General description Elaiussa was founded in the Hellenistic period, and by the 1st c. C.E. it was a major node in the exchange networks of ceramics in the Mediterranean (Ferrazzoli and Ricci 2009). Wasters and ceramic material show that the kilns of the city were primarily used to produce the Late Roman 1 type amphoras and oil-lamps and lanterns, but surprisingly little dining ware. The settlement and development of LRA1 kilns comprise the city's major workshops, designed for supply far beyond self-sufficiency and the needs of the local population. The six known kilns/workshops are all located in close proximity to the basin and/or the facilities of the southern harbour of the city . One in the southwestern necropolis dates to the beginning of the 5th c. CE, and stayed in use through the mid-7th c. CE. Two other kilns were uncovered in the isthmus area overlooking the southern harbor, both dated to the post-palatial phase. These were not used concurrently, but were established in the first half of the 6th c. CE, and at the end of the 6th c. CE respectively. In the residential district, a kiln and related workshops were established in the late 4th c. CE, underwent major renovation works in the mid-6th c. CE, and was finally abandoned by the mid-7th c. CE
Number of kilns/workshops: 6
Typology: LR1b2 (kiln 06)
Local Fabric:
Kiln 01:
Location: western end of the southern harbour
Period of activity: ??
Description of the facilities: Kiln by the western end of the southern harbour. Identified in 2003 during construction works on the coastal road (Burragato et al. 2007).
Kiln 02:
Location: northwestern necropolis
Period of activity: beginning of the V to the mid-VII c. CE
Description of the facilities: Kiln in the area of the south-western necropolis (Equini Schneider 2007)
Kiln 03:
Location: area of the Byzantine Palace - northwestern end
Period of activity: mid-VI c. CE
Description of the facilities: Kiln in the northwestern end of the premises of the Byzantine Palace, by the isthmus (post-palatial phase)
Kiln 04:
Location: area of the Byzantine Palace - by the polygonal wall
Period of activity: VII c. CE
Description of the facilities: Kiln in the area of the Byzantine Palace, by the polygonal masonry wall (post-palatial phase)
Kiln 05:
Location: Southern harbour eastern front
Period of activity: ?
Description of the facilities: Kiln in the eastern front of the southern harbour
Kiln 06:
Location: domestic block by the southern harbour
Period of activity: late IV - beginning of the second half of the VII c. CE
Description of the facilities: Workshop in the lowermost terrace of the domestic block: just outside the limits of the southern harbour basin, a large portion of a pre-existing terracing, formerly used for domestic purposes, was arranged to accommodate the workshop at least by the end of the IV c. CE. It includes a large kiln for amphora production and a smaller kiln (maybe for lamp production?). The large kiln (unit Ia, MSU 80) is enclosed by pre-existing walls, covering an 8 x 5m area. Two series of eight short pillars built in bricks are preserved, in some cases to the arch spring; these were meant to support the arches on top of which there was the "slab" of the firing chamber. Compacted clay forms two massive jutting antae on the front, marking the inverted-V shaped entrance. A sondage on the floor of the combustion chamber showed that both the floor itself and the pillars were periodically raised in new "construction" phases (at least 7 were identified for the floor only).
In the rest of the terrace, pre-existing rooms were used as related facilities. In a unit adjoining the kiln (If) the settling and then storage of clay was taking place; here an underground rock-cut cistern must have been exploited for the process as well. The crafting must have happened in one of the northern units (Ic), next to which a large room (Id) might have been worked as storage for the different materials entering (firing wood among the others) and exiting (the crafted and fired amphoras) the workshop.
The connection to docking or mooring station(s) along the shore is still unclear, but it seems that the amphoras (already filled with their content?) were brought outside and towards the sea through narrow passages (up to 1.5m). In the second half of the period in which the workshop was active, the cistern was used to discard imperfectly fired materials; two different and separate heaps were actually recognised inside it, for a total of some 400 rescued amphoras.
The capacity of this kiln has been calculated in a possible load up to 250 or 500 amphorae per firing process. The workshop fell out of use together with the final abandonment of the whole domestic block investigated so far; the kiln was filled with its (last) firing load when it collapsed, the amphoras were identified as LR1b2. The event must have occurred around the mid-VII c. CE or slightly later (630-660 CE). (Borgia - Iacomi 2010; Iacomi forthcoming)
