Pit fired pottery

The top of the pit may be protected with moist clay, shards, larger pieces of wood, or metal baffles.

After cooling, pots are removed and cleaned; there may be patterns and colours left by ash and salt deposits.

In Mali, a firing mound, a large version of the pit, is still used at Kalabougou to make pottery that is commercial, mainly made by the women of the village to be sold in the towns.

When a mound is completed and the ground around has been swept clean of residual combustible material, a senior potter lights the fire.

Tempering agents like sand, volcanic ash, or pieces of ground-up broken pottery are combined with the clay to harden it during the firing process.