Roman furnaces
Le Roman furnaces of Alcamo they are part of an archaeological complex located in Alcamo Marina (in the Foggia district) discovered in 2000.
The excavation area, owned by the Municipality of Alcamo, is located at km 43,800 of the Provincial Road 187, near the San Bartolomeo river on the border between Alcamo and Castellammare del Golfo and upstream of the Trapani – Palermo railway line, in the Magazzinazzi area.
The area has an extension of 2500 square meters; three furnaces were discovered, two rooms for production and 5 wall structures that delimit the production area, made with large blocks of local limestone; these walls were used to contain the expansion of the ground, caused by the heat of the furnaces and mainly in the heating and cooling phases.
The furnaces, dated between the 3st century AD and the mid-XNUMXth century AD, are arranged in a "row", on the north-south axis. Their shape is circular, with a diameter of about XNUMX meters and they have an unusual state of conservation.
The structure of the furnace "A" is of the "muffle" type, of which few examples exist in Italy and in Europe of the Roman age. The structure of the praefurnium and part of the corridor that was used for the insertion of wood.
Given the vastness of the work area, there were probably some ditches useful for purifying the clay, and several production lines, storage warehouses. Even the existence of as many as 15 furnaces is believed to be probable; each employed 8 people, so it is likely that there was an inhabited nucleus in this area.
The plant perhaps belonged to one or more families of noble Roman entrepreneurs. In the furnace "A" a tile with the Maesi stamp and a cross-shaped sign was found, from the XNUMXth century AD, and near Alcamo (in the Sirignano district) in an ancient villa a tile with the Maesi stamp was found Anae. The Maesi were present in Sicily in the late ancient imperial age, and there are numerous inscriptions in Termini Imerese, Palermo and Marsala. (Source: Wikipedia)
In-depth documents:
Card insertion: Ignatius Caloggero
Photo: web
Information contributions: Ignazio Caloggero, Web
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