Level 1 — Absolute Beginner
Long ago, the Romans lived in a place that is now Austria. This area was once called Pannonia.
Archaeologists are people who dig in the ground to learn about the past. A team from the University of Vienna started digging near a town called Hannersdorf.
They found two old ovens called kilns. The Romans used these kilns to bake clay pots almost 2,000 years ago.
Special scans show that up to 100 more kilns might still be under the ground. This could be one of the biggest Roman pottery factories ever found.
- Roman
- belonging to ancient Rome, a powerful civilization long ago
- archaeologist
- a person who studies the past by digging up old objects and places
- dig
- to break up and move earth, often to find something buried
- kiln
- a special oven used to bake or harden clay
- clay
- a type of soft earth that can be shaped and hardened into pots
- scan
- a way of looking beneath the ground without digging, using special tools
- buried
- covered with earth or another material
- factory
- a place where things are made in large amounts
Level 2 — Elementary
A teaching excavation led by archaeologist Basema Hamarneh of the University of Vienna has uncovered two Roman era pottery kilns near Hannersdorf, a small municipality in Austria's Burgenland region.
The kilns date from the middle of the first century CE to the middle of the second century CE, a time when the area was part of the Roman province of Pannonia.
Early hints of the site came years ago, when pottery fragments turned up during road construction, later prompting geophysical surveys that mapped buried features across the surrounding farmland.
Those surveys suggest the two excavated kilns may be only a small fraction of a much larger complex, with as many as 100 more kilns potentially still hidden beneath the ground nearby.
- excavation
- the careful process of digging up and examining an archaeological site
- municipality
- a town or district that has its own local government
- province
- a region or division of a country or empire, often with its own administration
- fragment
- a small broken piece of something
- construction
- the process of building something, such as a road or building
- geophysical survey
- a method of studying what lies beneath the ground using scientific instruments rather than digging
- feature
- in archaeology, a distinct structure or trace found at a site, such as a pit or wall
- complex
- a group of related buildings or structures in one place
Level 3 — Intermediate
An ongoing teaching excavation led by Basema Hamarneh of the University of Vienna has brought to light two substantial Roman era pottery kilns in Burg, part of the municipality of Hannersdorf in Austria's Burgenland region, within the area of the former Roman province of Pannonia.
The kilns, dated to between the middle of the first century and the middle of the second century CE, emerged only about 40 centimeters below the surface, alongside clay extraction pits, working pits, and waste pits densely packed with pottery fragments.
The site first drew attention years earlier when pottery fragments surfaced during unrelated road construction, prompting subsequent geomagnetic and geoelectric surveys that mapped a dense concentration of buried features, including additional kilns, structures, and flattened burial mounds across the surrounding farmland.
Those surveys indicate that the two kilns unearthed so far may represent only a minimal fraction of a considerably larger production complex, with researchers estimating that roughly 100 additional kilns could remain hidden beneath the fields, producing everyday wares such as bowls, cups, serving dishes, and storage vessels used throughout the Roman world.
- unearth
- to discover something by digging or searching
- extraction
- the process of removing something, such as raw material, from its source
- geomagnetic
- relating to the magnetic properties of the Earth, used to detect buried structures
- concentration
- a close grouping of something in one place
- burial mound
- an artificial hill of earth built over a grave or graves
- estimate
- to judge the approximate value, amount, or size of something
- ware
- manufactured goods of a particular type, such as pottery
- vessel
- a hollow container, such as a jar or bowl, used to hold liquids or goods
Level 4 — Advanced
An ongoing teaching excavation directed by Basema Hamarneh of the University of Vienna has brought to light two substantial Roman era pottery kilns in Burg, a locality within the municipality of Hannersdorf in Austria's Burgenland region, situated within the territorial confines of the former Roman province of Pannonia.
The kilns, dated to the interval spanning the middle of the first century through the middle of the second century CE, emerged a mere 40 centimeters beneath the surface, accompanied by clay extraction pits, working pits, and waste pits densely packed with pottery fragments attesting to sustained industrial activity.
The site initially drew scholarly attention years earlier when pottery fragments surfaced incidentally during unrelated road construction, precipitating subsequent geomagnetic and geoelectric surveys that delineated a dense concentration of buried features, encompassing additional kilns, structures, and flattened burial mounds distributed across the surrounding farmland.
Those surveys indicate that the two kilns unearthed thus far constitute merely a minimal fraction of a considerably more extensive production complex, with researchers estimating that approximately 100 additional kilns may remain interred beneath the fields, historically manufacturing everyday wares including bowls, cups, serving dishes, and storage vessels that circulated throughout the Roman world.
- locality
- a particular place or neighborhood
- confines
- the limits or boundaries of an area
- attest
- to provide clear evidence of something
- precipitate
- to cause something to happen suddenly or sooner than expected
- delineate
- to describe or portray something precisely, often through mapping
- interred
- buried, especially deliberately or as part of a formal process
- circulate
- to move around or be distributed within a system or region
- sustained
- continuing over an extended period without interruption
Talk about this article with KatePractice this story's vocabulary in a real spoken conversation with your AI tutor