenth centuries, and which have been used to the present day (Duma 1966, 1982:6263; Fbin 19341935). Kiln orientation is not standardized because of the varied geographical properties of the individual sites. In sites where more than one kiln was found, the individual kilns had different orientations as e.g. at Bajna-Csima or Decs-Ete. Other structures connected with the kilns Working pit The majority of the kilns naturally had a working pit. The bottom of these pits, at least at the front, was aligned to the bottom of the firebox or the stoke-hole of the kiln.

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Roof Postholes for props could be observed around the working pits at Bajna-Csima kiln n.2 and at the kilns in becse-Perlek (Fig. 12). They suggest some kind of small roof that probably protected the workshop area of the kiln. At Felslupk/Gornea Tarmuri (Teicu and Lazarovici 1996:5556; Uzum and Teicu 1978:296) eight , , , postholes for the roof over the kiln were discovered, while at Brtfa/Bardejov remains of the roof structure were found collapsed into the kiln (aplovi and Slivka 1988:103). 7. The stratigraphy of the excavated kilns The kilns were usually built in pits dug into a clayey or loessy impermeable soil. Up-draught pit kilns are often excavated to a positive shape as the archaeologists follow the burnt surface and they are published in this form without comment. This can be very misleading because it implies that the kiln was built on the ground surface, while the earth around them was cleared only for the sake of an easier excavation and documentation. The excavation of the firing chamber with slightly arched walls to a positive form suggests that the kiln had a constructed dome. It is also misleading in that the wall peeled off in this manner can show an unrealistically thin structure. This can be seen especially clearly at the kilns excavated at Bs/Bac, Felslupk/Gornea Tarmuri (Fig. 11) and Babcsa (Fig. 15). , The pottery usually comes from the firing chamber or the surface, and the apertures of the grate. Finds are also often recovered from the firebox and the fill of the working pit. Horizontal-draught kilns often yield an extremely large amount of pottery, which suggests that the last load, or at least a large proportion of it, was left in the kiln. With this type of kiln, there is a greater possibility that the majority of the vessels loaded into the kiln are cracked, and they are difficult to unload through the narrow and relatively closed loading hole. In up-draught kilns it is relatively rare that many vessels from the last load are found in the interior of the kiln. The reason is that the structure of this kiln type affords easier loading possibilities. The Szelezsny/Slaany kiln provides the best example, where 1500 sherds from about 90 vessels were found (Ruttkay 1988:128). Similar phenomena were observed in the case of the kilns excavated at Galgc/ Hlohovce (Polla and Rejholec 1961:261) and Kassa/Koice (Pstor 1959:617618). 8. Some comments on the finds recovered from the kilns Only finished products have been published from the majority of the kilns. Spoilt and damaged vessels and tools are rarely mentioned. Among the finished products, pots were the most frequent, and probably made up 8090 per cent of fired vessels. Sometimes other smaller vessel types such as bowls are also found in rpdian Era kilns. At the same time, a pot-like storage vessel and a pottery cauldron, two different vessel types, which were also produced in series, were found in the Pusztaberny kiln (Vgner 2001:160). Late medieval kilns show a much more varied picture. Pots are again the most frequent

