Background: The area was repeatedly excavated by the 4th Ephorate of Byzantine Antiquities
Number of kilns: Four kilns, two of which are located within one complex and two immediately adjacent but outside of it.
Typology: Tiles, mudbrick, LRA1 (unknown type), LRA3, BGA, Bezecky’s Ephesus 56 amphora, and pot stands
Local Fabric: Sandy with gold mica and gray inclusions, soft and reddish yellow (5YR 6/6, 7/6 and 8/4). The slip is brown-red (5YR 5/6), as observed on the LRA3s.
Distribution: Unknown
Kiln A
Location: At the northwestern corner of the unroofed southern wing of the complex, ca. 10 m southeast of kiln D and less than 10 m northwest of kiln B.
Period of activity: Perhaps active in the Hellenistic and Early Byzantine periods based on the ceramics found within the kiln, but the exact chronology of Kiln A is uncertain.
Description of facilities: A circular updraft kiln constructed with stone, quickline, clay, and fragments of tiles, pithoi, and other vessels. The underground combustion room is 2.20 m in diameter and 1.73 m tall. Two pillars once supported a vaulted entrance to the kiln, and three equally-spaced openings allowed air into the firing chamber.
Typology: Mudbricks, tiles, and an unidentified combed Byzantine ware
Kiln B
Location: Near the southern edge of the unroofed southern wing of the complex, less than 10 m southeast of kiln A.
Period of activity: Certainly in use until the early 7th c., though it is unclear when production began.
Description of facilities: A circular updraft kiln constructed with mudbricks. The structure is 2.90 m in diameter with a tile-paved stoking channel projecting out to the north. Near the channel were “shallow pits with combustible material,” perhaps used to start the fires used to stoke the furnace (Poulou-Papadimitriou and Didioumi 2015: 408)
Typology: Mudbricks and tiles
Kiln C
Location: Outside and east of the complex where kilns A and B were found.
Period of activity: Early Byzantine period
Description of facilities: A rectangular updraft kiln with a firing floor supported by pillars.
Typology: Tiles and an unidentified combed Byzantine ware
Kiln D
Location: Kiln D is the northernmost at Mastichari, and sits in a northwest-southeast oriented wing connecting the northern and southern portions of the complex.
Period of activity: Poulou-Papadimitriou and Didioumi propose that this simple kiln operated “only in prehistoric times” (2015: 411), but we find this hypothesis incomplete. Several intact LRA3s were found inside it and LRA1, LRA3, and Bezecky’s Ephesus 56 type amphoras were found to the west of kiln D, all of which are dated to the late 4 to early 7th c. CE. It could be that this former kiln, unused in early Byzantine times, was used as a dump for products of the other kilns, but the authors do not describe the stratigraphy within the kiln.
Description of facilities: A basic kiln with minimal architecture, made from a shallow firing pit dug into the earth and lined with clay, heated by a combustion pit adjacent to it.
Typology: If kiln D was in fact active in the 4–7th c., LRA3s were probably produced there, and LRA1 and Bezecky’s Ephesus 56 as well.