Bilkent University
The Department of Archaeology & History of Art
Newsletter No. 3 - 2004
FIRE WISE

In Turkey and the countries
in the Middle East ‘fire
installations’ those whitegrey ashy and red colored
spots, fireplaces, ovens and
hearths, are, for the average
excavation supervisor, a
confusing matter. These
terms are often all used for
the same types of features
without noticing that each
one
means
something
different.
If the definition of fireplace
is: ‘a place where a fire
burns’, then it is ok for all of
them. Unfortunately we don’t
mean this when we speak of
a ‘fireplace’.
We can divide ‘fire places’
into 3 different groups.
1. fires that simply
heat pots or baking
plates.
2. fires
that
heat
closed
or
semi
closed spaces, like
ovens and tanurs.
3. fires that warm the
room/ living space.
1. Fireplaces.
(Figures 1-6) This category
can be found at ground level
or dug partly in the ground’s
surface. Fireplaces can be
used outside the house as
well as on verandas or
inside buildings.
In the first situation, on the
ground level, there might be
nothing left or only a scatter
of ashes in white, yellow and
grey colors, with more or
less charcoal fragments in
them.
Such fires are made with
wooden sticks, logs etc that
burn with their ‘heads’
against each other, the ends
burning or slowly smoldering
away, leaving only ashes.
The vessel used for food
processing in such a fire
stands slightly higher on a
base of a few stones, a Ushaped ring of clay, or metal
stands/ supports, depending
on the period involved.
Since the stones or metal
stands are not likely to
remain in position, it’s only
the ash that shows the spot.
The intensity of these
cooking fires is not so high
that the ground, the layer
under the fire will color
bright red or pinkish red, but
maybe a black-brownish
discoloration can take place.
Long use of the same spot
might result in a thicker ash
layer, but since ash easily
blows away with the wind,
this may cause a wider area
to be covered with ashes.
The second group makes
use of a natural or artificial
depression, a hole or small
pit, to contain the fire that
burns inside.
The advantages are that the
wind is not blowing the fire
out of control, the walls of
the depression reflect the
heat, and it is easier to place
pots above the fire. The
disadvantage is that no
large pieces of wood can be
used, since they don’t fit into
the hole.
Reflection of the heat may
color the pit’s walls black or
reddish-brown, while ashes
will accumulate at the
bottom of the pit/hole. In
general, fireplaces are small
spaces with a center of
about 35-40 cm diameter,
but because of the lack of
superstructure
they are
difficult to detect and to
identify.
2. Ovens and tanurs.
(Figures 7-10) Ovens are
usually closed shapes with
several parts. An oven floor,
with a diameter up to one
meter, is made of layers of
pebbles on top of larger
stones, the whole covered
by a fine plaster layer. A
dome-shaped upper structure of mud brick or stones,
and usually a single ovenmouth is then built. Many
variations exist but the
principle remains the same.
The fire in the oven burns
and warms the wall of the
dome and the floor. The
pebbles and stones collect
the heat and later reflect it
back in the oven.
Usually the fire remains,
wood fragments, ashes and
charcoal pieces, are swept
outside through the ovenmouth, or, in some types of
ovens, swept into a shallow
pit in the side of the oven
floor where it can continue
to smolder.
Since the oven floor is a
more complicated construction, there is a fair chance to
find most of one during
excavation. Sometimes the
floor and the beginning of
the dome can even be
found.
The oven floor or the place
of a former oven is, during
excavation, always given
away by concentrations of
smaller and larger pebbles
and stones.
The ash spots are usually
around the oven location
and probably most on the
side of the oven mouth.
The tanurs / tandirs1
(Figures 11- 18) This type of
oven is quite different from
the normal dome-shaped
ovens and is in fact not a
‘real’ oven. The shape is
1
53
Arabic / Turkish
Bilkent University
The Department of Archaeology & History of Art
Newsletter No. 3 - 2004
more or less cylindrical or
bell-shaped. There is a hole
at ground level for oxygen
inflow and there is a large
opening at the top.
During excavation standing
rings might be found,
without a clearly constructed
floor.
The ‘oven’ is fired from the
top.
It
is
filled
with
everything that can burn,
usually not much wood, but
branches and dried weed
and tezek. This is a kind of
‘cake’ made of dried cowdung.
The outer lining of a tandir is
made of stones or mud brick
and is difficult to recover.
Usually only the heavily
burned
inner
plaster
remains. This is a very brittle
layer and crumbles away if
the excavator isn’t extremely
careful and skilled.
Unlike a real oven, the
bread is not placed on the
floor but is pressed to the
very hot wall. It sticks until it
is ready. It will come off and
fall
down,
but
the
experienced baker will not
let that happen!
Many tanurs / tandirs are
partly dug into the ground.
The advantage may be that
it is easier to access the
mouth, and the ground gives
some insulation.
The function of the air inlet
is then of course not so
clear anymore. In Kinet
Höyük an almost complete
tandir was found, dug deep
in the ground with a stone
lining around it. The body
was made by coiling. No
bottom structure was made,
the body was filled with ashlayers
Since the tandir is difficult to
empty, we can often notice a
accumulation of ash-layers
in the section.