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vessels. Only pots were found in the fourteenth-century Galgc/Hlohovce kilns. In fifteenthsixteenth-century kilns, fragments of jugs, jars, bowls and stove tiles also occur beside the dominant pots. The finds from the Bajna Csima kilns are exceptional, with a greater variety of pots, jars and cups (Vgner 2001:5658). In the kiln excavated in Kassa/Koice, high, long-necked bottles of a special type and stove tiles were found (Pstor 1959:617618). The finds excavated in the Turkish period kilns at Esztergom-Szenttams hill included a large number of glazed wares characteristic of the period (Fehr and Pardi 1960:43). One of the reasons why so few spoilt vessels have been published is that most of the spoilt vessels appear as broken sherds, where it is difficult to tell if the vessel broke during or after firing. Usually only cracked and damaged pots are mentioned in this category as in the case of Szelezsny/Slaany (Ruttkay 1988:133) and Pozsony/Bratislava (Egyhzy-Jurovsk 1984:280). Half-finished vessel fragments, more precisely the fragments of bone-dry unfired vessels, were found in Bajna Csima kiln n.2, the comparative pyrotechnical analyses of which were carried out with the help of Imre Henszlman (Vgner 2001:59). Furthermore, fired, still unglazed vessels were found at the Esztergom Szenttams hill site (Fehr and Pardi 1960:43; Horvth et al. 1979:157). A few specific tools used during firing were also observed. One of the most mysterious tool groups consists of the clay slabs showing the loading technique of the kiln. These slabs, called kadlub in the Slovakian literature (Fig. 19), have preserved the imprints of the vessel mouths. This suggests that the slabs separated the vessels and the fire burning at the bottom of the kiln (Ruttkay 1988:128; Polla and Rejholec 1961:262). The clay slabs found in the filling of the two-chambered up-draught kilns of the Turkish period in Esztergom also served to control the flame direction. They were probably laid on the grate (Fehr and Pardi 1960:43). Several tripods were found in the Esztergom kiln. They are important tools of glazed ware firing. The painted vessels prepared for firing are placed in the kilns on these tripods with the mouth down (Vgner 2001:83). 9. Analytical investigation of kiln finds Analyses were effected in two cases on finds from the two main kiln types. 1. The vessels found in the up-draught kiln at becse-Botra (n.1) were compared to raw material collected from the nearby clay outcrop. The analyses showed that the vessel material did not come from the nearby large clay layer, which seemed initially the logical solution, but from a more distant outcrop. The average firing temperature of the pottery was also determined as around 880C (Stanojevi 1980:25). Similar temperature values around 8001000C were determined by reconstruction and pyrotechnical analyses in other up-draught two-chambered kilns from the La Tne-D (Jerem et al. 1985; Pieta 1995:2728), the Roman (Duek and Hohmann 1986; imi-Kanaet 1996:168171) and the Migration periods (Pleiner 1988:304; Reschreiter 1994:43). 2. Half-finished (unfired) pottery sherds recovered from the horizontal-draught kiln at Bajna-Csima were submitted to comparative pyrotechnical analyses

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under the supervision of Imre Henszlmann at the University of Applied Art. The purpose of the analysis was the comparison of the unfired bone-dry pottery sherds found beside the flue of the kiln with the pottery finds from the kiln in order to determine the firing temperature and technology, and the properties of the raw material used. Firing was carried out in an electric gradient kiln of NABER type at 980C 1255C for 6 hours, increasing the heat every 20 minutes. The colour of the samples changed from light pink to a creamy colour and to greyish white as heat was increased. The mass loss can be read from Table 3: temperature values were measured using TH32 and H505 type heat indicator discs:
Table 3. Mass loss Temperature 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1255 C 1247 C 1224 C 1190 C 1147 C 1080 C 979 C Mass loss due to heating 10.31 % 9.93 % 9.69 % 9.92 % 9.74 % 9.81 % 9.55 %

The firing of the samples evidently showed that the raw material of the pottery was granular clay that can be fired to white, refractory and solid, that is it does not contain lime. The mass loss between 9.5 and 10.5 per cent proves the high plasticity of the raw material. The colour and structure of the samples attested to an estimated temperature of 1150C during firing in the kiln. The colour we obtained at the end of firing tests at all temperatures was different to that of the majority of the finds, while the structure of the granular material seemed identical. This implies that the medieval firing may have been carried out in a slightly reducing atmosphere, when instead of the reddish shade of iron (III)-oxide, the greyish white or creamy white shade of iron (II)-oxide may be obtained. This technique was observed in the modern white-ware production centres of Gmr/Gemer in Slovakia (Szanyi 1977).

D ATA

ON WORKSHOP ORGANIZATION

There is only scarce historical data on the medieval potters workshops before the sixteenth century since guild development started relatively late in Hungary. They rarely report on individual workshops and their locations. So we have to rely primarily on archaeological sources, which can be completed with ethnographic data. The small number of kilns found at individual sites, the structure of the kilns and the finds they contained, suggest that the majority of the kilns were operated in workshops run by independent potters and their families.

