8 July 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

A Large Roman Pottery Production Center was Found in Poland

A large Roman pottery production center was found in Poland. The production center was discovered near the village of Wrzepia, in the Little Poland Voivodeship.

The production center includes 130 bakeries and stands out as the largest of its kind. Although it is the largest archaeological site of this kind in Poland, it is also one of the largest in Europe.

The field dates back to about 1500 years. So far, the remains of two furnaces have been excavated, and the rest have been located on 5 hectares using a magnetometer.

Previous research results show that these furnaces were operated between the end of the 3rd century and the 5th century. According to the researchers, Germanic tribes, possibly Vandals, lived here in these regions.

Pots cooked in open hearths were made using the potter’s wheel, which was a popular use in the region at that time.

Archaeologist Jan Bulas said to Science in Poland, “Our research shows that only storage vessels with characteristic thickened necks were produced there. These were large vessels up to 50 cm neck diameter and about 70 cm high. The vessels were most likely used for storage – for example of food. There are known discoveries of such vessels dug into the ground, which probably served as pantries.”

Roman-era pottery production center
According to Jan Bulas, one of the archaeologists on the project, the unearthed site produced “storage vessels with characteristic wide spouts” that were up to 50cm in diameter and 70cm in height.

Bulas said: “The site in Wrzępia is unique for many reasons. It should be emphasized that in the light of current knowledge it is not only the largest production site of this type in Poland but also one of the largest in the entire barbaric Europe of the Roman period. The only comparable place in terms of the number of kilns is a huge production center in Medieșu Aurit in Romania, where researchers estimate the number kilns at more than 200, also based on magnetic surveys.”

He added: ‘The largest previously known site with pottery kilns of the Przeworsk culture (that archaeologists associate with the Vandals – PAP) is located in Zofipol near Kraków, where about 57 kilns have been found during excavations and geophysical research.”

In today’s Polish territory, large iron production centers were also operating during the same period. The largest of these is located in the Świętokrzyskie mountain range, while other large centers can also be known from Masovia and Silesia. They are one of the largest ancient metallurgical centers in so-called barbaric Europe.

Both the steel production center and the discovered ceramic container production center show the degree of development of the barbarian economy at that time.

(PAP)

Cover photo: Projekt Wrzepia

Related Articles

Artifacts found in Japan could be prototypes of ninja weapons

14 January 2022

14 January 2022

Artifacts discovered in the ruins of structures associated with warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s 1590 Siege of Odawara may be prototypes of...

Coin hoard found in fireplace ‘belonging to Scottish clan chief’ murdered at infamous Glencoe Massacre

17 October 2023

17 October 2023 1

Coins believed to have belonged to a Scottish clan chief murdered in an infamous 17th-century Glencoe massacre, have been found...

Ancient scrolls reveal astonishing information about the life of a Nabatean woman, who lived in the first century AD in Petra

18 December 2023

18 December 2023

Petra was the capital of a powerful trading empire two thousand years ago. It was established by the Nabateans, a...

3500-year-old grape seed remains found in western Anatolia

12 September 2023

12 September 2023

Archaeologists at the Aşağıseyit Höyük (Aşağıseyit Mound) site in western Anatolia’s Denizli have uncovered a 3,500-year-old grape seed. Aşağıseyi Höyük...

Two Deep Ritual Wells Sealed with 3100-year-old Calcium Carbonate Discovered on Greek Island

6 August 2024

6 August 2024

Aerial photographs of the “Kotroni” Lakithra region, strategically located on the island of Cephalonia, west of the Greek mainland, revealed...

A woman in Norway found Viking-age 1000-year-old hoard in basement

20 April 2023

20 April 2023

A woman in Norway cleaned her parents’ home, she found 32 iron ingots dating to the Viking or early Middle...

The Mystery of the Hekatompedon: An Ancient Shepherd’s Graffiti Sheds New Light on the Mystery of the Acropolis’ Lost Temple

13 June 2024

13 June 2024

The Acropolis of Athens and its monuments, the greatest architectural and artistic complex bequeathed to the world by ancient Greece,...

Artifacts used for ancient magic rituals discovered on Darb al-Hajj route from Cairo to Mecca

11 September 2023

11 September 2023

The artifacts, found in the 1990s on the ancient Darb al-Hajj route from Cairo to Mecca, may have been in...

The 4,500-year-old Wisconsin canoe was built around the same time that Stonehenge was being constructed

31 May 2024

31 May 2024

Historians from Wisconsin have reported the amazing finding of at least eleven prehistoric canoes in Lake Mendota, which is close...

Maltaş Temple Revealed

10 August 2021

10 August 2021

Phrygian Valley, 10 meters high monument with Phrygian scriptures inscriptions on it discovered. The unearthed Maltaş monument is actually the...

Archaeologists Uncover Asini’s Hidden Ancient Port Beneath the Waves of Greece

11 March 2025

11 March 2025

An international team of underwater archaeologists has made a groundbreaking discovery at the submerged site of Asini, near Tolo in...

Undeciphered Rongorongo Script from Easter Island may Predate European Colonization

12 February 2024

12 February 2024

From the depths of history, a wooden tablet bearing the mysterious “rongorongo” script has been unearthed from the small, remote...

After 1,300 years, water to again flow from monumental fountain in the City of Gladiators in Turkey

30 December 2022

30 December 2022

The approximately 2,000-year-old monumental fountain in the ancient city of Kibyra in Golhisar, Burdur in southwestern Turkey will start flowing...

Iron Age stone altar and gold-plated ceremonial sword discovered in Kazakhstan

14 August 2021

14 August 2021

A stone altar and a gold-plated ceremonial sword used in the early Iron Age were discovered during excavations along the...

A new study reveals more than one person was buried in a tomb where the famous Nestor’s Cup was found

6 October 2021

6 October 2021

The Tomb of Nestor’s Cup, a burial that contained one of the oldest known Greek inscriptions, was more crowded than...