Roman Ovens of the Fornaca: An Industrial Ceramic Site in Spain
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.1
- Popularity
- Very Low
- Country
- Spain
- Primary era
- Classical
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Classical
- Civilizations
- Roman
- Site type
- Economic
- Remains
- Production Complex
On this page9 sections
History
The Roman ovens of the Fornaca are an archaeological site at Vilassar de Dalt in Catalonia, Spain, associated with Roman industrial production during the first and second centuries AD. The three ovens manufactured large ceramic products, including imbrices, curved roof tiles laid over the joints between flat tiles, tegulae, large flat roof tiles, bricks, and dolia, large storage vessels. Their active phase has been dated through their form, excavated materials, and archaeomagnetic study, which identifies the magnetic signatures acquired by materials as they were heated and cooled.
Earlier occupation and Roman production
The area is associated with the Bronze Age, Iron Age, and both the early and late Roman Empire. The name Fornaca appears in 1290 in the speculum of Vilassar Castle, a written record connected with the castle, indicating the long antiquity of industrial activity in the area. The Roman ovens themselves belong to the period when ceramic production operated here on an industrial scale.
Discovery and conservation
In 1949, the Vilassar de Dalt Archaeological Group documented an oven of undetermined date beside the Mataró road. The Vilassar de Dalt Museum Group cleaned it in 1981, and the oven entered the Vilassar de Dalt Heritage Catalogue in 1985. Urbanization for the Vallmorena industrial park in 2002 prompted the Vilassar de Dalt Museum-Archive to document and protect the site. Excavation then identified Ovens 2 and 3, a portion of a mid-first-century AD dump, a Roman-period well, and a first-century AD silo.
The municipality built a protective structure in 2004. In 2005, the Directorate-General for Heritage of the Government of Catalonia consolidated the ovens with iron ties and arches on Oven 1, resin repairs to cracks in Ovens 1 and 3, and intensive cleaning of slag deposits and vitrification in the firing chambers. The enclosure is managed by the Vilassar de Dalt Museum-Archive, and the ovens are designated a Cultural Asset of Local Interest.
Remains
The site contains three Roman ceramic-production ovens within a purpose-built enclosure in the Vallmorena industrial park, at the boundary with the Fornaca neighbourhood. It lies between Camí del Mig and Carrer Eduard Calvet Pintó. Ovens 1 and 2 follow type 1/a, a kiln layout with a lower combustion chamber and an upper firing chamber separated by a grate. The grate was supported by eight radial arches and a central column.
Roman production ovens
Oven 1
Oven 1 retains the opening to its combustion chamber. Fuel entered through this opening, ashes were removed there, and the draught was regulated through it; masonry later blocked the access. Iron ties and arches were used in its 2005 consolidation. The oven was first excavated and documented in 1949 and was excavated again in 1981.
Oven 2
Oven 2 has a well-preserved combustion chamber and grate. Ceramic pieces were placed on the grate for firing, and the base of the firing-chamber wall remains visible. The oven was discovered during the development of the Vallmorena industrial park in 2002.
Oven 3
Smaller than Ovens 1 and 2, Oven 3 is classified as type 1/c. Its single combustion chamber is reached through a praefurnium, an entrance passage leading into a Roman kiln’s combustion chamber. A bench runs around the chamber and formed the surface on which pieces were placed for firing. The oven was discovered in 2002, and cracks were treated with resin during the 2005 conservation work.
Protective enclosure and associated remains
The present enclosure was designed in 2002 by the architect Toni Gironés with the Vilassar de Dalt Museum-Archive and technical staff of the Government of Catalonia. Its conservation system uses natural ventilation suited to the ovens’ materials and characteristics. A curved dry-stone wall directs air around the remains without allowing it to strike them directly. Three skylights, one above each oven, provide overhead natural light for observing and studying the structures, while a green area lies above the enclosure.
Other Roman-period remains were found near the ovens. A dump dating to the middle of the first century AD lies approximately 50 metres away. Excavation also identified a well with walls and Roman-period fill, together with a first-century AD silo. These features form part of the archaeological evidence associated with the ceramic-production site.
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