As part of the Centre Jean Bérard (CNRS – EfR) programme on “Craft working and the Economy at Pompeii”, begun a decade ago under the direction of Jean-Pierre Brun, in 2012 a group of young French and Italian researchers made a study of workshop 29, directed by Laëtitia Cavassa. The study was undertaken in collaboration with the Pompeii Superintendency. This seasons excavations concentrated on workshops no. 28 and 30.

It was only possible to excavate the first room in workshop 28. It seems that the second room was obliterated in the modern period (perhaps during the discovery in 1838). The room contained a wealth of data and, given the state of preservation of certain elements, this year’s work concentrated on the 79 A.D. levels.

This room was a potter’s workshop (5 × 6 m), in which several elements were identified that made it possible to complete our documentation of a potter’s work during the 1st century A.D.
We found the raw material – clay contained in an amphora, a well that seemed to be functioning at the time of the eruption, four potter’s wheels and in one corner of the room several unfired vases that were in the process of drying. The vases may have stood on a wooden (?) shelf of which only the impression on the wall remains. As in workshop 29, excavated in 2012-2013, these were also small, thin-walled ware beakers-cups.

The potter’s wheels were circular structures at the centre of which there was a cavity (c. 50 cm) with the shaft that held the wheel. For three examples, the circular structure was made out of a cut- down Italic amphora; the fourth was made of cut tiles bonded together with mortar.

In workshop 30, the excavations aimed simply to confirm the presence or not of a second kiln. A small production structure was uncovered that was functioning at the time of the 79 A.D. eruption, of which only the walls of the combustion chamber were preserved. Therefore, this was the kiln mentioned in the 19th century excavation diaries.
Our excavations discovered a second kiln, which seemed to be slightly earlier (perhaps just a few years). Again, only the walls of the combustion chamber survived.
Both kilns were used for the production of thin-walled wares.

The 2014 excavations identified a production complex situated immediately outside the city walls, formed by at least three workshops.