DOI chapter:
D. Zusammenfassung
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.68089#0125
Andreas Heege
121
2. Horizontal cross-draught kilns
The second group of kilns is made up of horizontal cross-
draught kilns (Abb. 15, 16, 18, 21-24, 29, 30, 32, 33, 39-44,
46—50,112—188). The essential criterion of this type assigna-
tion is the more or less horizontal or upward sloping arrange-
ment of the fireplace and firing chamber, which are placed
horizontally one behind the other. They could be separated
by a pronounced step, mostly combined with a fire grate of
crock or clay columns, or a latticework of bricks. The kiln
draught was diagonal to almost horizontal. This assumes cor-
respondingly arranged extractor holes in the kiln vault or at
the rear of the kiln close to the base. An exhaust vent or
chimney is not absolutely necessary, but however ensures an
optimum draught.
Until now, the development of the horizontal kiln type could
only be described using hypotheses. If the starting point in
the investigation area and the western bordering regions,
above all France, is considered, only the vertical kiln type
with a circular or slightly oval ground plan in the late-Ro-
man-Merovingian-Carolingian tradition is worthy of consid-
eration as the starting point of a technological development
series. The few more recent kiln finds can then be taken as a
pointer that there could possibly have been two technologi-
cally different, but at least partially contemporaneous, lines
of development.
The first development variant in the 8th to 10th centuries
led to “prehistoric looking” single chamber kilns by omitting
both the split or raised kiln floor as well as the supporting
central pillar or axial spine wall. The kiln load was stacked
on the bottom of the firing chamber, while the fireplace area
was brought forward in the form of a short fire tunnel. If
the originally rather circular kiln ground plan is lengthened
or enlarged, the kiln floor arranged in a slope and the fire-
place area further sunken, one then has a cross-draught sin-
gle-chamber kiln with a variable slope firing chamber (Abb.
112, 124). Possibly only in a following stage was a separat-
ing element between the fireplace and firing chamber then
(from the llth/12th centuries) developed. This consisted of
individual or multiple clay or crock columns. These distrib-
uted the flames (fire grates, flame separators), supported the
transition between the fireplace area and the kiln dome and
prevented shifting of the kiln load. In Rhineland, kilns of
this type (Abb. 29, 150) formed the starting point for the
subsequent development of stoneware kilns (Abb. 46, 50,
125-160).
Between the 10th and 11th centuries, the second develop-
ment variant led from vertical circular kilns with axial spine
walls (Abb. 14, 67 and 74) to vertical elongated oval kilns
with axial spine walls and raised floors of mobile or immo-
bile fire bars (e.g. Gesves-Mozet B, Ubach over Worms NL,
Eckdorf, Nordrhein-Westfalen D, Abb. 76—77). If the mobile
fire bars are omitted from these kilns, one gets “horizontal
kilns with central spoon-shaped firing floors” (Abb. 30, 48,
113—121), whose surface can vary from flat to rounded. Kilns
with spoon-shaped firing floors were not developed further
in Belgium and Germany after the 14th century and did not
enter into the technology of near-stoneware or stoneware
kilns.
2.1 Horizontal cross-draught kilns with spoon-
shaped firing floors
On the basis of their construction and geographical distribu-
tion, horizontal cross-draught kilns with spoon-shaped firing
floors can be subdivided into two groups. The first group
comprises northern France, Belgium, Rhineland, Lower
Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Brandenburg and Northern Bavar-
ia (Abb. 30, 48, 113-121). The second group, in which the
spoon-shaped firing floor is always built up of crocks, com-
prises Southern Bavaria and Austria (Abb. 122).
Proof of the existence of horizontal cross-draught kilns with
spoon-shaped firing floors of various shapes in the area was
examined from the 11th until the early 14th centuries. They
are a northern French-Maasland-Rhineland kiln type. North
of Paris F, there are isolated discoveries of this type of kiln
from the 1 Oth/ 11th centuries, which are thus the oldest known
examples to date. In Belgium, most of the kilns of this type
were unearthed in connection with the Maasland ceramic pro-
duction of the “Andenne” type (late 11th to early 14th cen-
turies, see Abb. 113—114). Distribution then also embraced
western Flanders (Kortrijk? B) and the southern Nether-
lands (Brunssum-Schinveld NL, Abb. 115) in the 12th and
13th centuries. At the same time as the finds in Brunssum-
Schinveld, identical Idin types also appeared in numerous left
and right bank pottery locations in North Rhine-Westphalia
D (Erkelenz, Katterbach, the town of Bergisch-Gladbach,
Langerwehe, Langerwehe-Jüngersdorf, Paffrath, Wildenrath,
Witterschlick, see Abb. 48, 116-117). In comparison, until
now, no examples from Alayen or Westerwald, Rhineland-Pa-
latinate D have been found.
With Flemish-Rhineland potters (?), this kiln type reached the
Saxon-Germanic-Slavic regions, which were previously with-
out a consequential pottery or kiln tradition (Eastern North
Rhine-Westphalia D, Southern Lower Saxony D, Saxony-An-
halt D, Branderburg D and Denmark), in the 12th and early
13th centuries. This was probably within the context of the
initial stages of the Ostkolonisation (east colonization) (see
Abb. 118—120). Astonishing is the further distribution of this
type of kiln to the southeast, namely to Lower and Upper
Franconia, and Upper Bavaria D, from the middle of the 13th
century and into the 14th century (Abb. 121).
