back to the roots – Building with natural materials: clay construction

You probably have heard of clay and maybe even eaten a delicious, freshly baked bread or pizza from a clay oven. Butdo you know about the many more possibilites you have using this natural material? In this project we want to actively build and repair some of these things ourselves.
In contrast to the huge open-cast mining, which is still very active and present in Welzow, you will reflect on a more original work with the natural material clay in this project. You will be working directly on the premises of the Archaeotechnical Center Welzow (ATZ). The plan is to renovate the outdoor bakery in the Epoch Garden. Here we have two clay baking ovens, which are used for educational programs, for example with schools. In order to improve the hygiene for outdoor baking with groups, a screed floor must be newly laid, because no one wants to have swirled up dust from the ground in the freshly baked, yummy clay oven bread ;)
For this purpose, we would like to tamp the new floor together with you from natural materials (clay). In addition, we want to plaster a protective wall with plaster and need your support for this. For those who find the work too strenuous or need a change of pace in between, there are a few other projects on the site. These include, for example, small gardening jobs or splitting wooden shingles for a roof.

About the Welzow Archaeotechnical Center:
The center supports the archaeological excavations of the Brandenburg State Office for the Preservation of Historical Monuments and the State Archaeological Museum in the opencast mines and documents the work of archaeologists in the region. This is done, on the one hand, by presenting in the center the scientific knowledge gained from the excavations that take place daily in the open pit apron of the three active opencast lignite mines in Lower Lusatia (Niederlausitz), a region in south Brandenburg. On the other hand, the Clara Lake, which is part of the center, is used to store all the wood extracted during archaeological excavations. This is a pilot project, unique in Europe, which, sets standards for the future and is even scientifically accompanied.
By highlighting the topic "people - Wood - Archaeology" in the center, the public is made aware of the close interweaving of our cultural history with the natural product wood and the cycle between millennia-old cultural landscape, energy production and newly created landscape is recorded. In this project an attractive offer for guests and the inhabitants of the region is offered as well as archaeology, tourism and educational aspects are brought together for the benefit of the region and the city Welzow. This will significantly expand the area of extracurricular learning for children, young people, the disabled and adults in and around Welzow as well as their guests.
(source: website of the center https://www.atz-welzow.de/das-atz-2/ueberblick/)