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that on the upper floor of the north-eastern corner of the core of the castle there had been a floor made
of 15 × 15 cm large clay tiles (Graudonis 1982, 77; Jansons 2007, 52). In the ruins of the Southern Block
26 × 26 × 6 cm and 22 × 22 × 6 cm large tiles were found (Jansons 2007, 70, 72). The mentioned tile sizes
are approximate. Medieval tiles do not imply an absolutely precise square with equal lengths of edges.
As it was mentioned, the making of building ceramics was handwork, and therefore, the appearance of
the production depended on the craftsman’s skill, whether he managed not to squeeze the yet undried
tile during the process of making, as well as on the quality of clay mass and burning conditions of each
time. Thus the ready-made tiles could have small differences in sizes, straightness of edges, accuracy of
corners and smoothness of surface. The edge length of the whole tiles stored in the collection of Turaida
Museum Reserve varies within almost a centimetre. For example, one edge of a small tile is 15.1 cm, but
the other one – 15.6 cm, or one edge 15.8 cm but the other one – 16 cm. The small tiles were covered
with glaze but the large and medium-sized ones were non-glazed. Unfortunately, only slight traces of
glaze have remained on the surface of the small tiles having been laid into the floor, but the colour of the
former glaze is still discernible in places where it had flowed down on side edges. For the most part tiles
were rather dark and speckled – greenish, brownish, olive-green and dark yellow like honey. Presumably,
differently glazed tiles were arranged irregularly in the floor, since there are no sharp differences between
colour tints, and the dark-greenish tiles are predominant.
Like on the abovementioned bricks with footprints/paw prints also on some Turaida tiles light
impressions of animal feet are seen. A few of them are on the small tiles, under the glaze, and yet some
more are on the non-glazed medium-size and large tiles. One tile bears two impressions of an artiodactyl –
one footprint is shallow but the other one is deep and partly smeared up with lime mortar. Unlike on the
bricks, the footprints on floor tiles could be seen. However, they seem not to be deliberately impressed
but have originated accidentally.
A special group of ceramic tiles is associated with the covering of the hot air openings in a floor of
the room above the hot-air stove (Fig. 30). These tiles are almost square-shaped, with a round opening
in the middle, through which hot air flowed into the living room. Such tiles covered the floor within the
area of several square metres – usually in the corner of the room above the hot-air stove. In Turaida Castle
burnt clay tiles of two types have been found with such cylindrical openings, but they have been preserved
only fragmentarily. According to sizes they are larger than the large floor tiles – the length of one edge
reaches 28 cm, and of the other – 32.5 cm. It should be added that similar tiles covering the openings of
the hot-air stove in Turaida Castle were made also of dolomite. It is unknown why different materials
were applied. It can only be suggested that they had been made in different time periods. Since hot-air
stoves were built in the 13
th
–15
th
centuries, this period can be used also for dating the abovementioned
large ceramic tiles with openings, since the archaeological context is lacking.
A ceramic floor could imply not only specially made tiles but also a cover of common
bricks
. Bricks
were thick enough not to crack from the weight of people walking across them. They were mass products,
therefore presumably cheaper. Moreover, building materials of a torn-down house could be recurrently
used for the floors, as it was often done when crumbled or sagged flooring was repaired. Bricks were used
to cover the ground-floor premises and basements as it was discovered in excavations of Turaida Castle.
Such flooring could be laid in the living rooms of servants and in household premises. In particular