458 The Roman Potteries at Burohrivce. 



of manufacturing the bricks of which, these kilns are made is 

 worthy of notice. The clay was previously mixed with about 

 one-third of rye in the chaff, which, being consumed by the 

 fire, left cavities in the room of the grains. This might have 

 been intended to modify expansion and contraction, as well as 

 to assist the gradual distribution of the colouring vapour. 

 The mouth of the furnace and top of the kiln were, no doubt, 

 stopped ; thus we find every part of the kiln, from the inside 

 wall to the earth on the outside, and every part of the clay 

 wrappers of the dome, penetrated with the colouring exhalation. 

 As further proof that the colouring of the ware was imparted 

 by firing, I collected the clays of the neighbourhood, including 

 specimens from the immediate vicinity of the smother kilns. 

 In colour some of these clays resembled the ware after firing, 

 and some were darker. I submitted them to a process similar 

 to that I have described. The clays dug near the kilns 

 whitened in firing, probably from being bituminous. I also 

 put some fragments of the blue pottery into the kiln ; they 

 came out precisely of the same colour as the clay fired with 

 them, which had been taken from the side of the kilns. The 

 experiment proved to me that the colour could not be attri- 

 buted to any metallic oxide, either existing in the clay or 

 applied externally; and this conclusion is confirmed by the 

 appearance of the clay wrappers of the dome of the kiln. It 

 should be remarked, that this colour is so volatile that it is 

 expelled by a second firing in an open kiln." Mr. Artis 

 proceeds to inform us that these kilns, so many of which were 

 discovered, were " all constructed on the same principle. A 

 circular hole was dug, from three to four feet deep, and four 

 in diameter, and walled round to the height of two feet. A 

 furnace, one-third of the diameter of the kiln in length, com- 

 municates with the side. In the centre of the circle so formed 

 was an oval pedestal, the height of the sides, with the end 

 pointing to the furnace mouth. Upon this pedestal and side- 

 wall the floor of the kiln rests. It is formed of perforated 

 angular bricks, meeting at one point in the centre. The 

 furnace with bricks moulded for the purpose. The side of the 

 kiln is constructed with curved bricks, set edgeways in a thick 

 slip (the same material made into a thin mortar) of the same 

 material, to the height of two feet." Fortunately, some of 

 these kilns remained almost entire, and many had been left 

 with the pottery partly packed in them for firing, so that 

 there was no difficulty in understanding the nature of the 

 process here employed by the Eoman potters. Mr. Artis goes 

 on to say, " I now proceed to describe the process of packing 

 the kiln, and securing uniform heat in firing the ware, which 

 was the same in the two different kinds of kilns. They were 



