LOŠTICKÁ KERAMIKA Z TVRZE V KRALICÍCH NAD OSLAVOU.

The group of medieval beakers and pots from special hard fired clay and nearly impermeable material is characterized by its reddish, with small blisters and bubbles covered surface. These vessels were made in the North Moravian Loštice near Mohelnice and the bloom of their production dates back to the 14th and then to the 15th and 16th centuries. According to recent archaeometric analyses and experiments the mystery of this material resided in the argillaceous pottery clay with the addition of garnet (pyrope or almandine). Loštice beakers ranked among sought-after and popular table dishes even behind the borders of the Czech Lands. Among pottery material from archaeological excavations carried out by Vlasta Fialová in the fort of Kralice nad Oslavou, a small collection of fragments of Loštice pottery was identified. Pot-shaped beakers build a minority whereas shards of Loštice kitchen ceramics and storage vases prevail. A part of pot fragments is not made from the characteristic hard fired material but is baked only slightly and contains graphite admixture. Some pieces of undecorated bellies of storage vases show secondary baking. Based on ceramic types the material is dated to the early phase of Loštice pottery, at the end of the 14th and in the first half of the 15th century. The material was unfortunately not precisely localised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]