A Late Roman Amphora I workshop in Kazanlı, ancient Cilicia Pedias

Kazanlı is a settlement between the cities of Tarsus and Mersin in Turkey, and part of Cilicia Pedias in antiquity. Here, an amphora dump was discovered on the shoreline; it has not yet been officially recognized as an archaeological site. A waste layer in the dump consists of a large majority Late Roman Amphorae 1 (LRA 1) and few Late Roman Amphorae 4 fragments. LRA 1 is an amphora type produced in Cilicia, the Orontes delta, Cyprus, western Anatolia and the southern Aegean islands. In this article, results of research into the typological traits, fabrics, surface and slip colours of a sample of LR 1 amphorae produced in Kazanlı are introduced to the literature for the first time. According to the dates of the parallels, we may date the activity of this workshop to the late 4th–6th, and possibly 7th centuries AD.