Ruins of 1,900-year-old workshop — used for pottery making — found in France. See it
Buried in the acidic soil of an island off the coast of France sat the ruins of a 1,900-year-old pottery workshop. Despite being abandoned, large sections of the ancient Roman site survived — and archaeologists just found them.
A team of archaeologists excavated two plots of land on Corsica island ahead of a home construction project, the French National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research said in a Nov. 12 news release.
As they dug, archaeologists uncovered some ancient Roman structures and identified the site as a tile making workshop from the first century A.D.
Traces of the entire pottery process were visible in the workshop ruins, the institute said. In one spot, archaeologists found a tile wash basin where the clay was made. A photo shows this roughly 14-foot-wide basin.
In another area, archaeologists uncovered a multi-chambered kiln used to heat the pottery. Photos show the stone oven and what remains of the surrounding workshop wall. The ruins seem to continue beyond the excavation area.
Nearby, excavations revealed a second stone building likely used as a warehouse to store finished pottery, the institute said. An aerial photo shows the rectangular structure.
Archaeologists also identified several ancient trash dumps filled with pottery waste and a road leading to the workshop.
Corsica came under the Roman empire’s control in 163 B.C. after a series of military campaigns, according to Britannica. “The island’s economy flourished,” and its inhabitants adopted the Romans’ language, “which became the foundation of the present-day Corsican dialect.”
Excavations at the 1,900-year-old workshop also unearthed eight burials, archaeologists said. Most of the graves were made of tile and stone, but one was a pottery urn.
Other finds at the site in Aléria included several structures, ceramics and tools from the early Iron Age. Archaeologists plan to analyze their finds in a laboratory.
Aléria is a village on the eastern side of Corsica, a French island in the Mediterranean.
Google Translate was used to translate the news release from the French National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research (Inrap).
This story was originally published November 21, 2024 at 8:28 AM with the headline "Ruins of 1,900-year-old workshop — used for pottery making — found in France. See it."
