CERAMIC COMPLEX OF THE 19th CENTURY POTTERY KILN IN THE MEDZHYBIZH VILLAGE

Abstract

The paper is devoted to the characteristics of materials obtained during the research of the remains of the 19th century pottery kiln discovered in Medzhybizh village, Khmelnytskyi region. Medzhybizh pottery has been known since the 17th century, and the documents of the pottery workshop date back to the 18th—19th centuries. Also at the beginning of the 20th century A. Prusevich carried out an ethnographic survey of the pottery of this center. The researcher noted Medzhybizh as one of the significant centers for the production of the glaze pottery.
 In 2018, a pottery kiln was discovered in the central part of the town during protective archaeological excavation. Probably it can belong to the class of heating-technical structure with vertical or mixed (horizontal-vertical) flow of hot gasses. The kiln was filled with a large number of fragments of defective ceramics and semi-finished products.
 According to technological characteristics almost all pottery are made of red or brown ferruginized clays. The molding mass is quite thin, without visible impurities. Dark brown, red, white, and green paints were used for the decoration of products as well as transparent, colorless, green, and brown glazes. Many fragments are burnt and deformed.
 According to their functional purpose the vast majority of finds are pots, pans, bowls and plates. Semi-finished products of painted bowls and plates make up the bulk of products. These are vessels after the first firing, without glaze, covered with white or red engobe. A significant part of them is painted in the techniques of rizhkuvannja and fliandrivka. A group of vessels made in the sgraffito technique, unusual for Podillia, also stands out. They are decorated with plant motifs, two fragments have images of birds. A similar completed bowl made in the sgraffito technique, was discovered in 2017 on the territory of the castle. On the outside surface it contains the inscriptions in Hebrew. This may indicate other bearers of pottery traditions who arrived in Medzhybizh at the beginning of the 19th century and worked on their technologies for quite a long time.
 This research allows us to draw conclusions about the high level of pottery in Medzhybizh in the 19th century, the mass production of fliandrivka technique red clay bowls as well as the existence at that time of the tradition of making pottery in the sgraffito technique which was obviously brought to the region from the south or southwest. In the main features of the forms and ornamentation of ceramic dishes the similarity with the pottery of the Middle Dnieper region can be traced though there are also significant distinctive features that characterize the pottery of Podillia at this time.