"dc-creator","Redirect","UserLevel","Chronology","Id","dc-title","dc-date","Collection","dc-publisher","Icon","Name","dc-description","Type","dc-subject"
"Arthur W. Parsons","","","","Agora:Report:1947 ΠΠ","Section ΠΠ 1947 Season Preliminary Report","28 Apr-11 Aug 1947","Agora","","Agora:ReportPage:1947-ΠΠ-1::/Agora/Reports/1947 ΠΠ/1947 ΠΠ 001.jpg::1581::2048","1947 ΠΠ","The early part of the excavation season in Section ΠΠ was concerned almost exclusively with the removal of the Asteroskopiou Street, a road going back to the 1st or 2nd century A.D. ; The work of the remainder of the season included excavation of roads and drainage systems, several buildings, five wells of which two were completely dug, and a grave from the early 3rd century B.C.","Report","Checked"
"","","","","Corinth:Report:Northeast of Theater 2022, Trench 16C,  by Madson, Luke and James, Jesse (2022-05-30 to 2022-06-24)","Northeast of Theater 16C Excavation Summary","","Corinth","","","Northeast of Theater 2022, Trench 16C,  by Madson, Luke and James, Jesse (2022-05-30 to 2022-06-24)","Luke Madson and Jesse James, Session III 2022 (May 30 - June 24); ; Excavation Summary:; ; This excavation took place from May 30 to June 17, 2022, during the third excavation session of the season. It continued work done in the same trench in the second session (May 2022) recorded by Kaia Brose and David Picker-Kille, for which see [prior field report]. Jesse James and Luke Madson worked as trench recorders under the supervision of Chris Pfaff (Director) and Manolis Papadakis (Assistant to the Associate Director). James Herbst (Architect) and Ioulia Tzonou (Associate Director) also offered guidance on our complex and sometimes bizarre stratigraphy and Michael Ierardi assisted with the identification of our coins. In our trench, Argyris Tsirikis was our Pickman (newly appointed) and worked hard in consultation and collaboration with Athanasios Notis (Foreman); Argyris was supported by our Shovelman Agamemnon Karbouniaris, our good-natured Barrowman Sotiris Raftopoulos, and our eagle-eyed Sieve Operator Ilias Soli (Hekuran Coli), who also picked occasionally.; ; Area Description:; ; The excavation area consisted of a rectangular trench and was designated NET 16C, that is north east of the Theater, Trench 16C. The coordinates for the area when initially opened were: 35.0 E to 41.0 E and 1387.5 N to 1385.0 N. At the time we began our rotation, the trench had three main architectural features: Wall 27 which runs slightly off N-S axis; Wall 28 running east from Wall 27 and partially embedded in the southern scarp; and Water Pipe 3, running N-S and dividing NET 16 C from NET 16 B. The excavations were carried out largely in relation to Wall 27; from May 30th to June 2nd we worked E of the wall, moving west of the wall from June 2nd to June 16th. On June 10th the architectural features of the Vaulted Drain began to emerge and on June 16th  the Amphora Deposit and Branch Drain were excavated.; ; Phases:; ; Hellenistic: ; ; We found no evidence of activities in this area during the Hellenistic period (but note that two Hellenistic Sikyonian coins were found in contexts that are dated by pottery to the 1st century CE).; ; Early Roman: ; ; We uncovered two apparent drain structures that we have dated preliminarily to the 1st century BCE: a “Vaulted Drain” (Structure 96 in iDig) and a “Branch Drain” (Structure 97), the latter containing the amphora deposit below, with significant remains of approximately ten amphoras. The Vaulted Drain, and possibly the Branch Drain, was likely built shortly after foundation of the Roman colony in 44 BCE and its centuriation at approximately the same time. The Vaulted Drain aligns with a major N/S road of the Roman era uncovered in Trench 16 B (directly adjacent to the W), a road whose width may originally have extended into our trench, although we found no direct, independent evidence of it. ; ; Vaulted Drain; The most significant structure excavated in Trench 16C during the June session was the Vaulted Drain (Structure 96), a stone structure running N-S at the west end of Trench 16C, below Water Pipe 3. As so far exposed in the trench, it consists of a wall, partial arched ceiling, and apparent floor layer. 1.74m of the drain’s N-S length has been excavated. The floor’s elevation is approximately 57.89masi (ca. 3.4m below current topsoil), and the arch’s highest interior point is ca. 1.25m above the floor. The wall of the drain (which is the western wall of the visible structure) consists of a main lower course of large, moderately worked rectangular poros stones (the largest stone is 0.79m tall and 1.22m wide) topped with a course of smaller worked poros stones (ca. 0.2m tall), possibly with mortar between them. At its top this wall curves into the arch of the ceiling consisting of smaller unworked stones (rounded, hard limestone and conglomerate, ca. 0.12–0.35m in length) and bonded into a vault structure with a rough pinkish mortar embedded with small pebbles (0.001 to 0.008m dia.). There is an apparent floor layer consisting partly of worked rectangular stones and partly of soil. The stones run beneath the bottom course of wall stones, indicating that they were set there deliberately, as part of the construction of the Vaulted Drain. Further investigation of these stones and what lies beneath them is needed. They are of different sizes and their top surfaces are now set at slightly oblique angles and elevations, making an irregular floor surface. The larger floor stone measures approximately 0.7m N-S by 0.8m E-W (visible exposed surface); the smaller stone, directly to the N, is 0.31 by 0.33m. The soil around the stones was not compacted to a hard surface, possibly indicating that other floor stones were previously in place and were subsequently removed. An alternative interpretation is that the “floor” stones are not a floor at all but served another function. ; ; The existing arch of the ceiling of the Vaulted Drain appears to peak ca. 0.25m east of the wall surface. Assuming a symmetrical arch, and that we have the highest point of the arch (which seems correct), we would expect an eastern wall to the Vaulted Drain ca. 0.5m from the existing wall. But we found no direct evidence of such an eastern wall: no large worked rectangular stones (no worked stones at all), no other large stones that appeared part of the same structure as the western wall and arch, and no inclusions of mortar matching the mortar of the arch. This evidence suggests one of two possibilities: either the eastern half of the Vaulted Drain was fully disassembled in antiquity (see dating discussion below), removing all traces of the disassembly within the area of our trench; or the drain is significantly wider than appears to be indicated by the remains of the arched ceiling. ; ; The outside top of the Vaulted Drain’s arched ceiling is covered with a reddish, perhaps clayey soil, and Water Pipe 3 sits ca. 0.4m above the top of that ceiling, also in reddish soil. During excavation, that 0.4m depth of soil appeared to be in two layers, which suggests that the pipe may have been laid some time after the Vaulted Drain was built. But the pipe appears to be centered directly over the Vaulted Drain, which could indicate that it was laid at the same time. If that is the case, it may be that this 0.4m of reddish soil was placed deliberately both as a kind of sealing layer over the Vaulted Drain and as a bedding layer for Water Pipe 3.; ; Branch Drain; Slightly to the east of the Vaulted Drain, at the north side of the trench, we discovered what we have called the “Branch Drain” (Structure 97) running roughly SE to NW. It becomes visible in its path from the E (at 36.95m in the easting in our trench, elevation 58.3masl) at a height of ca. 0.5m above the floor level of the Vaulted Drain. At this point the Branch Drain is 0.25m wide, and widens to ca. 0.4m by the time it exits the trench to the N (at 35.25m in the easting, elevation 57.95masl), with a total exposed length of 1.7m and drop of 0.25m. At its westernmost  visible point the Branch Drain is less than 1.0m from the floor of the Vaulted Drain. Some stones still in situ between the SW curve of the Branch Drain and the Vaulted Drain may originally have been part of the Branch Drain walls.; ; We only partially excavated the Branch Drain, even within the boundaries of our trench. We excavated as far E as the west side of Wall 27 (which is a much later wall, for which see below, under “Byzantine”), and have not uncovered the north or south sides of the stones that form its walls. We have also not found a point at which the Branch Drain joins the Vaulted Drain, although we presume such a joint slightly north of the boundary of our trench. Hence the description and interpretation here are highly provisional. ; ; The Branch Drain appears to consist of two walls or sides built of unworked, dry-stacked stones. At the moment of writing there appear