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Socio-economical
context of producers:
Pottery production system involves
understanding the nature of social structure of Aita El Foukhar,
especially the potter identities and their economical sources.
Pottery making is a part –time activity, which conducted in
summer between May / June to the end of October. Pottery
production was a major source of
income for the families who involved in this activity. Wag-labor
or lease a land was other economical sources for potters.
Potters and their families did not own lands. Therefore, in time
when pottery production stopped, they cultivate and harvest
others land. They were wage - workers during the cultivation and
harvesting seasons of wheat and other grains. Or they leased a
land and pay 1/3 of the agriculture products to landowner. To
more extent, pottery trade was other means of transforming the
products into foods
Learning Framework:
Pottery activity is conducted in a
workshop (Twan). It was a male dominant activity, which
transmitted from father to his sons. Both were the main source
of labor. The knowledge of pottery making was acquired through
gradual stages. The knowledge of the craft passed through
several segmental activities. These include the acquiring and
preparation of raw materials, to firing stage. After that when
he acquired the chain knowledge of the craft he can be
specialized of a given segment activity for example throwing the
pot on a wheel or forming with paddle/ anvil method.
Despite the fact
that pottery making is in the hand of men, women played a role
in production stages but not in forming methods.
Raw Material collecting:
Clay chunks were collected from
nearby Aita El Foukhar. Men were the main labor forces involved
in this activity. They collected clay from pits, which reach at
some point 10 m deep. The clay source is not more than 3 km far
from the village. There, the clay deposit is mined from a
hillside.
Potters were usually
defining clay quality after color. They collected two types of
clay. These are red clay and white clay. One, the red clay, used
as tempering material to achieve the desire plasticity, the
clays then is transported to the village. The main means of
transporting was donkeys.
Raw materials Preparation:
Special large basins were
constructed close to a water source. In these basins the dry
clay were spread and covered with water. The clay soaked in
water for few days till the clay is freed from impurities. Women
beside men were active in clay preparation.
Clay body:
The clay body is a mixture of two
types of clays. These are normative names for red and white
clays. The volume of each is 1 to 1. The mixture is left to
aging over night. It is further subjected to kneading and cut in
cylindrical forms to be ready for forming.
Forming techniques:
Pots are formed by two main
techniques: wheel throwing and coiling. A description of these
techniques will be mainly directed toward the water
jar production. The jar’s lower part is formed by wheel
-throwing. This part includes the base and almost 1/3 of the
pot's height. After that the pot left to dry and the upper most
part of it is wrapped with a textile to keep it moist.
The second part of
the pot is formed with coiling techniques. This part includes
the pot’s belly and shoulder. Coiling is a technique of forming
but the method of forming is by paddle and anvil (Kaf and Mihbat).
The anvil is made of wood while the paddle is a pebble. It is
the method by which the thinning and shaping of coils to a
desired thickness and profile.
The rim part will be
further formed by wheel-throwing. These technical combinations
divided the pots into three parts: the base and the first lower
part of the pot, the belly part and shoulder and the last is the
rim.
Glazing the pottery:
Few of the pots produced at the
village were subjected to glazing. These include jars, bowls,
and cooking pots. The raw material of glazing is called locally
Zieraqoun. This term means a material that gave a blue color.
The potters used to buy this material from Zahleh. It has a
powder texture. They solve it with water and applied it at the
surface of pot with a textile.
Usually glazing is
applied at the internal face of the pots. These include olive
jars, bowls, plate, and cooking pots.
Decoration Stage:
Women are active participators in
pot decoration. The main decorative muster applied at pots’
external faces is comb decoration. Ochre, Maghara, is mixed with
water and applied at the pot either with textile or a wood
Firing stage:
Firing activity is a
collective working. All family members participated in preparing
and transporting the pots to kiln. Women have had also an active
role in this activity. The kiln has been described as having two
parts.
 These
are the fuel room and the pottery room. Fuel room was under the
ground surface. It was lined with mud-bricks and has a circular
shape. The firing room has a roof with vent-holes. Above this
roof the pots are organized. The kiln has domed shape.
Kilns were not
individual properties. Usually 4-5 potters have shared one kiln.
The main fuel used for firing is
wood. Pines were bought from traders. Potters usually did not
involve in collecting the fuel. There were special people who
cut the trees and sold them to the potters. The source of wood
was from Deir el Ashaeir.
The changing of
smoke color was an indication of finishing the firing process.
Usually potters observed the black color as a beginning of
firing process. During that they add more wood to ensure
reaching an appropriate temperature. The change of smoke color
to white is an indication of the reaching of desired
temperature.
The corpus of produced pots is
functionally varied. They are household repertoire that assigned
to agricultural society. They include large objects with
different names and small ones. Other factor of differentiation
within pottery corpus is glazed vs. unglazed objects. However,
the big objects include unglazed water storing jars (khabia),
and water carrying jars. To the same group but glazed objects
are olive jars, Arak and wine jars, jam jars. Other glazed
objects include bowls, platters (ma’jan) and cooking pots (qudr).
Small-unglazed
objects included Jug (Ibriq), and juglet (kuz).
Economical manifestations:
Pottery distribution is a mechanism
of profiting pottery production. The finished products at Aita
Al Foukhar were distributed in three main ways. These were:
Intravillage, regional and interregional.
Part of pottery
assemblages are consumed by the inhabitants of the village. The
non-potters bought their needs of pots from either pottery
workshops or from pottery shops. It has been reported that at
the time of climax pottery production at the village, they were
10 pottery shops. These shops were not restricted to local
consumers, the village inhabitant, but also to the nearby
villages and carnivals which passed through the village. Several
neighboring villages depended on Aita Al Foukhar for their needs
of pottery.
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