3. Cooking places in the
house
(Figures 19-21) Climates
that are very warm in
summer are often very cold
and wet in winter. So
cooking outside is not an
option anymore. The house
might have a large fireplace
attached to a wall, as we
can see on the Konya plain.
The opening is inside the
room. The fireplace has a
very large mouth, to allow
work easily in front of it and
it has a chimney for smoke
transport. At the same time
the cooking place functions
like a hearth.
Summary
In some places the cooking
place is not attached to the
house,
instead
special
’kitchen-houses’ are used.
Tanurs and Tandirs
4. Hearths
(Figures 22-23) Hearths are
fireplaces whose one and
only function is to heat the
room.
Recognized
by
ancient users as very
dangerous inside buildings,
these places are often
closed in by stones, sherds
etc. They are mostly round
platforms, of about a meter
in diameter, with a small
depression in the middle.
The fire burns on these
platforms and the ashes
smolder in the middle until
new fuel is added.
The example on Fig. 22 is a
flat disk-shaped platform
with a circa 10 cm deep
depression in the middle.
The rim of the hearth is
about 5 cm high. This type is
usually located in the middle
of a room.
This type of indoor hearth
has of course no chimney,
so if there is no hole in the
roof to evacuate the smoke
it will be very unpleasant in
the house/room, but never
cold!
54
Outdoor
fireplaces
for
cooking
are
small
in
diameter and characterized
by ash and charcoal.
Outdoor ovens are about a
meter in diameter, domed
and have a floor made of
stone and pebbles, no ash
on the spot but irregular
spots around the oven are
possible.
The archaeological remains
are usually a circular area
with pebbles and stones
surrounded by some ashy
spots.
Of this type, usually the
circular inner lining remains
intact a few centimeter high.
It is a brittle clay layer of 1-2
centimeter thick. Inside this
circle ashes may be found.
Of the outer lining made of
non-burnt clay or bricks,
usually nothing can be
found.
Indoor fireplaces for cooking
and heating are usually
clean of ash and charcoal,
rather wide, about one
meter and have a chimney.
Fireplaces for heating are
round structures with a fire
in or on it. Usually the
fireplace is well protected by
a wide edge or low
upstanding walls. Often it is
situated in the middle of the
room far from walls. In that
case there is no chimney for
smoke transportation. The
wooden roof construction is
often plastered as protection
against sparks from the fire.
B. Claasz Coockson
Bilkent University
The Department of Archaeology & History of Art
Newsletter No. 3 - 2004
Fig. 4
Fig. 1
Modern metal pot supports - Elmalı - TR
Fireplace for cooking – Findicak-TR
Fig. 2 A woman cooks on a fireplace with a
metal stand - Fındıcak – TR
Fig. 5
A small hole to contain a fire under a
vessel - Acemhöyük – TR
Fig. 3 U-Ring made of clay with three higher
points to support the pot-bottom – Ilıpınar - TR
Fig. 6
Fire under a baking plate - Tell Hammam
et Turkman- SYR
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Bilkent University
The Department of Archaeology & History of Art
Newsletter No. 3 - 2004
Fig. 10
Fig. 7
Oven of a different type - Luxor – EGY
Dome-shaped oven on the Konya plain
– Konya – TR
Fig. 11 A tanur, both holes closed with metal
sheets - Tell Hammam et Turkman – SYR
Fig. 8 Section through a oven floor with an
ash-pit - Ilıpınar – TR
Fig. 12 The lower part of a tanur with an air
inlet - Kinet Höyük – TR
Fig. 9 The concentration of small pebbles is
the indicator of a oven floor - Ilıpınar – TR
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Bilkent University
The Department of Archaeology & History of Art
Newsletter No. 3 - 2004
Fig. 16
An almost complete tanur found at
Kinet Höyük. The bottom line runs just
below the air-inlet - Kinet Höyük - TR
Fig. 13
Tezek or dried cow-dung, piled-up for
use in winter - Acemhöyük – TR
Fig. 17 The same tandir after being cut for the
section - Kinet Höyük – TR
Fig. 14
The fire burns inside the tanur
- Tell Raggai – SYR
Fig. 18
Dug-in tandir in a rock-cut dwelling
- Pancarlık – Cappadocia – TR
Fig. 15
The dough is stuck to the hot inner
wall - Tell Raggai – SYR
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Bilkent University
The Department of Archaeology & History of Art
Newsletter No. 3 - 2004
Fig. 22 Cutting a section through a circular
hearth - Titriş Höyük - Urfa - TR
Fig. 19 The exterior of a fireplace attached to a
room - Konya Plain – TR
Fig. 23 Circular hearth made of upstanding
potsherds - Kinet Höyük – TR
Oven
Fig. 20 The interior during the baking of thin
bread - Hoyran – Lycia - TR
Tanur / Tandir
Fireplace
35 cm
Fig. 21 A kitchen-house
- Tell Hammam et Turkman – SYR
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Fig. 24
58
Sketches of the most common types
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