Lezoux
About
By the early 2nd century this Gallic town had overtaken La Graufesenque as the empire's leading source of fine red terra sigillata tableware, its sherds so distinctive they can date an archaeological layer to within a few decades. Pottery from Lezoux turned up as far as Roman Dacia, making up over half the fine ware at one excavated fort there. Production here was near its peak in 117 CE.
What happened here
The workshop runs as a production line. Clay is dug locally, weathered over winter, kneaded and thrown, or pressed into moulds for the decorated wares. Vessels are dried under cover, stamped with the potter's name, stacked in the kiln around a central flue and fired for days with the temperature judged by eye and by test pieces pulled from a port in the side. A big firing holds tens of thousands of pots and a bad one loses the lot. Wasters are dumped in heaps beside the works. Some workshops export across half the empire and their stamps turn up thousands of miles away. Fuel is the limit on everything, so kilns sit near woodland and move when it runs out.
Sources
Roman Maps shows the empire frozen at 11 August 117 CE, the day Trajan died — its moment of greatest territorial extent. Explore the full map →