Ancient ceramics kilns of the mantou type in the Russian Far East

The remains of ceramics firing structures unique for the archaeological record of the southern Russian Far East were excavated in 1994 at the Sergeevka site in the southeastern Russian Maritime Province. Evidence for using these kilns for tile production was revealed. The remains are dated to the Jurchen period (12-13th century) of the Medieval epoch when the research area was, first, the northeastern periphery of Jin Empire and later, part of the Dong Xia state. Recently, a re-examination of archaeological materials from Sergeevka kilns site was carried out. The kilns are interpreted as mantou type firing structures. At present this site is the northeastern outpost in the East Asian distribution area of mantou kilns. Based on data from examination of samples of ceramics from the Sergeevka site, the technical potential of the kilns, in particular temperature regime, was inferior to that of mantou kilns used in ceramic production in Northern China since the Tang period.