Building ceramics: Brick, tile, and clay

Abstract

Tiles for use in construction were made in quantity at Vagnari, as Alastair Small’s investigations made clear. He uncovered one tile kiln in the vicus area north of the ravine and five south of the ravine that were producing tiles from the 1st to the 4th century AD, although not all at the same time (Small 2011b: 231–64). There may well have been more, as yet undiscovered, kilns in and around the settlement, together with the requisite tile-making provisions, such as drying sheds or yards and large ponds or basins for mixing clay and water. Archaeologically explored and well-preserved tile-making facilities of local and regional importance in northeast Spain give us an idea of the complex provisions necessary for mixing, moulding, drying, and firing building ceramics.