PENTAVRYSO Avgi - 2004

Pentavryso. A potter’s kiln located 1.8km from the mod. village of Pentavryso and 800m from mod. Avgi, was found immediately N of the road between these 2 villages and only 200m from the PH settlement of Avgi. On the hill immediately NE of the kiln lies a known Ar−EHel cemetery, with 2 more cemeteries in the neighbouring hills. The kiln was discovered in 1996 (ADelt 51 [1996], B2, 543) and systematically excavated in 2004. Sherds were scattered over a wider area, and it is possible that a further kiln and workshop installations remain to be discovered.
The kiln was a 2-storeyed construction, with an underground furnace preserved almost intact and a firing chamber almost certainly above it, although this is now completely lost. The stomion is half-preserved, but only a few burnt bricks remain of the eschara, none in situ. The kiln is cut into the natural soil, is oriented NW-SE and its dimensions are 2.1m l. x 1.8m w. x 1.8m maximum preserved h. It has rounded corners, being more pear-shaped than rectangular. The furnace walls show some (surprisingly limited) exposure to high temperatures: in places they preserve traces of a clay lining. The support column for the eschara (0.8m l. x 0.7m w. x 0.36m maximum h.) is preserved in the centre of the furnace chamber (placing the kiln in Hasaki Type 1a). The support is made of handmade, sundried brick for the most part, with moulded bricks forming the straight sides. The stomion is protected by 2 flanking walls. No trace of the vaulted roof survives: two severely burnt masses of clay found nearby surely come from the kiln and may be part of the roof. A large quantity of mud-bricks, of different dimensions but with a curving profile, likely come from one or 2 courses of insulation of the chamber.
The fill in the chamber contained a large quantity of sherds, mostly of domestic plainwares in 9 different shapes (oinochoai, ladles, amphorae, flour bins, pithoi and pithoid vessels, basins, hydriae, cups and a strainer), but also cooking pots, bg and red-glazed wares. Parts of 3 kantharoi, 1 bolsal, 2 one-handled skyphoi, 1 deep skyphos and 2 uncharacterizable skyphoi were found. On the basis that these vessels are local products, the clays represented are described macroscopically, as is the technique of burnishing used on the plainwares and decoration with plastic bands and incision. The kiln structure itself cannot be used as a dating criterion. Dating rests on the pottery, and can only be given within the broad limits of the end of the 5th to the end of the 3rdCt BC, although it is unlikely that the structure could have withstood use for more than 2−3 generations within that period. Archaeomagnetic analysis of samples of the kiln fabric indicates a date of 250−200 BC. After the kiln fell out of use, it was likely used as a dump for the waste of the workshop.