ExcavationForeign missions

Lemba: Greek mission excavation of a medieval pottery workshop

Name: Lemba: Greek mission excavation of a medieval pottery workshop
Start: 1997
End: 1998

1997–1998 · Lemba

A Greek mission directed by Chr. Bakirtzis at the medieval ceramic production centre of Lemba, which yielded 13th- and 14th-century glazed sgraffito and Slip Painted wares and many wasters.

Map of Cyprus

Where the work took place

Ground above 200, 500, 1,000 m

Site

1Lemba (approx.)

Modern coastline (OpenStreetMap) and relief (Copernicus DEM).

The project

A Greek mission directed by Chr. Bakirtzis investigated a medieval ceramic production centre at Lemba¹. Steel reports abundant pottery of the 13th and 14th centuries AD, many wasters, and mostly glazed wares, among them sgraffito forms and Slip Painted pottery, together with undecorated storage and cooking wares¹. Walls and plastered floors indicated dense medieval occupation, and a later house was identified with plastered interior walls; finds also included shoe nails, terracotta pipes and loomweights¹.

Directors and team

Directed by

Charalambos Bakirtzis1997–1998
Demetra Papanikola-Bakirtzi1997–1998

Institutions

Greek missionSponsor

Seasons

2 seasons

1997
Aim: locate medieval ceramic production installations. Abundant waste and misfired wares, many braziers; mostly glazed ware of the types attributed to Paphos workshops, dated 12th-14th centuries; Slip Painted sherds and mainly incised sgraffito wares. Sounding walls of wattle and daub and plaster floors on pebble bedding show dense medieval occupation; a later house (sondages A2, A3, B2, B3) with plastered walls, roof of timber, seaweed and clay, and leather shoes, loom weights and clay pipes.
Directed by D. Papanikola-Bakirtzi, Chr. Bakirtzis[1]
1998
Exploratory soundings B4, Γ4, E6, Z6, K6 and two bermes (B4/Γ4, E6/E7) to locate medieval ceramic production. In B4 a mud-brick wall (0.63 m thick, 0.50 m high) with a clay floor at 2.13 m depth, and rich glazed pottery and kiln waste (reheating stands, overfired pieces). Local glazed wares equal in number to Lapithos workshop products, plus Italian and Ottoman imports; undecorated kitchen and storage wares.
Directed by D. Papanikola-Bakirtzi, Chr. Bakirtzis[2]

What was found

Periods

Medieval
Ottoman

Features and finds

Medieval ceramic production area; Sondages A2, A3, B2, B3 (later house); sondage B4; sondage Γ4; sondage E6; sondage Z6; sondage K6; berme B4/Γ4; berme E6/E7; mud-brick wall in B4; clay floor.

Publications

3 items

Annual reports of the Department of Antiquities

Archaeology in Cyprus 1997–2002

Chronique des fouilles (Bulletin de correspondance hellénique)

Other fieldwork at Lemba · 1

Lemba-Lakkous: the Lemba Archaeological Project1976–1983

References

1.Louise Steel, 2003, Archaeology in Cyprus 1997–2002, Archaeological Reports 50 (2003–2004).

Sources

1.Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1997, p. 685.
2.Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1998, pp. 620–621.
3.Archaeology in Cyprus 1997–2002, p. 17.

Corrections and additions

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