Aoste (Isère) : un centre de production de céramiques (fin du Ier s. av. J.-C - fin du Iers. ap. J.-C). Fouilles récentes (1983-1984)

Abstract

A center of production of pottery was discovered in the Vicus Augustum (Aoste, Isère). It contains 5 kilns, 5 clay storage pits, many pits of earth extraction, a shed and a pottery dump. In spite of the lack of a complete documentation concerning the whole map of the structures, it is possible to establish a chronology. The plentiful ceramic material from the storage area made it possible to draw up a typology of production offering a wide range of varieties, such as : sigillate imitations, ceramics covered with earthy material in order to hide the initial colour of the pottery, Dechelette 69, thin ceramic without earthy covering, thin ceramics, painted ceramics, light coloured common ceramics, dark common ceramics, amphorae and dolia. The fact that certain types of ceramics, especially mortars bearing the signature of C. Atisius Sabinius and the Dechelette 69, have been found in distant sites gives evidence of the significance of this pottery center in Augustum in the 1st century A.D.