A Late Antique Furnace from the Northeastern Part of the “Barracks” of Tauric Chersonese (Excavations in 1998)

Exhaustive field archaeological studies of a large antique building in the Port area of Chersonese was completed in 1998 (the large antique building named “Barracks”). The same year was marked by the finalization of excavations of medieval chambers 36-B and 36-D, which used to be one premise in the antiquity. The archaeological works uncovered a furnace in its center, destroyed in antiquity (preserved is only the furnace chamber and its mouth, made of hewn and rubble limestone on clay). According to the data set, it could be assumed that the furnace was built during the last ancient redevelopment of the entire site in front of XVI curtain line of defense. We do not have any precise data to determine the purpose of this supposedly pottery kiln and the date of its construction. According to stratigraphic observations (including the entire excavation site around the furnace) and dating of ceramics (especially fragments of amphorae and red slipware), primarily from the base of the wall that overlapped this object and from under the rubble in the furnace chamber), the time of its construction is determined by as early as the fourth century; it stopped functioning in the fifth century, probably around its middle.