to be three or four courses of stones in these walls, but more excavation is needed to confirm what remains of the entire structure. This Branch Drain also has a partial tile floor. At its eastern visible limit the drain is oriented mostly E-W, but curves more toward the northwest as it proceeds west toward the Vaulted Drain. The tile floor slopes down visibly, and the tiles give way to soil after two visible overlapping tile courses. The top tile shows 0.4m of visible length and 0.33m of visible width, and is 0.03m thick. The Branch Drain’s stone sides also slope downward. (Some of this slope of the sides of the drain could be a result of inadvertently removing structural stones during the excavation process. We attempted not to remove any stones that were parts of an obvious structure, but some large stones were excavated in this context and they might originally have been built into the drain sides).; ; Amphora Deposit; One of the major breathtaking finds from the trench occurred on the final day of excavation. A deposit of perhaps eleven amphoras and one mortar, mixed with non-amphora potsherds, some large stones (ca. 0.2 to 0.4m long), and soil, was found in and above the Branch Drain. This deposit, roughly in the shape of a steep wedge, was approximately 0.7m wide (N-S), 1.6m long (E-W), and 1.7m deep at its highest, easternmost point. We were not able to determine definitively whether this deposit was placed into a man-made trench, but its position directly above the Branch Drain indicates that the deposit was made into and onto that man-made drain (the soil within and around the amphoras and stones may have been deposited by natural erosion). All the amphoras appeared to have been lying on their sides (none deliberately placed upright). We did not collect elevation points on individual amphoras in situ, but the highest was found at approximately 59.35masl. All of the amphoras were broken, but the completeness of the remains suggests that none had been moved more than once or twice between the end of its functional life and its final deposition here, and that therefore their deposition was intentional and expected to be final. At least two amphoras (C-2022-7 and C-2022-20) appear to have been deposited as complete vessels, although parts of them (the mouth of C-2022-7 and one longitudinal half of C-2022-20) remain in situ in the trench scarp as of the time of writing. Preliminary analysis indicates that the amphoras date to between the 1st century BCE and the 1st century CE.; ; As study and cataloging of the amphora remains is ongoing, and additional ceramic material remains underneath Wall 27, this is a preliminary catalog of the approximately ten amphoras from this location: ; ; C-2022-7 (Amphora 1); Dressel 2-4 with dipinto, 1st cent BC to 1st cent CE; ; C-2022-8 (Amphora 2): Dressel 21-22 (resinous substance on interior), 1st cent. CE (cf. C-80-180) ; C-2022-9 (Amphora 3): Spanish Dressel 2-4, 1st cent BC to 1st cent. CE (fragments originally labeled C11 [Amphora 5] and C16 [Amphora 9] have been determined to be part of C-22-09); C-2022-10 (Amphora 4); Dressel 6A(?), 1st cent. BCE to 1st cent. CE; C11 (Amphora 5); see C-2022-09; C-2022-12 (Amphora 6): pompeii vii amphora, end of 1st cent. BCE to 1st cent. CE; C-2022-13 (Amphora 7): thin-walled sandy fabric amphora toe; C-2022-14 (Amphora 8); pompeii vii amphora; C-2022-15 (spouted mortar): late 1st cent. BC to early 1st cent CE (cf. C-2004-12); C16 (Amphora 9); see C-2022-09; C-2022-17 (Amphora 10): Pompeii vii; C-2022-18 (Amphora 11): Pseudo-Coan; C19 (Amphora 12); see C-2022-15; C-2022-20 (Amphora 13 = C19 [fragments originally labeled C19 (Amphora 12) have been determined to be part of C-2022-20) ; ; Water Pipe 3; Water Pipe 3 (Structure 95) runs N-S directly above the Vaulted Drain, centered at 34.645m east, with a top elevation of approximately 59.96m above sea level. Within Trench 16C the pipe slopes slightly from N to S, with a drop of 0.023m over a length of 1.585m (this is surprising because the general slope of the landscape here is gradual from S to N). Its diameter varies from 0.107m to 0.127m (the greater width is at the junctions) with approximately 3 segments (ca. 1.6m) currently exposed in situ. As noted above, the apparent continuity of red clayey soil from the top of the Vaulted Drain up to the bottom of Water Pipe 3, along with the similar orientation of the two structures and Water Pipe 3’s position approximately centered over the Vaulted