[brookst]

Pottery of the time was low-fired and did not generally reach vitrification, and it was not glazed with a silica-based glaze that would seal it.

So over time this pottery would absorb water. And especially low-fired bits could totally break down.

Source: amateur ceramicist, and I have first-hand experience with cone 6 clay (vitrifies at 1200c) bisc-fired to cone 04 (1060c) and crumbling to bits when left in water too long.

[ruined]

to add some context, in modern gardening things like crushed vermiculite are a common soil amendment. being a porous absorbent mineral, it serves the same purpose.

[chongli]

Not to mention terracotta is a very common material for potted houseplants and container gardening. Terracotta is low-fired, non-vitreous and porous to water, giving it nice breathability and water absorption characteristics.

There are also long-necked terracotta bottles (called ollas) you can buy (or DIY) which you bury in the ground. You fill the bottle with water and the terracotta itself acts as a wick, providing a slow release continuous underground water source for plants to access.

[duxup]

I have some reproduction native American pottery from the upper great plains. They're pretty neat as they have round bottoms. Just holding it feels like given enough time it would break down and melt for sure. It feels very porous.

[hinkley]

There’s a type of low fired clay used in bonsai soil and a harder one used in hydroponics. Good for retaining moisture and they don’t swell and shrink with water.

[politelemon]

Thanks this was educational for me.

[999900000999]

If you were in the woods( pick a spot) and had whatever food/medicines you needed could you build pottery from scratch.

Electricity is fine and all, but I imagine the basics of civilization could be replicated by a few good craftsmen(people)

[hinkley]

Primitive Technology on YouTube does this repeatedly.

You make a hole or find a piece of slate for processing, you mine clay from a stream bed, and then you make your first pot as a tool for moving water, the second pot for making food, and before or after the second pot you make clay bricks to build a kiln to high fire other things more efficiently - less fuel and more multitasking of other tasks.

[WalterBright]

Why don't contestants on "Alone" do this?

[hinkley]

This question is substantially why I stopped watching that show.

I think at least a few of them may have trouble locating pure clay where they are dropped but not all of them, every season, for years.

[bruce511]

I seem to recall one or two doing this. But i suspect the reason they don't is cause they don't need to.

They all have a pot already. The benefits of more pots seems low. Conversely the calorie cost seems high (if only just collecting clay and cutting wood to fire it.)

On Alone thd priorities are shelter and food. Clay pots seems like a luxury in terms of utility use and energy cost.

[vanattab]

This is the correct answer. Alone is not really a how to live in the woods show, it's a managed starvation show. The contestants are limited to about a 1 sq mile area which may or may not have a good source of clay. They purposely set them out just a few weeks before winter so they do not have a long time to prep. Conserving and replenishing calories is the name of the game.

[WalterBright]

Most of them did a simply terrible job of building a fireplace, from poisoning themselves with the smoke to literally burning their shelter down. Some built a bed up off the ground, which is smart, but never seemed to consider heating up rocks in the fireplace during the day and slipping them under the bed at night.

Anyhow, some mud and clay skills would help make a decent fireplace.

Staying warm is a crucial skill, not a luxury. Some of them got frostbite.

Also, most of them had food storage problems where their meat would get robbed. Some went to great effort to make their meat inaccessible, to no avail. I imagine that would make a storage pot useful.

[hinkley]

Am I wrong that the first few seasons the pot was an option they could choose among others? They upped the kit over time. Early on they had very little.

[mapt]

Digging in arctic climates is just difficult. Soils freeze and gel.

Digging in semi-degraded postglacial till filled in with a few conifers (the Great Slave Lake site is largely talus/scree) is not especially productive in terms of clay.

I would love to see them invite Primitive Technology's John Plant on the show. I do understand if North Queensland is more his climate though.

[hinkley]

They did a season in Vancouver Island before they started making the show super weird.