KATO ACHAIA - Anc. Dyme - 2000

Kato Achaia. Parodos Platonos (M. Kourousia property). A. Vasilogamvrou (then Στ' ΕΠΚΑ, now Director, Ε' ΕΠΚΑ) reports the discovery of two potter’s kilns in the northwest of the town, in an area where kilns had previously been discovered. Investigation focused on the southern part of a group of kilns which lies mostly under the modern road north of the Leivada property (see ADelt 53 [1998] Chr, 269−72) (Figs 1-2).

One large kiln (5.3m long) had three construction phases. In phase 1, the round chamber (3.5m interior diameter, maximum preserved height 1.5m) was cut into the natural clay and the walls built of tile packed with clay. Four successive layers of clay coated the interior. The floor covered an older pit full of tile fragments, lumps of burnt clay and plaster. Fragments of the support arches for the eschara were found, but not in situ. At a later date, the firing chamber was reduced (to 3m x 3m) by the construction of facing walls of tiles, kiln arch fragments and brick on the west and north sides. The floor was raised by 0.2m. The stomion remained unchanged, being founded at a higher level than both chambers (Fig. 3). Both the initial construction and the modification fall within the Hellenistic period. In the final phase, the firing chamber was squared by the construction of two tile and brick walls in opus mixtum, and the eschara supported on a central column. The old stomion was closed and a new arched tile construction opened at the south (Fig. 4). This stomion ends in an area bounded to the west by a wall of the same construction. The stomion of a second kiln identified on this property (but not excavated) also ends in this area.