[Sca-cooks] costrels

Stefan li Rous StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
Tue Apr 22 19:19:42 PDT 2008


Huette replied to me with:
<<<
> I am curious though, what type of pot *is* a "mammiform costrel"?
>
> Stefan

A costrel is a period form of a canteen.  It is usually made out of  
clay because clay
helps keep the inside liquid, be it water, wine or something else,  
cool.>>>

I assume that the cooling is simply through the thermal mass of the  
clay. I thought at first it might have been through evaporative  
cooling through unglazed clay, but both Hroar's and the archeological  
finds are glazed.

<<<  This particular
costrel is flat on one side so that will fit better against your  
body, as costrels are
intended to be carried on one's belt. >>>

Unfortunately, it's hard to see that one side is flattened in any of  
the photos.

<<< The other side is rounded, much more rounded that
the other costrels and apparently someone somewhere thought that they  
looked rather
breast-like, hense the word "mammiform". >>>

I was wondering about that when I saw the name. Lol. You can  
definitely see the relationship when considering where the spout is  
and thinking of someone having to tilt it up to drink out of it.

<<< Here is a picture of how Hroar's reproduction looks:

http://www.griffindyeworks.com/store/index.php? 
main_page=product_info&cPath=50_55&products_id=296
 >>>

Thanks for the references. This gives another option for people  
looking for period containers for carrying water or drinks, besides  
leather or horn flasks.

Stefan
--------
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
    Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas           
StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****





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