Drain, suggest that Water Pipe 3 was laid down close in time to the construction of the Vaulted Drain. As explained in detail below, that was likely between 44 BCE and the mid-1st century CE.; ; ; Dating; The Vaulted Drain, Water Pipe 3, and the Branch Drain were likely constructed between 44 BCE and the middle of the 1st century CE. The founding of the Roman colony in 44 BCE provides the terminus post quem. Two separate sets of evidence provide the same terminus ante quem: the dating of the amphora deposit in the Branch Drain, and the pottery deposited around Water Pipe 3.; ; The manufacture and use of the amphoras and the mortar have been preliminarily dated to the period from the 1st century BCE to the 1st century CE. A single coin was found in the amphora deposit (Coin 2022-440) and dates to between 40 and 30 BCE, shortly after the founding of the colony. The non-amphora pottery within the amphora deposit dates to the second half of the 1st century CE. These dates provide a terminus post quem for when the Branch Drain went out of use (although not a precise date as the amphoras were likely used for a significant duration after their manufacture). It is unclear how the amphoras came to be in the Branch Drain (deliberate human action? Mudslide?); it is also unclear whether they were all placed there at one time or over a long period of time. Because no material in the amphora deposit dates after the end of the 1st century CE, we conclude that the deposit was in the Branch Drain by that time, and therefore that the Branch Drain was out of use by ca. 100 CE (although the Vaulted Drain may have continued to function). Because it was defunct by the end of the 1st century CE, the Branch Drain was likely built somewhat earlier, probably at or before the mid-1st century CE.; ; Pottery found in the soil directly surrounding Water Pipe 3 (in both Trench 16C, Context 68 and Trench 16B, Context 111), indicates that the pipe was laid in the 1st century CE.; ; As discussed above, stratigraphy indicates that the Vaulted Drain was built either before or at the same time as Water Pipe 3. And because the Branch Drain is apparently ancillary to the Vaulted Drain, it is likely that the Vaulted Drain was built before or at the same time as the Branch Drain (this hypothesis should be clarified in next year’s campaign, when the conjectured meeting point slightly to the north can be explored). These two structures therefore converge on a terminus ante quem for the Vaulted Drain of the mid-1st century CE.  ; ; On present evidence it is difficult to settle on a date for the Vaulted Drain more specific than between 44 BCE and ca. 50 CE. On one hand, the Vaulted Drain appears to be a major infrastructure and planning project aligned with the Roman road. This suggests that it was part of the original centuriation of the colony and therefore was built soon after 44 BCE. On the other hand, Water Pipe 3 may have been laid at the same time that the Vaulted Drain was built. But this points to a 1st century CE date, decades after the founding of the colony.  ; ; ;  ; Late Roman (4th to 6th cent.):; ; Disassembly of the Vaulted Drain; The Vaulted Drain’s fragmentary state within trench 16C--no eastern wall and incomplete arched ceiling--and the lack of remains from the eastern wall and the eastern part of the arch, suggest that at some point the Vaulted Drain stopped being used and that part of it was deliberately removed, i.e., robbed out. The deep deposit of loose sandy fill within the Vaulted Drain (in particular from Contexts 84, 91, and 92) appears to date to the Late Roman period from both pottery and coins (e.g. Coin 2022-403 dates to 347–48 CE). The entire deposit was of similar texture and soil type, with no apparent stratigraphy between layers, suggesting that it was deposited within a short period of time. Because we failed to number the buckets of pottery as they were excavated from Context 84 (a fill whose height was 0.84m containing 34 kg of pottery), we cannot now distinguish between pottery from the top of 84 and that from the bottom, to determine if there is in fact any discernible chronological distinction between the top and bottom layers. Yet Contexts 91 and 92, both beneath Context 84 and just above the Vaulted Drain’s floor layer, also contain a mixture of early Roman and late Roman pottery and therefore indicate that they were part of the same deposit as Context 84. Hence it appears that the Vaulted Drain was partially disassembled, and