Corinth Basket Nezi Field, context 760

Collection:		Corinth
Type:		Basket
Name:		Nezi Field, context 760
Area:		Nezi Field
Title:		Further exploration of well/pit 671
Category:		Deposit
Notebook:		1106
Context:		760
Page:		0
Date:		2012/05/03
Lot:		Lot 2012-017
Stratum:		Inclusions 20%: pottery, bone, small stones, charcoal
Description:		Top slope of the context is level. The soil color is light yellowish brown. The soil compaction is loose. The soil is moderately sorted. It is silty sand.
Notes:		We have reopened excavation on the deep pit (671) in this area as DofE GDR Sanders thought it best to continue exploring what appeared to be an undercut or tunnel running N from the bottom of the well/pit. After satisfying ourselves/foreman Thanasis Noti of the safety of our pseudo-tunnelling, off he went. The most preliminary results are revealing a large amount of geometric pottery along with some Frankish-looking material--as if a horde of Franks burst upon a village of pottery-loving, qoppa-speaking archaic Corinthians, wreaking havoc and tossing all the evidence down this pit. In an ideal world, we would see this continue NNW to connect with the underground chamber in Team Blue's area, as they do appear to be on the same or a similar layer. That would be pretty fun. Continuing notes: excavation continues, roughly to the NNE. Quite a few bucketloads of dirt have come out. We are thinking it might be good to keep people off the ground above the undercut. Update: we have hit bedrock. Dir of E GDR Sanders believes that the bedrock was cut down about 10 cm in some places, and the entire thing overlaid by about 10 cm of reddish soil which, from previous experience in the Panayia Field, may contain a small amount of Neolithic or EBA sherds. This is followed by later material. Once we finish working, the plan is to protect the area itself and then to fill the pit with sieved earth, largely for safety reasons. Before we can do this, however, we are going to examine a white clay layer (762) about halfway up the pit, like the ring in a glass of milk after it has been drunk. In the final summation, it must be said that the pit did not undercut to the N much at all. It is difficult to say what purpose the undercutting served. It is entirely possible that, in the cutting of this pit extension that the original diggers may have hit a rich Geometric deposit--perhaps a burial. Further excavation in the area may reveal more of this geometric level, but it seems likely that a large amount of geometric pottery remains underneath this area. The pit digging conducted in the first session did not reveal a disproportionate amount of Geometric pottery, which suggests that the much higher strike rate could be geographically related, that is, the Geometric area may lie just to the north of this pit. Alternately, it is possible that the production of the pit produced a rich amount of Geometric sherds, but that the diggers, not appreciating the beauty of a good compass-drawn circle or abstract horse, scattered the pottery too broadly to produce a noticeable blip against the background radiation, as it were, of all of the other "pre-Medieval" pottery types. Lest medieval pottery enthusiasts be rendered as gloomy by this developent as Geometric pottery enthusiasts are giddy, it should also be noted that some large pieces and complete profiles from later types were also found. Pending further excavation, it seems likely that this undercut was filled by mixed fill from the period of deposition and from the cutting into Geometric levels. May 4, 2012- HLG added note- Once this context hit bedrock, and the cleaning of the scarps took place (context 762), the well/bothros was closed. Due to hitting bedrock without finding any significant evidence of underground extensions of the pit, it does not appear that 671 is actually a well. The accumulation of large amounts of fineware, cooking and coarse pots, large deposits of animal bones, carbon and tentatively identified archaeobotanical remains relating to food consumption (wheat, grape, olive, etc), 671 may have been a type of refuse pit used to throw away material relating to food preparation and consumption. Further study of the excavated material needs to be conducted to come to any definite conclusions.
Context Pottery:		Cooking ware. Frankish, cooking pot. 1 rim. (saved to lot) .collar rim; Cooking ware. triangular rim stew pot (1100-1270)2 rims. (saved to lot) .; Fineware. slipped plain glazed (1100-1300), bowl. 2 bodysherds. (saved to lot) .; Cooking ware. basin. 3 bodysherds. (saved to lot) .nonj; Fineware. pre-Medieval117 bodysherds. (saved to lot) .Geometric proto-Corinthian, archaic; Fineware. frit3 bodysherds. (saved to lot) .; Fineware. late champs levee fine, slipped style VI (1200-1225)1 rim. (saved to lot) .rabbit in tondo; Fineware. sgraffito II, slipped painted (1200-1260), bowl. 1 bodysherd. (saved to lot) .
Pottery Summary:		124 frag(s) 0.56 kg. (100% saved) fineware.
		211 frag(s) 5.32 kg. (100% saved) coarseware.
		51 frag(s) 0.54 kg. (100% saved) cooking ware.
Context Artifacts:		iron nail, bent, head broken off (saved to lot)
Period:		Frankish (1210-1458 AD)
Grid:		261.44-260.25E, 1003.65-1005.12N
XMin:		260.25
XMax:		261.44
YMin:		1003.65
YMax:		1005.12
Site:		Corinth
City:		Ancient Corinth
Country:		Greece
Masl:		83.87-85.41m.
References:		Object: C 2012 20