Sixth-century Pottery Kiln from

Novae (Moesia Secunda).

A Contribution to the Studies on
the Local Pottery Manufacturing

Archaeologia Bulgarica Agnieszka TOMAS

, 3 (2015), 63-73

Abstract: The latest occupation phase traced in the excavated section of the northern
defensive wall of Novae dates to the sixth century AD. The excavations uncovered the
earthenware pottery kiln containing the broken, but entire pots. The moment of its
destruction is dated by a follis of Justinian I. Among almost forty kilns unearthed so
far at Novae, those placed within the walls of the fortress are dated mainly to the 4th
mid-5th centuries. The discussed kiln is a rare example of a 6th century feature of this
type from the central part of Moesia II, preserved with its batch.

Key words: Novae, Moesia II, pottery kiln, sixth century, local pottery manufacturing.

The legionary fortress of Novae (near the Danube city of Svishtov,

North Bulgaria) founded around the middle of the 1st century AD de-
veloped into the late Roman town which survived probably until the
beginning of the 7th century (Madgearu 2006, 153-154; Dimitrov 2013,
21; Sarnowski et al. 2012, 27). In 2007 excavations of the Polish sector
carried out by the Institute of Archaeology, University of Warsaw were
held in the area of the northern curtain wall and tower # 27 (Sarnowski
et al. 2010, esp. 169). The excavated section covering the area of ca. 160
sq. metres was situated on the edge of todays escarpment (fig. 1A).
The biggest trench B, across the intervallum from the wall in the
north to the one of the centurial barracks in the south (squares II 131,
151, 171, 191, 211) provided much information about the stratigraphy
and complexity of this section of the site (fig. 2).
Pottery Kiln
The latest traceable occupation phase was marked by a pottery kiln
located in the intervallum (square II 151) (fig. 2). The kiln had or-
ange-clay walls of 20-30 cm and a large post supporting the clay grid
(fig. 3). Its size (1.20 m wide and 1.30 high) is not considerable when
compared to other kilns from Novae ( 2006, 141, tab. 1). Grey
coarse wares including cooking pots and jugs were the last kiln batch.
Apart from the pottery fragments, the kiln was filled with broken roof
tiles and small stones, apparently put there on purpose. A terminus post
quem of AD 557-558 for dating its destruction was a follis of Justinian I,
found in the layer in which the chamber of the kiln had been dug out.
The Fabric, Technology and Forms
A set of kitchen ware was made from the same fabric, which was hard,
fine-grained but sandy, containing large quantity of quartz and small,
white stones, lime inclusions and average quantity of fine silver mica.
Its texture was very rough, but the surface was powdery in touch. The
64 Agnieszka TOMAS

Fig. 1. Novae. An outline plan of the

fortress superimposed on the satellite
image (by A. Tomas). The place where
the sixth-century pottery kiln has been
discovered is marked with a letter A

Fig. 2. Novae. The western section of a trench perpendicular to the northern defensive walls and intervallum (by A. Tomas and
P. Zakrzewski): 1 pottery kiln; 2 stone remains of an oven or a kiln; 3 clay remains of an oven or a kiln; 4 a smashed oven or a kiln

fabric had grey colour varying from 10 YR 5/1 to 5 YR 5/1. All the
forms were wheel-thrown, but it seems that on two different potters
wheels what is reflected in different bottoms (tab. I/1, 2). The walls
are often crusty and relatively thin in proportion to the size and capac-
ity of the vessels. This fabric, which varies in colour from grey to
orange-grey (10 YR 5/1 to 5 YR 5/1) and dark greyish brown to brown
(2.5 Y 4/2 to 7.5 YR 5/4), and may have white eruptions on the vessels
surface, is defined as Ware D present in the layers dated to the 6th
century (Tomas 2003, 123; cf. Kotecki 1977 and here tables III-IV).
The laboratory analyses of pottery discovered in Novae allowed
to distinguish locally manufactured pottery made from an iron-poor
and iron-rich clay, both non-calcareous and calcareous (Daszkiewicz
et al. 2006, 194-196). The fabric of the vessels from the discussed pot-