filled, in the Late Roman period.; ; Bronze ring: One find of particular note was a bronze finger ring (MF 2022-39), located quite close to the Vaulted Drain’s floor in Context 91; while this ring has yet to be conserved, its basic form is that of Type 1A finger ring with a setting (Davidson 1952: 228). It is most similar to Davidson No. 1819 (Plate 102/MF 7176; cf. Davidson No. 1818). As this ring form seems to be common in Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine contexts (see Davidson 1952: 232, indicating a gap from the 5th to 10th centuries CE), it is consistent with a late Roman dating for the deposit.; ; Domitian coin: Another noteworthy find from the fill in the Vaulted Drain was Coin 395, a bronze assarion of Domitian, minted in Corinth between 85 and 87 CE. On the reverse is depicted a tetrastyle temple on Acrocorinth, seen in perspective from the left corner. This coin, with the obverse head of Domitian facing right, is an example of a hitherto unknown die combination (all published examples with this reverse pair it with an obverse head facing left). This coin, found in Context 84, is chronologically consistent with the wide chronological variety of the pottery found in that deposit.;  ; Road; Unlike in Context trench 16B, immediately adjacent to the west, we found no definite road surfaces dating as early as the Late Roman period. To the west of Wall 27 the lowest clear road surface was Context 71 or 72, both of which still contained Byzantine green glazed monochrome and other Byzantine pottery dating to the 12th century. Similar layers of road may lay east of Wall 27 but remain to be excavated. ; ; The disassembly of the Vaulted Drain and the lack of Late Roman road surfaces suggest that the area between Water Pipe 3 and Wall 27 was not used as a road surface during the Late Roman period. There may have been a Late Roman road which was either intentionally removed or naturally washed out. Perhaps a flash flood or a partial collapse of the Vaulted Drain caused the east side of the Roman Road to subside in the Late Roman period. Then inhabitants may have taken the opportunity to partly disassemble the Vaulted Drain, fill it in, and then use the disturbed area as something other than a road. ;  ; Byzantine:; ; We have found no features or objects datable to the roughly 600 years from Late Roman to the 12th century CE. 12th century features include Walls 27 and 28, apparent road surfaces to the W of Wall 27, and levels of fill to the E of Wall 27.; ; Road; In the Byzantine Period a road ran N to S along the western side of the trench, to the W of Wall 27. The width of this road may continue East of Wall 27 but this remains to be seen. While the earliest apparent layer or fill of the road contained some 6th Century CE Late Roman pottery, no layer appears to date earlier than the 12th cent. CE. The manner of road construction appears informal: rather than any sort of paved surfaces, the stratigraphy revealed a series of hard packed earth surfaces with occasional inclusions and/or potholes, though since there was no formal construction we cannot say how many road layers there were or the thickness of a given layer. The precise width of the road is similarly not yet secure. At some point in the 12th Century, a cut was made for a foundation trench for Wall 27 (below). ; ; Wall 27 ; Wall 27 appears to be continuous with a wall segment in Trench 18C to the south (although the two segments may not be in perfect alignment with each other). Its construction dates to the 12th Century CE based on pottery in the foundation trench (context no. 48). This wall (length 2.25 m running the entire width of the trench; width varies from .60 to .66 m; height 1.09 m at maximum surviving height)  is characterized by 2 large worked blocks (block (1) width .71 m; height .44 meters; thickness .36 m; block (2) width .62 m; height .70 m; width .32 m; apparent spolia from another structure) in the east face which sit on 2 or 3 courses of at least partly worked stone blocks. There are a few worked smaller square blocks in the wall placed irregularly. The west face is mostly made of irregular unworked cobbles and larger stones 6 or 7 courses high. The fill that went up and over the remaining portion of Wall 27 also dates to the Byzantine Period (Pottery NPD), suggesting the wall went out of use later in the Byzantine or Post Byzantine Periods. Notably, in the fill directly beneath the lowest course of stones on the west