The Oldest Ceramics
Blog 3 – Tile Kilns (1st draft 19 July 2011)
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The oldest Ceramics
The most beautiful of ancient art are the Venus Figurines of Ancient Europe which were carved around 30 000 years ago from the upper Palaeolithic period (Late stone age 40-10ka) and have been found from Spain to Siberia. These items were either carved from stone, bone or ivory, or molded in clay and fired. These figurines are among the oldest ceramics known. These were in all likelihood fired in very primitive kilns, probably no more than a hollow in a mudbank or by pit firing in a trench.
The Venus of Dolní Věstonice is the very oldest ceramic known. This figurine, together with a few others from nearby locations, is the oldest known ceramic in the world, predating the use of fired clay to make pottery. It has a height of 111mm and a width of 43mm at its widest point and is made of a clay body fired at a relatively low temperature. It has been dated at 29,000–25,000 BCE using a variety of techniques. It was discovered in what is now the Czech Republic in 1924. It is protected and only rarely accessible to the public.
A tomograph scan in 2004 found a fingerprint of a child estimated at between 7 and 15 years of age, fired into the surface; the child who handled the figurine before it was fired is nonetheless not likely to have been its maker. Perhaps the maker’s son touched the raw clay with the question, “Is this Mommy?” More than 5000 ceramic artifacts were found at Dolní Věstonice. Conjectured methods of manufacture were confirmed by radiography. The compositions and mineralogy of the artifacts were identical to those of the local soil, loess. A firing temperature range of 500° to 800° C was measured and compared with those of hearths and kilns. The mechanism of sintering was liquid-phase sintering. Many fracture sections show evidence of thermal shock from poor control of
Facebook: See our new blog: Tile Kilns History
Twitter: Tile Kilns: Read the full article on our blog.
The oldest Ceramics
The most beautiful of ancient art are the Venus Figurines of Ancient Europe which were carved around 30 000 years ago from the upper Palaeolithic period (Late stone age 40-10ka) and have been found from Spain to Siberia. These items were either carved from stone, bone or ivory, or molded in clay and fired. These figurines are among the oldest ceramics known. These were in all likelihood fired in very primitive kilns, probably no more than a hollow in a mudbank or by pit firing in a trench.
The Venus of Dolní Věstonice is the very oldest ceramic known. This figurine, together with a few others from nearby locations, is the oldest known ceramic in the world, predating the use of fired clay to make pottery. It has a height of 111mm and a width of 43mm at its widest point and is made of a clay body fired at a relatively low temperature. It has been dated at 29,000–25,000 BCE using a variety of techniques. It was discovered in what is now the Czech Republic in 1924. It is protected and only rarely accessible to the public.
A tomograph scan in 2004 found a fingerprint of a child estimated at between 7 and 15 years of age, fired into the surface; the child who handled the figurine before it was fired is nonetheless not likely to have been its maker. Perhaps the maker’s son touched the raw clay with the question, “Is this Mommy?” More than 5000 ceramic artifacts were found at Dolní Věstonice. Conjectured methods of manufacture were confirmed by radiography. The compositions and mineralogy of the artifacts were identical to those of the local soil, loess. A firing temperature range of 500° to 800° C was measured and compared with those of hearths and kilns. The mechanism of sintering was liquid-phase sintering. Many fracture sections show evidence of thermal shock from poor control of