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Huge pottery workshop in
Sicily
Moi Watson
Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, Merlot in one hand, Cigar in the other; body thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and screaming "WOO HOO, what a ride!
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Hope they find evidence of what they made and how they made it, eg, kick wheel, slab built, molds, etc.
Mass produced red on black?
Richard Campbell
Legio XX - Alexandria, Virginia
RAT member #6?
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The production of pottery vessels in Gaul was also a massive industry. There were three main centres of production. The 'Southern' Gaulish potteries were centred around the town of La Graufesenque, those of Central Gaul were in the towns of Lezoux and Bannasac, while the Eastern Gaulish products came from the area of Trier and Rheinzabern - Gaul to the Romans but German to us. The kilns have been excavated and there is good evidence that these would produce anything between 20,000 to 40,000 vessels at one firing. Most of the pottery (known as 'samian ware' in the UK but dubbed 'terra sigillata' on the Continent) was plain and therefore devoid of decoration but there were some forms that were decorated with raised designs. These last were made in moulds and it is this type of pottery that Josiah Wedgewood was trying to reproduce with his 'Jasper-ware'. Samian pottery is found in nearly all Roman sites in the late 1st to early 3rd centuries AD. The moulds themselves were made on a potter's wheel, with the various designs being pushed into the wet clay on the inside of the mould using small clay punches, known as 'poinçons', with the design (of which more than 5,000 are known) being carved onto the end. These designs included figures from Roman mythology, enemies that the Romans had defeated, gladiators, animals and erotic scenes. The pottery is almost always red with a high shine (at least for the Southern Gaulish examples) but there is sometimes found a black version. The colour is due to the crystal size of aluminium and iron oxides in the glaze and is related to how quickly the pottery was allowed to cool down, rapid cooling produced small crystals, which are red in colour. As the crystals are allowed to grow larger through slow cooling, the colour changes to black.
Mike Thomas
(Caratacus)
visne scire quod credam? credo orbes volantes exstare.