Fig. 3. Novae. Northern intervallum wall: A the pottery kiln; plan and section (by A. Tomas); B the pottery kiln (photo T. Sarnowski)
Personal information from Dr. E.
1 ware D (Falkner 1999, 274). However, this type of ware in Nicopolis
Klenina, whom I would like to thank.
Sixth-century Pottery Kiln from Novae (Moesia secunda)... 65
tery kiln suits the best to the sample MD 2549 of iron-rich high cal-
careous matrix with quartz, aggregates of clay and opaque minerals
(Daszkiewicz et al. 2006, 209, fig. 7), but the analysed samples from
Novae came from the 3rd 5th century finds1. Despite a number of the
laboratory analyses of the material from Iatrus (by the Danube village
of Krivina, district of Ruse, North Bulgaria) and Novae, which made
a significant step forward in our knowledge about pottery finds (e.g.
Daszkiewicz / Schneider 2007; Baranowski / Daszkiewicz 2009), this
type of fabric was not subject to the detailed study.
The majority of pots from the kiln are two-handled medium-sized
jars with bulbous belly without foot (table I). Other forms include
smaller jars, jugs with the trefoil rims and bowls (table II). Their rim
is usually everted, sometimes concave in section. Some forms have
a ribbed, truncated conical neck (table I/1, 2) and some are without
necks (table I/3-12, table II/13-14). The jars were to be covered with
lids (table II/18, 19).
Similar forms are known from other parts of Novae (Klenina 1999,
esp. fig. 4, 5 and 7; 2006, 79-88, tab. 41-46, esp. types 21, 22),
as well as from nearby Iatrus and Nicopolis ad Istrum / by the village of
Nikyup, district of Veliko Tarnovo, North Bulgaria (e.g. Bttger 1982,
141-142, Tpfe VII, period D); Falkner 1999, 105-106, fig. 6.7, ware
1). Some of them are dated slightly earlier, to the second half of the 5th
century ( 2006, 117, type 5; cf. here table IV/3). In Nicopolis
among the forms dated to the latest period (450-600), there are vessels
comparable to these from Novae (Falkner 1999, 66-67 and tab. 9.7,
# 110-125; 71 and 9.8, # 218-221) and the fabric described in Nicopolis
as ware 1 (grey coarse ware) resembles the one described at Novae as
was defined for all grey pottery fragments found in the contexts dated
66 Agnieszka TOMAS

Table I. Novae. Pottery from the pottery kiln near the northern defensive wall (by A. Tomas)

from 130 to 600, without specification of ceramic paste for the Early
Byzantine period. As it was stated by the discoverers, the low quality
of the 5th 6th century coarse ware, from all of these sites indicates
rather for the local production (Klenina 1999, 93; 2006, 172;
Falkner 1999, 46; Bttger 1982, 84). This conclusion, although pre-
sumptive, finds support in the laboratory analyses which distinguished
locally manufactured pottery (Daszkiewicz et al. 2006, 194-195;
2006, 172). Anyway, analogical forms of grey coarse ware are
known from other, sometimes distant, sites in present Bulgaria, thus
the forms of the pots should be regarded as common in the 6th century
( 1985, 47-54 and tab. 28-32).
 Sixth-century Pottery Kiln from Novae (Moesia secunda)... 67

Table II. Novae. Pottery from the pottery kiln near the northern defensive wall (by A. Tomas)

Kilns from Novae

Around thirty-eight kilns and ovens have been documented and pub-
lished so far in Novae and its surroundings, but some more remains
- 1966 (12 kilns,
2
were reported, as well (fig. 1)2. Some of them are only remains of round
among them one published by Majewski stone constructions which may have been kilns, ovens or even hearths.
et al. 1961, 87, fig. 16 and one by
1966); Majewski et al. 1961, 118, fig. 85 (1 At least sixteen kilns were located by the mouth of the Dermen dere, a
kiln or oven); et al. 1970, 60- small tributary of the Danube passing by the eastern side of the town,
68 Agnieszka TOMAS

Table III. Novae. Finds from the pottery kiln discovered in 1975 (original drawings by J. Kotecki 1977)

but some of them were too much destroyed to determine their dat- 65, fig. 11-13 (2 kilns, cf. Sarnowski 1976,
ing. Some of them contained pottery sherds, other building materials 62, fig. 1, 2); Majewski et al. 1971, 185-
186, fig. 32 (2 kilns or ovens);
or lamps, but the majority was empty. The constructions discovered et al. 1974, 143-154, fig. 17 (2 kilns and 1
within the walls of Novae are very often destroyed, so difficult to de- kiln or oven); Majewski et al. 1975, 144,
termine their function. fig. 47 (1 kiln(?)); Kotecki 1977 (1 kiln);

