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1,500 year-old Roman furnace discovered during construction work in Silistra on the Danube

Photo: BGNES

The fully preserved furnace has two tiers. On the bottom tier are the two combustion chambers where a fire is lit to heat up the grate. Above the grate is the second tier of the furnace. The surface area of the grate is about 15 square metres, says archeologist Kristian Mihailov, as quoted by BGNES.

“Actually the temperature it developed was around 900 degrees C,” says on his part Prof. Georgi Atanasov. “If we take a look at the size of the bricks and especially their ornamentation the furnace may well have produced bricks for the construction of the magnificent fort erected on the bank of the River Danube by Justinian the Great around 620-630 AD,” Prof. Atanasov says further.

Archaeologists say this is the biggest Roman-era furnace for building ceramics ever found in the Bulgarian lands.




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