Lime is one of the most common building materials: has been used as binder in mortars and plasters since 6th century BC but between 1850 and 1950 lime production was heavily reduced because the development of a new, apparently better material: cement. Sites where lime had been produced for centuries were converted to the production of the new binder or completely abandoned. Consequently, in about one century, lime became a not well known, “old” material ties to the old generations: the only one who knew the “secrets of art” of making a good lime. As the last masters worked until about 1950 in few decades the knowledge of this generation is going to disappear. But this disappearance is also due the transformations in the methods of knowledge transmission. In fact, when the oral, visual and manual transmission of knowledge, used for many generations, was stopped because the diffusion of compulsory education, it was lost also the “material culture” of many materials (lime, but also wood, stones, etc.). Nowadays, without the help of those old masters it is almost impossible to reconstruct that knowledge and, consequently, it is impossible to reproduce those materials (sometimes better then the new ones) even if the most modern analytical techniques are applied. In fact, as the time goes on, lime attracts more and more interests: restorer, architects and producers mainly attracted by its compatibility with old constructions and environmental friendliness. Consequently, the interest that at the begin of last century, was only of few historians, became a common interest during the time so that currently involve discipline like archaeology, geology, restoration and materials engineering, interested in the recovery of old “secrets of arts”. Today, reconstruct the old productive technology means to use all sources of information currently available and to try to take out the highest number of useful information for crossings, compare and, in a second time, verify the results of researches with production tests. An example of this complex type of research has been carried out on the traditional production of lime near the city of Genoa (Italy), where both, tangible and intangible sources has been used for the redefinition of one of the most simple productive technology used in the past centuries. In this long way of research the unwritten (oral) sources have been fundamental, above all on the comprehension of some information such as the role of different parts of kiln, the time of different phases of production (cooking, cooling, etc.), the number of people involved in the entire cycle, the dimension of the stones placed inside the kiln, and many other aspects that were very difficult to found with other ways.
A Study on the Traditional Production of Lime: The Role of Oral Sources
VECCHIATTINI, RITA;
2012-01-01
Abstract
Lime is one of the most common building materials: has been used as binder in mortars and plasters since 6th century BC but between 1850 and 1950 lime production was heavily reduced because the development of a new, apparently better material: cement. Sites where lime had been produced for centuries were converted to the production of the new binder or completely abandoned. Consequently, in about one century, lime became a not well known, “old” material ties to the old generations: the only one who knew the “secrets of art” of making a good lime. As the last masters worked until about 1950 in few decades the knowledge of this generation is going to disappear. But this disappearance is also due the transformations in the methods of knowledge transmission. In fact, when the oral, visual and manual transmission of knowledge, used for many generations, was stopped because the diffusion of compulsory education, it was lost also the “material culture” of many materials (lime, but also wood, stones, etc.). Nowadays, without the help of those old masters it is almost impossible to reconstruct that knowledge and, consequently, it is impossible to reproduce those materials (sometimes better then the new ones) even if the most modern analytical techniques are applied. In fact, as the time goes on, lime attracts more and more interests: restorer, architects and producers mainly attracted by its compatibility with old constructions and environmental friendliness. Consequently, the interest that at the begin of last century, was only of few historians, became a common interest during the time so that currently involve discipline like archaeology, geology, restoration and materials engineering, interested in the recovery of old “secrets of arts”. Today, reconstruct the old productive technology means to use all sources of information currently available and to try to take out the highest number of useful information for crossings, compare and, in a second time, verify the results of researches with production tests. An example of this complex type of research has been carried out on the traditional production of lime near the city of Genoa (Italy), where both, tangible and intangible sources has been used for the redefinition of one of the most simple productive technology used in the past centuries. In this long way of research the unwritten (oral) sources have been fundamental, above all on the comprehension of some information such as the role of different parts of kiln, the time of different phases of production (cooking, cooling, etc.), the number of people involved in the entire cycle, the dimension of the stones placed inside the kiln, and many other aspects that were very difficult to found with other ways.
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