121
2. Horizontal cross-draught kilns
The second group of kilns is made up of horizontal cross-
draught kilns (Abb. 15, 16, 18, 21-24, 29, 30, 32, 33, 39-44,
46—50,112—188). The essential criterion of this type assigna-
tion is the more or less horizontal or upward sloping arrange-
ment of the fireplace and firing chamber, which are placed
horizontally one behind the other. They could be separated
by a pronounced step, mostly combined with a fire grate of
crock or clay columns, or a latticework of bricks. The kiln
draught was diagonal to almost horizontal. This assumes cor-
respondingly arranged extractor holes in the kiln vault or at
the rear of the kiln close to the base. An exhaust vent or
chimney is not absolutely necessary, but however ensures an
optimum draught.
Until now, the development of the horizontal kiln type could
only be described using hypotheses. If the starting point in
the investigation area and the western bordering regions,
above all France, is considered, only the vertical kiln type
with a circular or slightly oval ground plan in the late-Ro-
man-Merovingian-Carolingian tradition is worthy of consid-
eration as the starting point of a technological development
series. The few more recent kiln finds can then be taken as a
pointer that there could possibly have been two technologi-
cally different, but at least partially contemporaneous, lines
of development.
The first development variant in the 8th to 10th centuries
led to “prehistoric looking” single chamber kilns by omitting
both the split or raised kiln floor as well as the supporting
central pillar or axial spine wall. The kiln load was stacked
on the bottom of the firing chamber, while the fireplace area
was brought forward in the form of a short fire tunnel. If
the originally rather circular kiln ground plan is lengthened
or enlarged, the kiln floor arranged in a slope and the fire-
place area further sunken, one then has a cross-draught sin-
gle-chamber kiln with a variable slope firing chamber (Abb.
112, 124). Possibly only in a following stage was a separat-
ing element between the fireplace and firing chamber then
(from the llth/12th centuries) developed. This consisted of
individual or multiple clay or crock columns. These distrib-
uted the flames (fire grates, flame separators), supported the
transition between the fireplace area and the kiln dome and
prevented shifting of the kiln load. In Rhineland, kilns of
this type (Abb. 29, 150) formed the starting point for the
subsequent development of stoneware kilns (Abb. 46, 50,
125-160).
Between the 10th and 11th centuries, the second develop-
ment variant led from vertical circular kilns with axial spine
walls (Abb. 14, 67 and 74) to vertical elongated oval kilns
with axial spine walls and raised floors of mobile or immo-
bile fire bars (e.g. Gesves-Mozet B, Ubach over Worms NL,
Eckdorf, Nordrhein-Westfalen D, Abb. 76—77). If the mobile
fire bars are omitted from these kilns, one gets “horizontal
kilns with central spoon-shaped firing floors” (Abb. 30, 48,
113—121), whose surface can vary from flat to rounded. Kilns
with spoon-shaped firing floors were not developed further
in Belgium and Germany after the 14th century and did not
enter into the technology of near-stoneware or stoneware
kilns.
2.1 Horizontal cross-draught kilns with spoon-
shaped firing floors
On the basis of their construction and geographical distribu-
tion, horizontal cross-draught kilns with spoon-shaped firing
floors can be subdivided into two groups. The first group
comprises northern France, Belgium, Rhineland, Lower
Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Brandenburg and Northern Bavar-
ia (Abb. 30, 48, 113-121). The second group, in which the
spoon-shaped firing floor is always built up of crocks, com-
prises Southern Bavaria and Austria (Abb. 122).
Proof of the existence of horizontal cross-draught kilns with
spoon-shaped firing floors of various shapes in the area was
examined from the 11th until the early 14th centuries. They
are a northern French-Maasland-Rhineland kiln type. North
of Paris F, there are isolated discoveries of this type of kiln
from the 1 Oth/ 11th centuries, which are thus the oldest known
examples to date. In Belgium, most of the kilns of this type
were unearthed in connection with the Maasland ceramic pro-
duction of the “Andenne” type (late 11th to early 14th cen-
turies, see Abb. 113—114). Distribution then also embraced
western Flanders (Kortrijk? B) and the southern Nether-
lands (Brunssum-Schinveld NL, Abb. 115) in the 12th and
13th centuries. At the same time as the finds in Brunssum-
Schinveld, identical Idin types also appeared in numerous left
and right bank pottery locations in North Rhine-Westphalia
D (Erkelenz, Katterbach, the town of Bergisch-Gladbach,
Langerwehe, Langerwehe-Jüngersdorf, Paffrath, Wildenrath,
Witterschlick, see Abb. 48, 116-117). In comparison, until
now, no examples from Alayen or Westerwald, Rhineland-Pa-
latinate D have been found.
With Flemish-Rhineland potters (?), this kiln type reached the
Saxon-Germanic-Slavic regions, which were previously with-
out a consequential pottery or kiln tradition (Eastern North
Rhine-Westphalia D, Southern Lower Saxony D, Saxony-An-
halt D, Branderburg D and Denmark), in the 12th and early
13th centuries. This was probably within the context of the
initial stages of the Ostkolonisation (east colonization) (see
Abb. 118—120). Astonishing is the further distribution of this
type of kiln to the southeast, namely to Lower and Upper
Franconia, and Upper Bavaria D, from the middle of the 13th
century and into the 14th century (Abb. 121).