[Terrapreta] More on clay/pottery etc

[AJH]

On Thu, 24 May 2007 13:17:29 +1000, Michael Bailes wrote:

>I did notice old gardeners (19-20 century) used "terracotta balls" in pots
>and also broken terracotta down the bottom of pots "for drainage".
> Does anyone know anything about this or has seen their Grandmother do it?

I think this is fairly common practice in UK still.

Prior to 1986 there were few controls on changing woodland to
agriculture, I was involved in quite a few such land clearances on a
small scale, 2ha would have been a large conversion here. We would
fell all the saleable timber and firewood and then burn the excavated
stumps on top of the lop and top. On a clay site this meant any clay
caught in between roots got well cooked and resembled odd shaped
broken bricks over the site once the bonfires were leveled. Could any
of the shards be from a clay lining covering a clamp which was fired?

AJH