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Three Late Medieval Kilns From The Athenian Agora, Camilla Mackay

Library Staff Research and Scholarship

This article presents pottery from three late medieval kilns excavated in the Athenian Agora in the 1930s. Wasters from the kilns provide important proof of the local production of lead-glazed wares that come into use in the early Ottoman period and are found in surveys and excavations throughout Attica and Boeotia. Some of this pottery has been identified as maiolica, but portable x-ray fluorescence (pXRF) analysis has not indicated the presence of tin in the glaze. While distinctive in appearance, the pottery from these kilns seems to continue the ceramic tradition of earlier medieval Athens.