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Table 4. Gazetteer of medieval pottery kilns in the Carpathian Basin site 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 Als Poltr/Doln Poltar Babcsa Nrciszos Bcs/Ba Bajna Csima Bajna, 39, Kossuth Lajos Street Brtfa/Bardejov iancova Street Budapest XX, Soroksr Vrhegy Decs - Ete puszta Decs, 8, Pilisi Elemr Street Esztergom, Szenttams hill, 6, Lpcs Street Galgc/Hlohovce Jesensky (Malinovsky) ul. Galgc/Hlohovce Michalska ul. Felslupk/Gornea Tarmuri . Hcs Bndekpuszta Kalocsa, 17, I. Istvn kirly Street Kaposvr road no. 61 leading eastwards out of the town Kassa/Koice, 57, robarovskej Street Kisszeben/Sabinov Mozsor/Moorin Bostanite Nagyvrad/Oradea Nyitra/Nitra Lupka becse/Beej Botra becse/Beej Perlek Pozsony/Bratislava, Hurbanovo Square Pusztaberny Pig sty Szkelykeresztr/Cristuru Secuisec, 26, Iskola Street hospital Szkelykeresztr/Cristuru Secuisec Katustava, /2, Hajnal Street Szelezsny - Fels Szelezsny/ Slaany Horn Slaany Ttgyarmat/Slovensk armoty Mal Iliaov Trkeve Csudabala, site no. 8 country Slovakia Hungary Yugoslavia Serbia Hungary Hungary Slovakia Hungary Hungary Hungary Hungary Slovakia Slovakia Romania Hungary Hungary Hungary Slovakia item 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 2 1 1 3 1 1 1 1 2 1 references Hrubec 1971 Magyar 1990 Stanojev 1996:1214 Horvth et al. 1979 Vgner 2001: 5557 aplovi and Slivka 1988 rsn-Melis 1992 Csalogovits 1937 Vgner 2001:79 Fehr and Pardy 1960 Polla Rejholec 1961 Pastorek 1985 Uzum and Teicu 1978 . Pardy 1967 Vgner 2001:102106 Vgner 2001:107108 Pastor 1959 Slivka 1978 Veselinovi 1952 Rusu 1996 Chropovsk 1959, 1961 Stanojevi 1980 Stanojev 1996:4274 Egyhzy-Jurovsk 1984 Brdos 1978; Vgner 2001 Benk 1992:159160 Benk 1992: 176177

Slovakia 1 Yugoslavia Serbia 1 Romania 1 Slovakia 13 Yugoslavia Serbia 5 Yugoslavia Serbia 2 Slovakia 1 Hungary Romania 1 1

27

Romania

28 29 30

Slovakia Slovakia Hungary

1 1 1

Ruttkay 1988 Vendzov 1964 Vgner 2001:178180

From a topographical aspect, the existence of independent potters workshops is indicated by the fact that the majority of the kilns were found alone or in small clusters. Likewise, ethnographic data shows that later, including the modern period, independent or small clusters of kilns were characteristic in the Carpathian Basin. A larger number of kilns (5) is known from a single site: a pottery workshop

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in the early village settlement of becse-Botra (Serbia). Their structure, size and location in the settlement match the average picture built up of tenththirteenthcentury pottery kilns. The finds, however, and the results of the comparative analyses of the raw materials indicate that the raw material of the vessels was transported from a few kilometres away on the other side of the River Tisza, which presupposes an organized activity (Stanojevi 1980:25). As regards the topographic characteristics it is worth mentioning that the early pottery kilns (tenththirteenth centuries) were often built between household ovens, in oven clusters, in villages (attached to their fire pits or working pits). This does not, however, mean that the pottery kilns were used only on a household level since the finds recovered from them imply a greater technical skill. A good example is offered by the kiln at Hcs-Bndekpuszta where a small and very simple up-draught, two-chambered, grated kiln was found between the household ovens, which contained high quality finds (Pardi 1967:25). The structural characteristics of the kilns may also imply features that are difficult to interpret with respect to workshop organization. The very simple structure of the small up-draught kilns characteristic of the tenththirteenth centuries might imply a pottery activity that satisfied household demand. But the above-mentioned pyrotechnical analyses and the ethnographic data showed that small, up-draught grated kilns with a diameter of about 1 m could produce a controllable firing at 800900C. The frequently occurring simple, poor-quality household ceramics of the tenththirteenth-century settlements and cemeteries have not been found in the pottery kilns excavated so far. At the same time, the small dimensions of the kilns in the region may be explained by the closed economic system of the period between the tenth and thirteenth centuries and of course before it, when production for markets was negligible. Late medieval workshops can be characterized by significantly larger kilns. This was caused by a change in the economic system of the country that started in the fourteenth century. This involved the concentration of market districts and centres and an increased demand for production. This increase led, in the case of updraught kilns, to a greater variety of structural arrangements. The larger size of the kilns indicates the demand for a larger-scale production. So it is no accident that they appeared in the Carpathian Basin with the new economic and market demand at the beginning of the fourteenth century. Serial mass production could be observed first of all in horizontal-draught kilns. One of the reasons is that, beside the larger size of the kilns, their structure and technology allowed more balanced firing. This, in turn, guaranteed the production of a larger number of vessels with relatively uniform high quality. The demand for this type and scale of production supposes more significant markets or market districts. This explains why the horizontal-draught kilns were usually built in cities (Kassa/Koice, Pozsony/Bratislava, Kisszeben/Sabinov), smaller towns (Galgc/ Hlohovce) or near outcrops of high quality raw material close to central places. Of these, only the kilns of Kassa/Koice and Kisszeben/Sabinov can be associated, with a degree of certainty, to the activity of town guilds (Pstor 1959:617618; Slivka 1978:182).