Table IV. Novae. Vessels and fragments
of pottery classified as ware D:
1-2 finds from an unknown context;
3 potscherd from the mixed layers in
the eastern intervallum; 4-9 finds from
the 6th-century layers in the northern
intervallum (by A. Tomas)
Geneva 1999, 97, fig. 1, 1-4 (4 kilns and/
or ovens); Dyczek 2005 (4 kilns, among
them one for lamp manufacturing); near
the villa and Late Roman basilica to the
west from Novae (1 kiln, unpublished);
Sarnowski et al. 2008 (2010), esp. 169, fig.
10 (7 ovens and/or kilns, one of them is
the kiln in the present publication).
Sixth-century Pottery Kiln from Novae (Moesia secunda)... 69
Local production during the time of Principate is testified by kilns
and by pottery and clay lamp moulds discovered in Novae (
1950, 150-151, figs. 1, 2, 7, 8; 1977). In the times of
Principate the ceramic manufacturing was mostly situated beyond or
near the fortress walls (Dyczek 2005). The majority of constructions
interpreted as kilns unearthed intra muros come from the late contexts,
dated between the 4th and the mid-5th century ( 2006, 25-28
and tab. 1), but these, dated to the latest period of Roman presence are
rare. The first one is a pottery kiln with preserved batch discovered
near the via principalis, which was preliminary dated to the beginning
of the 7th century, but it is possible that the structure is in fact slightly
earlier (Kotecki 1977 reprinted in 2006, 85-88 and tab. 1/8).
The second one was unearthed in the latest layers near the south-west-
ern corner of the headquarters building (Majewski 1975, 124-125, fig.
54; 2006, tab. 1/1). The third structure of unknown function,
either an oven or a kiln, was discovered in the latest layers near the
eastern defensive walls ( et al. 1974, 154; 2006,
tab. 1/2). However, only the kiln presented here may be dated more
precisely to the mid-6th century.
70 Agnieszka TOMAS

The Habitation in the North-Western Part of the Town

in the 6th Century
The discussed kiln was situated by the Danubian bank where water,
sand and firewood can be easily obtained, but it is far enough from
dwellings which could have been threatened by fire. The builder of the
kiln may have lived in the houses situated in the north-western part of
Novae. At the time of the kilns construction (around the middle of the
6th century), the residential building situated to the south-east from
it, was in its final decline (Dyczek 2000, 103). However, the gradual
decline and fall of the local urban centres had started from the end
of the 6th century (Poulter 1995, 17-18, 45; Madgearu 2006, 153-154).
Despite the devastating barbarian raids in the first half of the 6th cen-
tury (von Blow 1995; Curta 2001, 116-117, table 4; cf. Velkov 1987,
155-159), the habitation at Novae survived until the first decades of the
7th century (Sarnowski 2012 et al. 27).
Conclusions
The pottery from the kiln was fired entirely and properly, as evidenced
by lack of deformations. The ware chamber seems to have been opened
and later filled with rubble and numerous pottery fragments which
belonged to the entire, but broken pots. It is possible that the potter
sorted the batch after firing and left the broken pieces inside. But it
is also probable that the potter never removed the kilns content, and
its chamber was opened later, when its batch was already partly de-
stroyed. Such interpretation would explain the number of pieces, some
of them almost entirely preserved inside. Regrettably the stratigraphic
context does not give the answer to this question.
The kiln from Novae is a rare example of a 6th century feature of
this type from the central part of Moesia II, preserved with its batch.
Although other features described as kilns, ovens or round structures
dated to the 6th century are known from Durostorum (now the Danube
city of Silistra, NE corner of Bulgaria) and Iatrus, they were either
not fully published (two pottery kilns in Durostorum, see Angelova /
Buchvarov 2007, 76, 79-81 and fig. 1, 6.1) or their function was unclear
(a round structure discovered in Iatrus, phase D was described by dis-
coverers as a feature of unknown function, probably an oven; see von
Blow 1991). Local production centres near Boutovo, Hotnitsa and
Pavlikeni in the rural territory of Nicopolis ad Istrum, most probably
ceased to function after the mid-4th century AD, and pottery manu-
facturing started to operate near the Nicopolis northern gate, but it
remains unknown whether the kilns were in use still in the 6th century
(Falkner 1999, 40, 110). Workshops in (Veliko) Tarnovo, which be-
came an important Byzantine town, functioned from the 12th century
(Dochev 2002, 675; cf. Falkner 1999, 118). Much more we know about
the preceding period of the 4th 5th century when pottery was manufac-
tured at Novae and Iatrus ( 2006, 30; Conrad 2007, 244-245).
Such state of research concerning 6th-century pottery kilns concerns
also other parts of the province. The subject of pottery production in
Scythia in the 4th 6th centuries was a subject of study (Opai 2004),
while Moesia II waits for such a comprehensive elaboration.
The size of the kiln, its isolated location and quite simple forms of
pottery show rather domestic manufacturing, than a large-scale pro-
duction. This should lead to the conclusion that the pottery produc-
 Sixth-century Pottery Kiln from Novae (Moesia secunda)... 71

tion in Novae not necessarily must have been entirely controlled by the
bishop, as the former data seem to suggest (cf. 2006, 137),
although it is very probable that his subordinates could have been
obliged to provide bishopric centre in some goods.

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Dr. Agnieszka Tomas

Institute of Archaeology
University of Warsaw
ul. Krakowskie Przedmiecie 26/28
PL-00927 Warszawa
agnieszka.tomas@uw.edu.pl