Birka Jug, Handmade

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This amazing jug is based on finds from Birka, Sweden. It is wholly handmade through a time-consuming process here in Sweden without a potter’s wheel, just as the original was made over 1000 years ago.

In order to make it more durable and easier to clean, it’s made from stoneware with a matte glaze inside. This allows it to be washed in a dish washer and it can also withstand a microwave oven.

14 jugs of the same type have been found in the Viking city of Birka. Most were black-burnt goods with a tin foil decoration and are referred to as Tatingergods. But at least 2 seem to be without tin foil and have a lighter brownish tone that indicates a burning in an open fire. The jugs are considered an import to Birka. The production site / plastics for this ceramic have not been definitively identified. However, ICP analyzes (chemical fingerprints of the clay matrix) show that they were manufactured in an area in northwestern Germany.

Previously, it was assumed that the jugs were turned, but new research in a collaboration between the archaeologists at the Historical Museum in Stockholm and Grimfrost's own potters has now established that the jugs were actually built by hand. Our jugs are thus built by hand, as seen in the short video below.