Journal of Roman Pottery Studies Volume 17 by Steven Willis

Author:Steven Willis [Willis, Steven]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781785709340
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: Oxbow Books
Published: 2018-04-30T00:00:00+00:00

5.3 Size

Any discussion of the size and capacity of these prefabricated ovens is limited by the fact that so few near complete examples are known, as well as the lack of a study of Roman oven typologies and sizes in general. Perring (2002, 196) describes hearths and ovens with diameters of c 300–500mm. Cubberley et al. (1988, 10) suggest there is a chronological trend in the size of clibani and testi found in Italy, with first and second century examples ranging from c 350–500mm, third century examples c 240–300mm, and later examples smaller again. There does not seem to be a similar trend in the size of the prefabricated ovens described here, based on existing evidence. The early examples from the Languedoc (Barberan et al. 2006) range between c 540–650mm. The oven from Holt has a base diameter of c 610mm, and the oven from Prestatyn c 480mm (Heke 2017), while the Malvern/Worcester ovens have diameters ranging from c 520–600mm. These are broadly comparable in size to the tannur-type ovens discussed by Tkáčová (2013, 23), which are c 400–800mm in diameter at the base, but significantly smaller than the furnus ovens described by Darling (2012), which have bases ranging from c 850–1000mm. The latter are more comparable with the modern Pereruela ovens at c 910mm in diameter. It is interesting reviewing publicity about modern day pizza ovens. Some manufacturers produce three sizes: c 600mm, c 750mm, c 900–1000mm. The publicity for one advertises the small size as suitable for one extra large pizza, claiming that one pizza could be cooked every 90 seconds. Another manufacturer claims that this size would take 20 minutes to heat up, and would retain heat for four hours, or up to 24 hours if insulated. Clearly this is not scientific data, but it does provide a starting point for possible experimental archaeology projects in the future.

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