Thermomagnetic analysis of medieval pottery from Veliki Preslav. Part II

Abstract

This article is the second and final publication, completing the initial stage in the study of an unknown technological parameter of Medieval pottery – firing temperatures for different functional and technological groups of vessels. In 2016, within the project of the Laboratory of Paleomagnetism at the Earth Magnetism Department at NIGGG – BAS, were determined the characteristic temperature ranges of 15 pottery groups registered during the excavations of the Ruler’s Church site in Veliki Preslav. In 2019, this was done for another 18 ceramic groups, represented by 22 samples. The selected finds were found in stratigraphic layers, which cover a wide chronological range – from the first half of the 10th to the middle of the 13th c. The comparison of the thermomagnetic results for the functionally identical vessels from different chronological series, helped outlining some tendencies in the development of the production during the 10th – 13th c.: kitchenware was fired at temperatures between 730 and 930 °; tableware was fired at higher temperatures than the rest of the pottery groups – 790 and 950 ° and at 1100 ° for the elaborate Preslav painted pottery. The firing temperature for the imported faience vessels were also amongst the highest (1100 °). Storageware was fired at 790 – 950 °. All this allowed making some comparisons with similar results from the thermomagnetic analysis of the Medieval pottery from Pliska.