During a dig near Selinunte, Sicily, German archaeologists have found what is "the largest industrial quarter of the Greek world," according to Discovery News.
The pottery workshop used approximately 80 kilns in its production. One of the kilns is a full 17 feet in diameter, and the archaeologists think it may be the largest kiln used in ancient Greece.
Selinunte, or Selinus, as the Greeks called it, is on Sicily's southwest coast. Selinunte was known for its lavish temples before the Carthaginians destroyed the site in 409 B.C.E., during the first Punic War. The Selinunte pottery workshop, which the archaeologists estimate was established around 550 B.C.E., featured a courtyard for drying the ceramics, as well as two firing areas and a store to sell the pottery.
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The archaeologists noted that during the mid-fifth century B.C.E., the Greek's pottery focus shifted from small, terra cotta statues to mass productions of roof tiles and vases. The excavation, led by Martin Bentz of the University of Bonn in conjunction with the German Archaeological Institute in Rome, is expected to continue through 2016.
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