It was disclosed that an archaeological mission in Santa Maria, Azores, has made it possible to explore a ceramic kiln and identify a number of items typical of the island, like basins and plot fragments. This study of ancient ceramics not only enables the comprehension of the traits of Azorean pottery, but it also helps to uncover important aspects of the daily lives of the Azorean population.

The researcher João Araújo has explained that "We are still at superficial levels. We have not yet reached the base of the kiln. What we have identified is a lot of typical Santa Maria pottery, many basins, and fragments of pots, some of them with production defects that indicate that, in the surrounding area, when that kiln was no longer working, other potteries and other kilns were still working”.

Excavating a pottery kiln on Rua dos Oleiros in Vila do Porto, which was the focus of an earlier excavation in 2013, is one of the mission's objectives. As the researcher further detailed, "The aim of this campaign is to deepen this excavation in conjunction with the archaeologists who participated in the first campaigns in 2013. The aim is to understand this pottery production structure because there are very few left in the archipelago. Although this is not the only one, it is one of the few pottery kilns that still exist”.

The mission is part of two projects: João Gonçalves Araújo's doctoral project, "Azorean Pottery: an archaeological approach to its production and Consumption in the 16th to 18th Centuries," funded by the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), and "CERIBAM: Archaeology and Archaeometry of Iberian Atlantic Expansionism in North Africa and the Macaronesia Islands (15th-16th centuries) - Ceramics, Population and Commerce," funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation.