Agora Deposit: J 2:4
Title:   Archaic Well
Category:   Well
Keyword:   Archaic-Classical
Description:   Initially uncovered with a diameter of c. 1.05m. Its south side extends under the south wall of the Classical structure and so clearly predates it. The highest preserved portion of the well shaft (at the east) lies at an elevation of 51.03m above sea level. There is no well head, but a small portion of light clay bordering the preserved top of the shaft on the east side might indicate the contemporary ground level. The well is cut through a compact stratum of fill at the top of its the north side; elsewhere it is cut into the gray bedrock. On the south side of the shaft, a lining wall of field stones is preserved from an elevation of 49.44m above sea level; around the rest of the shaft it is preserved from an elevation of 48.99m. It is not clear at exactly what elevation the lining wall originally began, but it seems unlikely that the entire shaft was lined, for the cutting in bedrock for the upper part of the shaft, where it is well preserved on the east side, lies directly above the inner face of the lining wall below. If lined, the upper part of the shaft would have been quite constricted (c. 0.70m.).
We removed only a small portion of the lowest fill when we were compelled to abandon excavation. Because the south side of the well shaft projects beneath the E-W Classical Wall at J/6,7-2/20, we attempted to leave undug the portion of the well fill that underlies that wall. Towards the end of season, the lower portion of that undug fill began to collapse into the shaft. A probe into the fill with an iron crowbar indicates that the fill in the shaft continues for at least another meter and a half.
Contents:   Wide range of vessels types and a considerable number of lamps; domestic material.
Seated female figurine.
Notes:   Human bones associated with Grave J 2:11
Bibliography:   Hesperia 83 (2014), p. 200, table 2.
    Hesperia 89 (2010), p. 626, n. 41.
Date:   22 July-9 August 1994
26 June 1995
3-7 July 1995
Section:   ΒΖ
Grid:   J/6,7-2/19,20
Elevation:   50.875-45.2m.
Masl:   45.2-50.875m.
References:   Publication: Hesperia 83 (2014)
Report Page: 1999 Excavations, s. 2
Images (13)
Objects (251)