side of Wall 27, an intact Roman unguentarium was found (C 2022 6); when dated, this object will establish a terminus post quem for the construction of the foundation trench and wall. Wall 27 provides a 12th century eastern limit for the width of the road after it was constructed. Whether the wall was cut into the middle of an existing Byzantine road, or built against the side of that road remains to be seen.; ; Wall 28 ; Wall 28 runs along the south edge of the eastern side of the trench (length 0.41 m; exposed thickness 0.35 m in W to 0.23 m in E; height 0.15 - 0.20 m). The stones and tile on top are 0.10 to 0.15 m in width forming a sort of capping cours. Wall 28 is an enigma and remains only partially exposed as the scarp encloses the south-facing side. There does not appear to be a foundation trench on the north facing side but the soil level that is at the level abutting the wall and that was in use with the wall with the first course of stones dates to the 12 century CE (pottery). The date of this fill and the construction of the wall probably date to the 12th or later. Wall 28 appears later than Wall 27 based on two features: (i) its base is at a higher elevation than the base of Wall 28 (suggesting deposition of earth after the construction of Wall 27 and before that of Wall 28), and (ii) Wall 28 butts to the E face of Wall 27 rather than being bonded or integrated into the larger wall’s stonework. Wall 28, as it remains now, consists of three or four courses of irregular cobbles and small flat stones and tile pieces. As with Wall 27, the fill which covered the wall dates to the Byzantine Period (Pottery NPD), suggesting this wall went out of use later on in Byzantine or Post Byzantine Period.; ; Suggestions For Future Excavators:; ; A great deal of further excavation is needed to clarify this trench. A parallel trench to our south might be opened to better account for the south-facing side of Wall 28 and any possible foundation trench. Such southern exploration would clarify the purpose of Wall 28 as it relates to Wall 27 and whether it functions as an internal wall to a larger structure. Similarly, such investigation would continue to clarify the courses of Wall 27, Water Pipe 3, and the Vaulted Drain, and the course of the Branch Drain as it lies in relation to its possible source to the (south?) east. A similar parallel trench might be opened to the north as well, in order to better clarify the relationship between the Branch Drain and Vaulted Drain which may join just beyond our north scarp. Digging both north and south would also clarify the disassembly of the Vaulted Drain, and whether this occurred throughout the Vaulted Drain structure. The Amphora Deposit may continue to the NE as evidenced by the remains of Amphora 1 still in the scarp to the north and Amphora 13 underneath Wall 27 to the east. Additional amphora finds from next year’s campaign will need to be collected in relation to the amphoras we excavated to complete their conservation and show us their level of preservation. The road layers and deposits underneath, like the Amphora Deposit, may be better clarified with the removal of Wall 27.","Report","Corinthia | Ancient Corinth | Northeast of Theater"
"","","","","Corinth:Report:Nezi Field 2013 by Kate Larson and Jon Meyer (2013-05-27 to 2013-06-18)","Session 3 2013 Blue Northwest Nezi Field, Early/Middle Roman to Frankish Periods","","Corinth","","","Nezi Field 2013 by Kate Larson and Jon Meyer (2013-05-27 to 2013-06-18)","Kate Larson and Jon Meyer; ASCSA Corinth Excavations; Blue Team Session 3 Final Report; N :1016.50 N, E: 263.00 E, S: 1005.70 N, W: 255.50 E; May 27 – June 18, 2013; ; During Session 3 2013, the Blue Team excavated in three distinct areas in the northwest section of Nezi Field (N. 1016.50 N, E. 263.00 E, S. 1005.70 N, W. 255.50 E), with the goal of reaching Late Roman (4th-6th century) occupation layers, discovering discrete Late Roman contexts to clarify an absolute ceramic chronology, and learning more about the activity in and around Nezi at that point in time.  Additionally, we have been able to refine the dating and use of the space immediately north of wall 366, around well 742, in the late 11th and 12th century.  Under the directorship of Guy Sanders and field directorship of Rossana Valente, the Blue Team consisted of Athanasios Notis (pickman), Christos Sakellariou (shovelman), Panayiotis Rontzokos (barrowman), and Kate Larson and Jon Meyer (recorders).  ; ; On May 27th, the Blue team conducted a minor operation in the area immediately south and east of the Giambouranis (Turkish) House (N. 1016.50 N, E. 259.80 E, S. 1014.25 N, W. 257.85 E), clarifying N-S cut 1040 and removing the skin balk between 1040 and the large tile deposit 1080 excavated in Session 1 by Katherine Harrington and Jana Mokrišová.  Beginning on May 28th, the Blue team moved south to the area bounded by E-W walls 1087 and 945 on the north (1010.50 N), robbing trench 1171 on the east (263.00 E), wall 366 on the south (1005.70 N), and the western scarp of Nezi on the west (255.50 E), last excavated during Session 3 2012 by Rossana Valente and Charles George.  In this area, we have identified a Frankish pit and robbing activity, several late 11th-early 12th century Byzantine structures suggesting intensive activity, and a thick Late Roman fill, mostly of earlier architectural debris, which is probably related to the construction and elevation of well 742 in the 5th or early 6th century.  By the end of the season, we reached early-middle Roman strata which indicate possible domestic occupation in Nezi but will require additional investigation in future seasons before any clear conclusions can be reached.; ; During the final week of excavation, Rossana Valente under the auspices of the Blue Team excavated a late 11th century coin hoard just south of wall 366 and east of wall 332, north of and under structure 452 (N. 1006.08 N, E. 264.20 E, S. 1003.70 N, W. 262.70 E), an area most recently excavated in 2009.  While the original intention of this limited project had been to properly excavate a large, mostly intact jar which had become exposed due to weathering over the past several years, the discovery of the coin hoard in context 1235 offers excellent corroborative dating evidence for associated Late Byzantine pottery, and further excavation should be conducted in this area in subsequent seasons.  ; ; Early-Middle Roman (1st-3rd century); Based on stratigraphy, N-S wall 1222 was built sometime before the 4th century, by which time it had gone out of use and was covered over (see below).  The wall begins at 1010.03 N (where it abuts wall 1087) and extends south into the baulk at 1006.08 N.  At the preserved elevation of 85.84 masl, the wall is constructed in two distinct manners: from uncut fieldstones of 0.15-0.20 m in its northern half, and (reused?) larger cut ashlars (0.35-0.55) at the south, possibly indicating a repair or extension of wall 1222.   An earlier phase of E-W wall 366, running from 261.50 E to 262.90 E, where it disappears into the east balk, probably also was built in this period.  The west end of this wall was robbed or otherwise disrupted in the Late Roman period, but the large ashlar stones still contain traces of red wall plaster in situ.  A third Early Roman wall may have been located 3.60 m east of wall 1222, represented by Late Byzantine robbing trench 1171.  The numerous ornate Masonry style and faux marble wall painting fragments found in the Late Roman fill in this area (contexts 1227, 1210, and 1187) could well have come from these walls, and suggest a rather wealthy domestic or semi-public space.; ; These walls are possibly related to the pebble floor found in situ near the north end of wall 1222, 0.50 m to the east, at 85.17 masl  and/or the tile floor at 85.01 masl 2.5 m east of 1222 and a bit further south.  Both these surfaces should date sometime in or before the 2nd century, based upon the material excavated directly above them (contexts 1202 and 1242, respectively), but further excavation is required to determine their actual date and extent.  A third floor for which we found evidence but no in situ remains was made from cut down tiles which were used as bricks, set in a limey matrix, and covered over with soft limey plaster.  This floor was destroyed by the 2nd or 3rd century and dumped in sizable chunks, the largest 0.60 x 0.70, into the area between wall 1087 and wall 945, and excavated as contexts 1202 and 1250; these contexts are dated by a large piece of square lipped water pipe dated by Palinkas and Herbst to the late 2nd-early 3rd century (Hesperia 2011 80.2), but no pottery is later than the 1st century CE.; ; Late Roman (5th-6th century); Well 742 may have been constructed and in use as early as the fourth century, although further excavation around it and removal of the well structure itself will have to confirm this date.  