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The especially large horizontal-draught kilns satisfied the demand for special production such as in workshops where rare, extremely high-quality white pottery (proto-stoneware, near-stoneware) based on kaolin raw material fired at a high temperature was produced in large quantities. In the Carpathian Basin, two workshops have been excavated in all, which are situated in the territories of two distant kaolin outcrops. The earlier, thirteenthfifteenth-century, kiln excavated in the territory of Als Poltr/Doln Poltar, was built in the recently extremely important stoneware-producing region in Gmr, while the later kilns of Bajna, dated to the end of the fifteenth century and the beginning of the sixteenth century, operated in a smaller, lesser-known region. As well as their age and location, the structures and the topographic characteristics of the kilns also show significant divergences. At Als Poltr/Doln Poltar a large up-draught kiln with a 4 m diameter was excavated, while in Bajna large horizontal-draught kilns of western origin from the Rhine region were uncovered. These large kilns and the unique finds recovered from them evidence organized production, which can be justified by being bound to the territory because of the scarcity of the high-quality raw material that lent a unique quality to the vessels.

S UMMARY
The following comments may be made with regard to the kilns discovered in the territory of medieval Hungary in the Carpathian Basin. As regards their structure, the pottery kilns can be grouped into an up-draught type with vertical flame direction and a horizontal-draught type with horizontal flame direction. It is generally characteristic of the kilns that they were built in pits. The majority of the up-draught kilns had two chambers separated by a grate, while only a few kilns with a single chamber were found, restricted to two regions. The majority of the horizontal-draught kilns had a single chamber, where various arrangements for the direction and control of fire could be observed. A grate, which increases the safety of firing, was observed in only a single case. The comparison of the two types shows that the horizontal-draught kilns provided greater production to a higher standard because of the better control of firing. Beside structural specifics, the two main types also show divergences in distribution and origin. Up-draught kilns were used in the greater part of the Carpathian Basin throughout the Middle Ages. Types of up-draught kilns are known in the Carpathian Basin from the Neolithic, and they could also have been introduced by the conquering Hungarians. Horizontal-draught kilns, however, are known only from the turn of the thirteenthfourteenth centuries until the sixteenth century in the territory of present-day Slovakia and north-western Hungary. The kilns diffused to central Europe and arrived in the Carpathian Basin from western Europe, probably as a result of influence from Germany. In the case of horizontaldraught kilns of foreign origin it is obvious, even given the low number of excavated kilns, how variable the type was. This indicates that the type did not arrive in a single wave and did not have a single origin. It can also be supposed that after some time they were locally further developed.

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Significant differences can be observed in the size and the quantity and quality of kiln finds from the tenththirteenth and the fourteenthsixteenth centuries. The kilns from the tenththirteenth centuries show a uniform picture. They were small with an average diameter of 1 m, and they were built of earth. The late medieval kilns are always larger in both types and the structures are more varied. The differences in size mirror the economic characteristics of the two periods. The earlier, closed, self-supporting workshops produced fewer wares for the markets, while the larger-scale production from the fourteenth century onwards shows the transformation of the economy and the increase in market demand. This explains why the horizontal-draught kilns that allowed high standard large-scale production appeared only in this period in the economically more advanced northern territories of the Carpathian Basin. The most important topographic feature is that, for technical reasons, the kilns were built mainly in waterless locations, although they were often established close to water sources. The kilns can be found in various settlement types. The common feature is that, disregarding late medieval fortified towns, they can usually be found in the central parts of the settlements. Because of the lack of written sources, the existence of potters workshops can be deduced only from the discovered kilns. They usually evidence small workshops of independent potters, which could be different depending on the scale of production. Of the few special workshops only the large size of the Als Poltr/Doln Poltar kiln and its place among the productive buildings of the manor indicates some kind of a centralized production. Little is known about the workshops of towns where individual objects were also produced and that satisfied the town market. The kilns of these workshops also hint at the activity of independent potters. This also indicates how important it would be to study in more detail the workshops where stoneware was produced and those that were operated by guilds.

