Introduction

We, Stella Diakou and Jody Cundy, from April 27 to May 15, continued excavation in the west area of the Nezi field. The corners of our excavation area are as follows: NW corner: 1015N, 255.5E, NE corner: 1014N, 264E, SE corner: 999N, 266E, SW corner: 999N, 2555.5E. We worked under the supervision of Guy Sanders, Alicia Carter, James Herbst and Ioulia Tzonou-Herbst. We excavated with Kostas Arberores as pickman, Stavros * as barrowman and Vaggelis Kollias as shovelman.

Most of the agricultural layers below the plough zone were removed during excavation in session I. Our goal in session II was to remove any remains of early modern activity and bring the area down to the occupation layers of the house (wall 305, 306, 365, 366, 332, 313, and 334). The overall goal of the Nezi field excavations is to show the relationship of this area to the excavated area to the North (North of Nezi).

Early Modern (1831-1945 CE)

During session II we excavated only one early modern deposit. We excavated a refuse pit (cut 486), located south of the Giambouranis’ house, which contained early modern mixed with redeposited earlier material. The pit was truncated at a later point by the construction of a 19th century boundary wall (cut 272). It is possible, based on the proximity of the pit-cut 486 with the Giambouranis’ house, together with the general activity of the Giambouranis’ that the pit was actually opened by them. The excavation of the pit fits well with the excavation of the early modern deposits during session I.

Frankish (1210-1458 CE)

In the northwest corner of our excavation area we exposed a collapsed circular built well (structure 495). The fill of the well below the lowest preserved course of roughly hewn limestone blocks has not been excavated. The upper most fill (492) of the cut for the construction of the well (cut 493) produced 14th c. material whereas the second lens (494) contained tumbled blocks from the built well along with 13th c. material indicating a collapse of the upper courses of the well and a possible date for its destruction in the 13th century.

In the southwest corner of the excavation area, west of wall 306, a destruction lens of collapsed rooftiles was exposed in session I. This destruction layer was disturbed with the opening of a pit (cut 501). It is possible that this pit represents an effort to sink a well that was abandoned when they hit bedrock. The excavation of the pit fill (499, 500) produced late 13th c. material. This gives us a putative terminus ante quem for the destruction of the room west of wall 306 and north of wall 376. From the pit fill (500) we uncovered a bronze earring with copper wire decoration (MF 2009-09).

Also postdating the use phase of the house is the robbing out of the northwestern corner of the house formed by the intersection of walls 306 and 366 (robbing trench cut 497). The homogenous nature of the fill of the L-shaped cut indicates that both walls were robbed out in the same event. The robbing trench fill (496) produced a late 13th c. date.

A major activity during the Frankish period in our excavation area was the opening of a sequence of six intersecting pits cut through the red clay floor associated with wall 313 to the east and wall 332 to the west. The fill (508) of the latest circular pit (cut 510) produced late 13th c. material. The function of pit cut 510 is unclear; the diameter is consistent with a well cut, though the depth (0.52m) and stopping point would contradict this interpretation because the bottom of the pit consisted of a loose matrix with no impediments to further digging if their intention was to sink a well. Pit cut 510 was cut into the fills (511, 512) of a larger oval pit (cut 513) which also produced late 13th c. material. The finds from this pit which include an intact horse cranium and articulated sheep/goat vertebrae with both the sacrum and innominate, indicate that it was probably used as a refuse pit. Pit cut 513 cut the fills of two earlier pits; pit cut 517 and pit cut 526. The later of the two, pit cut 517 was a shallow circular pit that yielded a lot of building material together with late 13th c. pottery (fills 515, 516). The earlier pit cut 526 was another circular and relatively deep pit that produced also later 13th c. material (fills 518, 521, 522, 523, 524, 525, 544). Pit cut 526 is cut through the fill of an earlier pit (cut 528) with which it shared a northern boundary. The fill (530, 531, 532, 533, 534, 535) of pit cut 528 gave late 13th c. material. It seems that the pit was not filled to the top immediately but rather left open for a relatively long period of time as pieces of the red clay floor, into which the pit was cut, were recovered from the fill of the pit c. 0.25-0.40m below the elevation of the floor. The function of the pit is not clear; the pit has a depth of at least 1.7m and cuts bedrock at the lowest revealed part of the cut which might indicate that it is a well. However, its diameter of 2m seems too large of such a feature. The lowest excavated fill produced a lot of building material. Pit cut 528 has not been excavated to its full extent. Pit cut 528 is cut into the fill of an earlier oval pit to the north (pit cut 527). Pit cut 527 is the earliest pit in the sequence. The fill (514, 509, 519, 541, 542, 520, 543) of the pit gave pottery dating to the 3rd quarter of the 13th c.

The extensive disturbance in the area has caused slumping of the layers in and around the pits. The overlapping pits in this area seem to indicate a preference for digging pits in already disturbed areas where the soil is less compact. All the pits are imagined to have cut from the red clay floor such that they postdate the use phase of the floor and its associated walls 313 and 332. It seems that by the end of the 13th c. at least this part of the house was not in use.

Byzantine

Two fills (502, 503) were excavated in the room bounded by walls 364, 332, 305 and 306. In the center of the room there is a concentration of rooftile fragments and whole tiles that may be associated with the rooftile collapse to the west of wall 306 (not yet excavated at this time), creating a destruction horizon. Two lenses of fill that were removed partially obscured the rooftile destruction east of wall 306 and produced material dating to the second half of the 12th c. Further excavation is necessary to determine whether the rooftile concentration east of wall 306 represents redeposited material or in situ collapse.

An inscribed sherd of a Byzantine pitcher was recovered from cleaning context 484 and inventoried as C 2009-04.

Conclusion

The area south of wall 366, east of wall 313 and north of wall 305 appears to be approaching layers contemporary to the destruction phase of the house. It is expected that the area north of wall 366, surrounding the N-S drain 426 still preserves later disturbances and further excavation should concentrate in this area.