| Collection: | Corinth | |
| Type: | Basket | |
| Name: | Nezi Field, context 1241 | |
| Area: | Nezi Field | |
| Title: | 3rd Dump Deposit Filling Pit 1245 | |
| Category: | Deposit | |
| Notebook: | 1107 | |
| Context: | 1241 | |
| Page: | 0 | |
| Date: | 2013/06/14 | |
| Lot: | Lot 2013-026 | |
| Stratum: | Soil: mixed, red/black. Fewer inclusions that 1238 and 1234-- still yielding fragments of tile, stone, pottery (coarse and fine), bone (large size and quantities). Inclusions c.60% | |
| Description: | The soil color is light greyish mixed. The soil compaction is soft. The soil is poorly sorted. It is sandy silt. | |
| Notes: | 1241 is an arbitrary deposit distinguished only by elevation from 1238 above. Along with 1234, these deposits fill pit 1245. By changing baskets arbitrarily, we hope to observe possible changes in the upper/middle/lower it fill over time. This way we can determine whether the pit was filled gradually, or in use for a short period, representing a single dumped-- deposit that put the pit out of use. Update 18/6/13: After the full excavation of pit 1245, we determined that this pit was cut in the late 11th century, and continued to function until the first half of the 12th century when it was put out of use. Despite encountering Frankish fine ware pottery in the bottommost level of this pit (deposit 1244) and the topmost level of this pit (1234), we interpret these sherds as contaminants from beyond the southernmost boundary of pit 1245, accidentally breached by our workmen. Likely cutting pit 1245 was a later Frankish pit further to the south, running under our southernmost scarp. The Frankish sherds emerging in contexts associated with Pit 1245 are thus contaminants, coming from a breach of this later, Frankish context. We are choosing to date the contexts associated with pit 1245 (1234, 1238, 1241, 1244) on strategraphical grounds, and interpret pit 1245, and the deposits filling it, as episodes within the Late Byzantine Period for the following reasons: 1. What was initially taken to be pit 1211 contained deposits dating to the late 11th century CE (1214) and the 3/4 of the 12th c. CE (1200). There was no Frankish material whatsoever. As 1211 was later revealed to have been part of much larger pit 1245, with deposits excavated from the center of the pit (and thus avoiding the southern scarp entirely), these earlier deposits formed a sort of 'core sample' of the deposits filling the center of pit 1245. As there was no Frankish material in deposits 1200 and 1214, we believe that these deposits, further away from the southern scarp, provide a cleaner context from which to draw a sound chronology. As pottery from the uncontaminated deposits 1200 and 1214 thus carried no traces of Frankish material, they should date to the Late Byzantine period, as should pit 1245, into which they were deposited. 2. Cut 1229 and its fill (1228), cut deposit 1244 (the latest fill of pit 1245) and thus has to postdate it. Deposit 1228, which contained a large sample of pottery, produced not a single Frankish ceramic, and all dated to the 1/2 of the 12th c. CE. As this pit was far from the southern scarp, there was no chance of contamination. 3. Deposit 1224 was a fill probably intended to level the top of pits 1245 and 1229; it overlaid the top of both pits, and thus postdated them. No Frankish material emerged from deposit 1224 (which was dated by pottery to the Late Byzantine period), and therefore on the basis of stratigraphy, the deposits filling pits 1245 and 1229 should be no later than Late Byzantine. N.B.: our hypothesis can be tested by excavation of the reddish soil into which pit 1245 was cut. A substantial deposit is extant to the east of pit 1245, and a smaller deposit can also be found east of Wall 746, into which the NW part of pit 1245 was cut. This deposit should be contemporary with or earlier than the late 11th century CE, as it was cut by pit 1245 and filled with debris during the Late Byzantine period. If, however, excavation of this orange earth deposit reveals Frankish pottery, then pit 1245 and its associated deposits (1234, 1238, 1241, and 1244) must be Frankish, too. Further excavation under the southern scarp should also bring to light Frankish activity, namely the deposit(s) into which our pickmen scratched while excavating 1234 and 1244. | |
| Context Pottery: | Coarseware. pedestal plate. 1 bodysherd. (saved to lot) .; Fineware. pre-Medieval4 bodysherds. (saved to lot) .; Fineware. ww plain (700-1120), cup. 3 rims. 1 handle. 3 bodysherds. (saved to lot) .; Coarseware. basin. 2 rims. (saved to lot) .; Fineware. candlestick, lamp. 1 bodysherd. (saved to lot) .; Fineware. unslipped plain glaze, mug. 1 handle. (saved to lot) .; Cooking ware. collar rim stew pot (1000-1100)9 rims. (saved to lot) .; Fineware. measles, slipped slip painted sgraffito (1140-1160), bowl. 1 rim. (saved to lot) .; Fineware. chample, cup. 1 rim. (saved to lot) .; Fineware. ww plain (700-1120), mug. 1 handle. 2 bodysherds. (saved to lot) .; Fineware. ww polychrome (1050-1120), cup. 1 rim. (saved to lot) .; Coarseware. pithos, pithos. 1 rim. (saved to lot) .; Cooking ware. sloping rim, stewpot. 2 rims. (saved to lot) .; Fineware. ww plain (700-1120), bowl. 1 rim. 1 bodysherd. (saved to lot) . | |
| Pottery Summary: | 28 frag(s) 0.63 kg. (100% saved) fineware. | |
| 552 frag(s) 13.45 kg. (100% saved) coarseware. | ||
| 110 frag(s) 2.23 kg. (100% saved) cooking ware. | ||
| Context Artifacts: | Circular slag amalgams (hearth blooms?): 8 (saved to lot); Glass: 3 rims (1 colorless, 1 yellow & outward flaring, 1 blue & inward flaring), 3 colorless BS, 1 blue-green base with thickened edge, 7 blue BS, 2 coorless BS, 1 green base? (saved to lot); TC loom weight: L. 0.063, W. 0.046, tapering to a Diam. 0.008 at top (saved to lot); Slag: 49 (saved to lot) | |
| Period: | Late Byzantine (1059-1210 AD) | |
| Chronology: | late 11th-1/2 12th century (contimated from Frankish pit) | |
| Grid: | 277.94-275.48E, 1006.39-1008.95N | |
| XMin: | 275.48 | |
| XMax: | 277.94 | |
| YMin: | 1006.39 | |
| YMax: | 1008.95 | |
| Site: | Corinth | |
| City: | Ancient Corinth | |
| Country: | Greece | |
| Masl: | 86.17-86.62m. |
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