An Archaeometric and Archaeological Approach to Hellenistic-Early Roman Ceramic Workshops in Greece: Contribution to Dating

Abstract

The present article comprises a multidisciplinary archaeometric approach for the study of Hellenistic and Early Roman kilns in Greece. A collection of previously published and new archaeomagnetic data are combined with new results from mineralogical analytical experiments. The sampled material came from four areas, covering different geological contexts: Katerini, Olympiada, and Polymylos in mainland Greece, and the island of Paros. Extensive rock-magnetic experiments, including identification of the dominant ferromagnetic minerals present, their domain state, and mineralogical alterations during laboratory treatments, have been carried out in order to examine the magnetic properties of the studied materials and prove their suitability for reliable archaeomagnetic determinations. Magnetic cleaning provided well-defined archaeomagnetic directions, and archaeointensity measurements were carried out using both the Thellier-Thellier and Triaxe protocols. Information from both magnetic and mineralogical properties referring to firing conditions is further discussed along with archaeological information. Finally, a new dating of the four sites together with other structures of similar age was carried out using the Pavón-Carrasco model.

Investigating the archaeointensity determination success of prehistoric ceramics through a multidisciplinary approach: new and re-evaluated data from Greek collections

“…Even if only one sample is referred, the obtained value of 55 ± 5.2 µT is in very good agreement with the one obtained for the SKS collection revised in this study (1925 ± 125 yr BC) of 53.5 ± 4.1 µT (Tema et al 2012). Apart from the numerous data from Thomas (1981Thomas ( , 1983, several archaeointensity studies in Greece have been performed (for compilations see De Marco et al 2008;Tema & Kondopoulou 2011;Aidona & Kondopoulou 2012;Tema et al 2012;Fanjat et al 2013;Kondopoulou et al 2014Kondopoulou et al , 2015. However, only 83 data correspond to the prehistoric period (before 1000/900 yr BC).…”

Archaeomagnetic study and thermoluminescence dating of Protobyzantine kilns (Megali Kypsa, North Greece)

“…In a study on 14 kilns conducted on four Hellenistic-Early Roman ceramic workshops in Greece a broad range of firing temperatures was determined through detailed mineralogical analysis on at least 3 samples per kiln. The derived temperatures, apart few exceptions, lie in the range of 700°C-800°C (Rathossi et al, 2012;Kondopoulou et al, 2014). A similar study, conducted on building material samples collected from an early Hellenistic kiln excavated in Kato Achaia (NW Peloponnese, Southern Greece), estimated firing temperatures between 800 and 1050°C (Rathossi et al, 2012).…”