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Excavations of a Kiln Site at Tocra Libya in August 1974

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2015

J. A. Riley
J. A. Riley*
Affiliation:
University of Manchester
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Extract

It has been known since 1954 that a pottery kiln site is situated about 100 metres to the North West of the West Gate of Roman Tocra, in the area known locally as ‘Howa El-Faquar’ (Area of Potsherds).

While looking for tombs in the East face of the small quarry in this area (see Fig.l), Wright discovered in 1954 part of a wastage dump from a kiln. The general direction of the tip lines led him to consider that one of the kilns was situated on a ‘small but salient mound’ (see Pl.1) nearby. He published a selection of pottery from the dump and, after some discussion, based on lamp evidence, he placed the date of the group at around A.D.100.

As this area is now outside the area controlled by the Department of Antiquities and is being ploughed by local farmers, it was thought expedient to examine the area through limited excavation for several reasons. A date of around A.D.100 seemed too early in the light of a study of the coarse pottery from the recent excavation at Sidi Krebish in Benghazi: a late second or early third century A.D. date seemed more appropriate. It was hoped that further excavation at Tocra would shed more light on this. In addition, few kilns have been excavated anywhere in North Africa to date and the potential of the Tocra site for structural and organisational information about the pottery industry is very great. It was also considered an excellent opportunity to study in detail a large group of contemporary pottery and to quantify the relative proportions of the different types.

Permission was kindly granted by Mr. Masoud Shagluf, Controller of Antiquities for Western Cyrenaica, and a two week excavation took place in August 1974.

Type
Research Article
Information
Libyan Studies , Volume 6 , 1974 , pp. 25 - 29
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Libyan Studies 1974

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References

1. See Wright, G. H. R., Excavations at Tocra, Palestine Exploration Quarterly, 1963. pp.22 ff.Google Scholar
2. Kilns have also been found at Tripoli, (see Bartoccini, R., Africa Italiana, II, 1928–1929), Tarhuna, (see R. Goodchild, Proceedings of the British School at Rome, 1952), Deriana, (see G. D. B. Jones and J. H. Little, Libya Antiqua, VIII, 1971)Google Scholar
3. I am very grateful to Mr. Masoud Shagluf for his help and active interest in the excavation and to Mr. Ali Salem Letrik, Deputy Controller of Antiquities. Mr. Mansur Abdusalem, Inspector of Antiquities for Tocra and Mr. Salah Ali, Deputy Inspector and all the members of the workforce generously provided by the Department of Antiquities are to be thanked for their help and co-operation. Thanks are also due to Mr. J. Lloyd and Mr. G. Burzack for the loan of equipment without which the excavation could not have taken place. Last but not least I must thank the Assistant Directors of the excavation, Mr. Abdusalem Kawash and Miss F. Everett.Google Scholar
4. A more detailed analysis of the pottery together with the coarse pottery type series has been submitted to Libya Antiqua.Google Scholar
5. I am grateful to Mr. J. Sharpies of Manchester University and to Dr. R. Reece of the Institute of Archaeology in London for their comments on the coin.Google Scholar
6. For the ware and its type series see Hayes, J. W., Late Roman Pottery, London, 1972.Google Scholar
7. I am grateful to Mr. D. Bailey of the British Museum for his comments on the lamps.Google Scholar
8. A total of 22 waster fragments found in the area prior to the 1974 excavation were examined by Dr. G. W. A. Newton and Mr. W. Krywonos of the Department of Chemistry, University of Manchester, the important results of which are published below, I wish to thank Dr. G. W. A. Newton and Mr. W. Krywonos for their enthusiasm and help with their analysis of waster sherds from various parts of Cyrenaica over the past two years.Google Scholar