An oven's an enclosed compartment for heating, baking or drying. It's most commonly used in cooking and pottery. Ovens used in pottery are also known as kilns. An oven used for heating or for industrial processes's called a furnace or industrial oven. History Settlements across the Indus Valley Civilization were the first to have an oven within each mud-brick house by 3200 BC. Culinary historians credit the Greeks for developing bread baking into an art. Front-loaded bread ovens were developed… (More on Oven)