Folia archeologica 8.

Barkóczi László: Császárkori edényégető telep Bicsérden

Celtic Pottery Kilns 81 Rescue excavations of the site have produced three pottery kilns lying in an east to west direction. Only parts of the grating from Kiln No 1, were found (Pl. XVII. 1), while Kilns Nos. 2 and 3, lying further eastward, were recovered almost intact (Figs. 19. 2 ; Pl. XVII. 2—6). The latter two were twin-kilns with a common stokehole (praefurnium)

. Being told that six more kilns had been found previously, we proceeded to locate these and open them up. Having succeeded to do so, we continued exploration but our attempts to locate more kilns proved fruitless. We, however, came across traces of pits dug into the soil for pottery clay and traces of a filled- in pit lying north of the line of kilns (Fig. 19. 3). The kilns must have been part of a vicus' pottery-firing establishment of which only three had been left over for our investigation. The potter's shop was lying along the dry course of a small brook's bed. Towards the west and in the direction of the buildings of the nearby state farm, numerous sherds and fragments of Roman tegulae were found in the immediate vicinity of the clay pits. It has been assumed, therefore, that the dwellings of the original settlement presumably were partly under the present farm buildings and partly to the east and north-east therefrom (Fig. 19). The objects from the kilns and the clay pits, show at first sight that the settlement dates from the second century A. D. The archeological material possessed features of the late La Tène period both in the structure of the kilns as well as in the type of the pottery ware produced in them. Kiln No. 1 (Pl. XVII. 1). Modern interference has left but little of this kiln. Judging by the intact sides of the oven, it must have been a round structure such as Kiln No. 2 was (Fig. 20 and Pl. XVII. 2, 4). The objects were lying on the grating of the kiln and alongside it. These have been enumerated and discussed in detail in the Hungarian text. Kiln No. 2 (Fig. 20 and Pl. XVII. 2-6). Kilns Nos. 2 and 3 were located 15 metres east from Kiln No. 1. Modern interference had destroyed the entrance to the common stokehole (praefurnium) of the two kilns so that only slight traces were found of the stairs leading down to it (Fig. 20). The kiln was round in shape, dug into the clay with a rib left in the clay running along lengthwise, and it consisted of two fire-chambers (Fig. 20 and PL XVII. 2, 5). The average thickness of the grating was 18—20 cm. The grating showed traces of a later repair and so it must have either subsided in the centre or else it had fallen in. The objects were lying partly in, and partly alongside, the kiln. These have been enumerated and discussed in the Hungarian text. Kiln No. 3 (Fig. 20 and Pl. XVII. 3, 6) was a slightly elongated ellipse in shape. It was dug into clay with a rib left in the clay running lengthwise, and with two fire-chambers (Fig. 21 and Pl. XVII. 6). The kilnhole faced west, and the kiln was fed from a stokehole (praefurnium) common with Kiln No. 2 The fire-chambers were irregular in shape being wider in parts than the gratings. It was mud-plastered to a smooth surface, otherwise the ovens were unevenly executed and were practically entirely burnt through (Fig. 21. 1 and PL XVII . 6). The grating consisted of two layers of mud-plastering with an average thickness of 20 cm. (Fig. 21).The objects were lyingpartly at the mouthofthe stokehole, or were partly recovered from within the grating that we had taken apart. 6 Folia Arch. VIII.