CHANIA - 2003

Chania. 32-34 M. Metaxaki Street (Goniotaki property). A. Tsingou (ΚΕ’ ΕΠΚΑ) reports the discovery in 2002 of Hellenistic and Roman workshop remains.

The earliest surviving built feature is a large underground cistern to the south lined with hydraulic cement and connected to a system of terracotta pipes. The fill within it contained quantities of sherds of large Classical-Roman vessels.

Over the cistern at the east side of the plot was a Roman murex-processing plant for textile dyes (Fig. 4/1). Two circular stone-built ovens were found (1.82 and 1.45m across, preserved to a height of 0.6-0.7m high): a third was mostly destroyed by a modern pit. The stoking holes faced west, and were roofed in clay. A large stone disc in the centre supported the container in which the shells were boiled, with the fire set all around – ash and evidence of intense heat were found in front of each.

East of the ovens was a roofed area with a Roman destruction level (perhaps of the second century AD). A well and another cistern are also associated, the well being filled with layers of discarded and crushed murex shells.

Other Roman building remains lie to the southwest and west of the workshop. Further west are rock-cut pits containing mostly Hellenistic and Roman debris.