EXCAVATION SUMMARY

We, Alexis Belis and Christina Gieske, from April 7-26, 2008, began excavation in the northwest area of Nezi Field that was located west of the 2007 Nezi Field excavations. Our portion of the 2008 excavation area was artificially defined by the southern scarp of the 1960’s H.S. Robinson excavations to the north, the western scarp of the 2007 excavation to the east, and an area bulldozed in preparation for future excavation to the south. The western limit follows the western line of the bulldozed area. The corners of our excavation area are as follows: SW corner - E255.41 and N 1010.10, NW corner - E255.46 and N1014.29, NE corner - E262.97 and N1013.69, and SE corner - E262.82 and N 1010.07. The area south of our excavation area was bulldozed because the 2007 excavations proved that this field had a deep disturbed agricultural stratum. This context was carefully dig by hand in 2007, but at a great cost of time. Therefore, this season, the excavation area was extended in order to find more of the structures uncovered in 2007, and to save time, the agricultural levels were removed by machine. Our portion was not bulldozed because it was known that it contained the continuation of the E-W running Early Modern property boundary wall (excavated to the east with B64 in 2007) and we wanted to record this structure properly before removal. We worked under the supervision of Guy Sanders, Alicia Carter, James Herbst, and Ioulia Tzonou-Herbst. We excavated with Panos Stamatis (pick man), Christos Barelas (shovel man), and Sotiris Raftopoulos (barrowman).

Our objective was to reach the level of the 2007 Nezi Field excavations, in order to continue the investigation of Turkish, Frankish, and Byzantine remains uncovered there. In the process of excavation to reach these earlier levels, we discovered evidence of Early Modern and Modern activity. The overall goal of the Nezi Field excavations has been to show the relationship of this entire area to the previously excavated area to the north (North of Nezi).

This final report for the first session of the ASCSA Corinth Excavations describes our interpretation of the stratigraphy encountered in our excavation area. At the end of the first session, the level of our area was still slightly higher, about 10cm, than that of the 2007 excavation, and excavation will continued here in the second session.


EARLY MODERN (1831-1949 AD)

The earliest feature in this period is a stone built property boundary wall (Structure 243). The wall runs E-W across our excavation area, and it turns a corner in the NE section of our area and then runs N-S for 1.92 meters where it is truncated by previous excavation in the 1960s. A later stone wall (Structure 243) abuts the corner of Structure 243 on the south side. This later wall runs N-S, turns a corner in the SE section of the excavation area, and then continues east for 0.93 meters where it was excavated in the 2007 season as Basket 64. Structure 244 is also a property boundary. Structure 243 divided the stratigraphy of our excavation area, and as a result, the stratigraphic relationships between the north and south side were unable to be determined at this point as we have not excavated to the depth of the bottom of the wall. The north and south portions of the excavation area will be discussed in turn.

In the southern portion of the excavation area, the stratigraphy shows evidence of agricultural activity, mostly plowing and clearing of the field for plowing. The lowest layer was a plow zone (Context 240). An exterior surface (Context 239) rested on top of this layer, perhaps associated with a house in this field. Several layers related to agricultural activity (Contexts 233, 232), consisting of dumped stones and pebbles, lay over the plow zone and exterior surface.

In the northern portion of the excavation area, the earliest feature is a pit (Context 247), which cuts through a yet unexcavated layer containing lime and pebbles used for cement mixing. Because of the large boulders present in the fill of the pit, it seems possible that the superstructure of the N-S portion of Structure 243 was destroyed and placed in the pit. However, since the first session ended leaving Context 247 unfinished, the exact relation between the creation of the pit and the destruction of the superstructure was unable to be determined. It seems likely that this activity was contemporaneous with the construction of the Giambouranis house located just north of Nezi field because of the unexcavated layer containing construction debris (the lime and pebbles).

Above the pit and unexcavated layer of lime and pebbles was a thin layer of fill (Context 246), most likely related to the use of the Giambouranis house. The two contexts above this thin fill (Contexts 242 and 241) have two potential explanations. Either they consist of debris from the destruction of the Giambouranis house (ca. 1920’s or 1930’s), supported by the presence of roof tile fragments, or they could be dumped material from the previous archaeological excavations to the north (ca. 1930’s), supported by the presence of fragments of worked marble. Context 241 was such a small deposit that it was difficult to determine whether or not it was the same as Context 242.

An additional layer (Context 231 = 236 =B4) of soil overlay Structure 243 on both the north and south side, indicating the final phase of use of this structure as the property boundary. Most likely, this layer was created as a result of agricultural activity. This layer predates the later phases of fencing (Structures 235 and 234) that continue to mark the property boundary of Nezi field.

MODERN (Post-1950 AD)

Two phases of cement foundations (Structures 235 and 234), which were used to anchor a series of posts supporting chain-link fencing, indicated modern activity in this area. This fencing served as a property boundary and roughly followed the line of the previous stone wall (Structure 243). Although our investigation of these fence post foundations uncovered no clear indication of their relative dating, the 2007 excavation findings indicated that the larger foundation slabs (Structure 234 = B16) were later than the small foundations (Structure 235 = B17). Of the foundations excavated in 2007, some of the larger foundations were cemented over the smaller ones.

A tree pit (Context 237, Cut 238) was also revealed during excavation. Due to bulldozer activity south of our excavation area, the pit was truncated to the south. As a result, it is likely that the tree pit was dig at a higher level than the level where we first noticed it. Although in our excavation area it physically lay below layers that dated to the Early Modern period, it seems most probable that it belongs with the modern orchard currently visible in Nezi field.

CONCLUSIONS

The first session of excavation has shown two phases of activity, Early Modern and Modern. It is clear that in the Early Modern period agricultural activity dominated south of Structure 243 and in the area north of Structure 243, activity associated with the construction, inhabitation, and destruction of the Giambouranis house and possibly archaeological activity. In the Modern period, a different type of agricultural activity existed – orange orchards rather than a plowed field. Throughout both periods, the property boundaries remained consistent, as indicated by the multiple structures following the same line.

A few features, mostly likely from the Early Modern Period, were visible at the end of excavation though unexplored. These include a clay water pipe, the layer of lime and pebble for cement mixing north of Structure 243, and a separate patch of soil with lime inclusions south of Structure 243. It is clear that the layer of lime and pebbles post-dates Structure 243 because this layer runs up against the north face of the wall. This layer also overlies the clay water pipe, visible both to the south of Structure 243 and in the north scarp of our excavation area. The clay pipe seems to post-date Structure 243 because in the area where the pipe passes through the wall, the foundations stones have been removed in order to accommodate the installation of the pipe. On the south side of the wall, the soil with lime inclusions appears to be cut by the laying of the pipe, and therefore unassociated with the layer of lime and pebbles north of the Structure 243. The clay water pipe may be a drainage pipe for the Giambouranis house, and the layer of lime and pebbles could be construction debris from the building of the house. Further excavation is needed to ascertain the relationship of these three features.