A bonfire was the first source of fire for people. They warmed themselves near it, cooked meals on it. Later, torches and rushlights appeared. Rushlight is a thin dry small piece of wood, splinter, which was used to fire up a stove or illuminate the dwelling. A special stand-rushlight holder was necessary to use rushlights.
A splinter was inserted into this holder, which looked like a metal clamp. It was not possible to establish exactly when this device was first created, but it had already existed in Volga Bulgaria in the 10th-13th centuries. Volga Bulgars used the rushlight holder in their houses along with the ceramic oil lamps.
Initially, the device consisted of only one clamp, then the clamps number was increased. The holder with several rushlights illuminated the room better. It was necessary, for example, during yarn spinning. In order to avoid fire because of falling embers, the rushlight holder was placed in a container with water or sand.
Bulgarian artisans made rushlight holders using a smith welding method. First of all, they forged two plates; then these plates were welded on one side.
Refined iron or steel can be used as the raw material for this tool. Refined iron was obtained in a bloomery when the charcoal was mixed with ore and burned. Such iron contained a large amount of slag.
The very first kilns were called bloomeries. They were built in special pits in windy places on hills, along the river banks. Such first kilns appeared before the Common era began, and the term appeared in the 18th century when the steam engines were created. The air, supplied to the kilns by steamers, was heated, and the air, supplied to the old furnaces was cold, ‘raw’.
Rushlight holders in the long run became an artifact.
Each blacksmith tried to make his products special: the clamps were curled, decorated with a forged pattern, turned into a peacock’s tail or the feathers of a firebird. The upper part of the rushlight holder began to be called the “luchinnik”. Its geometry was copied on church fences and palace windows casings.
Archaeologists have found such products not only on the Volga Bulgaria territory. Similar samples have been found during excavations in many regions of Russia and Eastern Europe. In peasant life, the rushlight holder was used until the beginning of the 20th century.
A splinter was inserted into this holder, which looked like a metal clamp. It was not possible to establish exactly when this device was first created, but it had already existed in Volga Bulgaria in the 10th-13th centuries. Volga Bulgars used the rushlight holder in their houses along with the ceramic oil lamps.
Initially, the device consisted of only one clamp, then the clamps number was increased. The holder with several rushlights illuminated the room better. It was necessary, for example, during yarn spinning. In order to avoid fire because of falling embers, the rushlight holder was placed in a container with water or sand.
Bulgarian artisans made rushlight holders using a smith welding method. First of all, they forged two plates; then these plates were welded on one side.
Refined iron or steel can be used as the raw material for this tool. Refined iron was obtained in a bloomery when the charcoal was mixed with ore and burned. Such iron contained a large amount of slag.
The very first kilns were called bloomeries. They were built in special pits in windy places on hills, along the river banks. Such first kilns appeared before the Common era began, and the term appeared in the 18th century when the steam engines were created. The air, supplied to the kilns by steamers, was heated, and the air, supplied to the old furnaces was cold, ‘raw’.
Rushlight holders in the long run became an artifact.
Each blacksmith tried to make his products special: the clamps were curled, decorated with a forged pattern, turned into a peacock’s tail or the feathers of a firebird. The upper part of the rushlight holder began to be called the “luchinnik”. Its geometry was copied on church fences and palace windows casings.
Archaeologists have found such products not only on the Volga Bulgaria territory. Similar samples have been found during excavations in many regions of Russia and Eastern Europe. In peasant life, the rushlight holder was used until the beginning of the 20th century.
