THORIKOS - 2011

Thorikos. R. Docter and K. Van Liefferinge (Belgian School in Athens/Ghent University) report on excavation conducted in 2010 and 2011 in the basin of the largest cistern at Thorikos (1) above the Industrial Quarter (Fig. 1).

This cistern provided water for silver processing (Fig. 2) and formed part of a larger metallurgy workshop (as indicated by a newly discovered washery, a stone table for crushing ores, fragments of grinding stones and a nearby mine entrance [2]). The newly discovered ore washery (13) lies ca. 16m west of the cistern and in line with its most westerly overflow channel. Only one of its settling tanks is visible on the surface.

Two large layers of stones derive from the collapse of a superstructure and/or buildings uphill. Material from the cistern, mainly pottery, reflects the major occupation periods observed in the Industrial Quarter. Most dates to the fifth and fourth centuries BC, and was likely eroded from higher up the hill. Ca. 7% dates to the Late Roman and Early Byzantine periods, principally the sixth and seventh centuries AD.

The capacity of the cistern was previously estimated at 80m³, but although the bottom of the basin has yet to be reached, a minimum capacity of ca. 135m³ must now be understood.

The chronology of the workshop remains uncertain, although comparison with other ergasteria in Thorikos and Laurion suggests that it was built in the late fifth or fourth century BC.