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B IOGRAPHICAL

NOTE

Zsolt Vgner studied at the Etvs Lornd University in Budapest. Since 1998 he has been researching the history of medieval pottery production technology in the Carpathian Basin using archaeological, historical, geographical and ethnographical sources and approaches with the help of pyrotechnical analysis. In 2001 he completed his MA dissertation on the medieval pottery kilns in the Carpathian Basin and the present article is based on the results of the dissertation, which included a database and classification of medieval pottery kilns and their technological and topographical features, and the history of their development. At the moment he is an independent archaeologist in Hungary. Address: Pcel 2119, Csiktarcsa utca 8, Hungary. [email: zsvagner@freemail.hu]

A BSTRACTS
Fours poterie mdivaux dans le bassin des Carpates Zsolt Vgner Cet article porte sur les fours poterie datant du 10e au 16e sicle sur le territoire de la Hongrie mdivale, dans le bassin des Carpates. Les fours sont classifis daprs leur structure, la technique de construction ainsi que la technologie relative la cuisson. Ces caractristiques sont analyses en se basant sur les preuves archologiques, les sources ethnographiques et les analyses technologiques et pyrotechniques. De mme, on examine les particularits archologiques et stratigraphiques ainsi que quelques problmes inhrents aux tudes des fours mdivaux. Une analyse topographique des fours par rapport aux ateliers et villages, daprs les vidences archologiques et historiques, est prsente paralllement une analyse du dveloppement, de lorigine et de la distribution des diffrents types de fours mdivaux dans le bassin des Carpates. On termine par une courte discussion sur ce que ltude des fours poterie peut apporter la meilleure comprhension de lorganisation des ateliers. Mot-cls: basin des Carpates, classification, fours poterie mdivaux, histoire technologique Mittelalterliche Tpferfen im Karpatenbecken Zsolt Vgner Der Beitrag beschftigt sich mit Tpferfen des 10.-16. Jhs. aus dem Karpatenbecken im Territorium des mittelalterlichen Ungarns. Die fen werden anhand ihres Aufbaus, ihrer

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Bauweise und Befeuerungstechnologie klassifiziert; diese Charakteristika werden unter Einbeziehung archologischer Befunde, ethnographischer Quellen sowie technologischer und pyrotechnischer Analysen untersucht. Weiterhin werden die archologischen und stratigraphischen Gesichtspunkte und verschiedene methodologische Probleme der Forschung zu mittelalterlichen Tpferfen diskutiert und eine topographische Analyse der fen zu Werksttten und Siedlungen auf der Basis archologischer Befunde und historischer Quellen prsentiert. Zudem wird die Entwicklungsgeschichte, Herkunft und Verbreitung der verschiedenen Typen mittelalterlicher Keramikbrennfen vorgestellt. Eine kurze Diskussion widmet sich dem Beitrag, den die Untersuchung von Tpferfen zum Verstndnis der Organisation von Werksttten leistet. Schlsselbegriffe: Karpatenbecken, Klassifikation, mittelalterliche Tpferfen, Technologiegeschichle

A jelen tanulmny tanulmny clja a Krpt-medencbl, a kzpkori Magyarorszg terletrl elkerlt kzpkori, 1016. szzad kz keltezhet fazekaskemenck bemutatsa. A fazekaskemenck tpusainak vizsglata, osztlyozsa a szerkezeti, ptstechnikai, valamint az gets technolgiai jellegzetessgek alapjn. A fezakaskemence tpusok szerkezetnek ptstechnikjnak, s azok jellemz getstechnikjnak vizsglata, bemutatsa, illetve rekonstrulsa, a rgszeti adatok mellett a nprajzi forrsok, valamint a kemenckbl elkerlt leletek technolgiai, pirotechnikai vizsglatok felhasznlsval. Tovbb az getokemenck rgszeti- statigrfiai jellegzetessgeinek, valamint nhny a feltrsok kapcsn felmerl rgszeti mdszertani problma bemutatsa. A kemenck szerkezeti s technolgiai vizsglatai mellett teret kapott a kemenck rvid mhely s telepls topogrfiai rtkelse a rgszeti, illetve a trtneti forrsok segtsgvel. Mindezek, valamint a rgszeti-trtneti prhuzamok segtsgvel a Krpt-medencbl elkerlt kzpkori fazekaskemenck fejldstrtnetnek rvid trgyalsa, azok elterjedsnek, eredetnek a vizsglata alapjn. Vgezetl a fazekaskemencknek a mhelyszervezetekre utal jellegzetessgeinek a rvid trgyalsa.

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