Last use and abandonment of the Cistern No. 1 ergasterion at Thorikos: Finds from the lowest levels of the cistern’s fill

This contribution focusses on the finds related to the last use and abandonment of Cistern No. 1 and found in its lowest layers during the excavation campaigns of 2011 and mainly 2012. The cistern, partially hewn in the bedrock and partially constructed with massive ashlars, belonged to a silver-working ergasterion that included the newly discovered ore washery W13 and that drew its ores from Mine No. 2. With a calculated capacity of 209.6 m3, it forms the largest cistern in Thorikos. The ergasterion, which on the basis of finds in the foundation layers of the south wall of the cistern probably came into existence in the late 5th century BC, remained in operation (perhaps with a hiatus after the Peloponnesian War) until it was abandoned in the Early Hellenistic period, ca. 325-275 BC. After having fallen in disuse as a metallurgical cistern and after a process of filling in with mudbrick debris, disintegrated cistern lining and erosion material from around the cistern, the remaining part of the cistern was still able to contain some water. At some point in the Late Hellenistic period (2nd/1st century BC) a limited activity is to be seen around the cistern: a visitor or inhabitant of Thorikos dropped a water jar in the cistern and a fragment of a brown-glazed lagynos (?) dated to the first quarter of the 2nd century BC found its way into the fill. This process of micro-events can be traced in the archaeological record of successive filling layers. The upper layers of this fill were mixed with Late Antique/Early Byzantine pottery and mill stone fragments suggesting some new activities around the cistern and Mine No. 2.