Beginning around 85.60 masl (excavated as context 1227), the walls of the well shaft were reinforced with uncut cobbles and fieldstones, built into and laid against the sides of the well shaft; the soil is completely undifferentiated from the surrounding fill.  This rudimentary construction, which was clearly not intended to be seen, ceases after about half a meter, at 86.10 masl.  The top of the preserved well shaft was made from three courses of larger rectangular stones roughly hewn on the exterior and more nicely cut into a curvilinear shape for the interior of the well shaft start (one course removed this season as context 1185).  We have identified no external cut into which the well was dug; before it opens into a larger cistern or chamber, the well shaft is composed of the same hard packed soil we are finding throughout the excavation area which seems to have been packed or cut inside the well. Unlike at higher elevations, we have found no evidence below 85.60 masl or so of the reinforcing cobbles around the well structure which indicate built construction.  The only soil we excavated below these cobbles, which seems possibly to have been cut rather than built as part of the well, contained no pottery dating later than the 1st century CE, although the deposit did contain a coin of Hadrian (coin 2013-251; context 1246). ; ; We suggest that a series of superimposed dump fills represents a construction or raising of well 742 and the surrounding area, possibly to correspond to the street level of Late Roman Nezi.   These fills cover the entire area bounded by later walls 1087 on the north, 366 on the south, robbing trench 1171 on the east, and the scarp of Nezi excavations on the west (N: 1010.08 N, E: 262.10 E, S: 1007.00 N, W: 255.50 E).  The earliest, 1227 and its associated contexts (1239, 1240, and 1248, plus 1233 excavated by the Pink team this session), was laid down in the 4th century, possibly early 5th (as dated by the pottery from 1233).  This filling operation was dense and over half a meter thick.  Context 1210, immediately over 1227, was very similar in composition, differentiated only by the inclusion of small quantities of pottery dating to the 6th century.  Similarly, context 1187, immediately overlying 1227, contained almost all 4th century and earlier material redeposited with two rims of 6th century cookware and a tubular foot goblet which dates to the second half of the 5th century or later.  These fills were built up against and covered over the early-middle Roman walls 1222 and the earlier phase of 366, as discussed above.   ; ; Most of the cultural material from these fills is architectural in origin, including abundant tiles, bricks, painted and unpainted wall plaster, architectural moldings, and assorted floor tesserae.  These fills likely also contained a large quantity of mudbricks which have since disintegrated, leaving behind small pieces of poorly preserved Archaic, Classical, Hellenistic, and Early Roman (1st century) pottery which we found in much greater quantities in these contexts than we did pottery which is contemporaneous with the deposit itself.  Although truncated at the north by wall 1087 and the trenches to either side and the east by robbing trench 1171, this fill clearly extends south into the baulk under wall 366 and west into the baulk of Nezi.; ; Because there is so little material throughout these fills which is contemporary with the filling operation itself, it is unclear whether these three large deposits all represent a single construction event or the raising of the well gradually over time from the 4th-6th centuries.  That these fills represent a single event is supported by the continuity in the construction method of the well, which was uncut fieldstones, cobbles, and soil (as discussed above) up to about 86.10 masl (exposed as contexts 1187 and 1210), and by the lack of evidence for floors or surfaces below surface 1157 at 86.46 masl.; ; A sequence of surfaces built above the huge dump fills are likely related to the use of the well in the 6th century or later.   No trace of these floors and their subfloors was found west of well 742, but the high degree of disruption by later Byzantine and Frankish occupation may have destroyed them.  Surface 1157 (86.46 masl) is a rock and tile floor bound together with plaster, covering the entire area east of well 742 up to robbing trench 1171.  It was supported by a 0.25 m thick sandy and rocky fill containing 4th-5th NPD pottery (deposit 1162, 86.28 masl), which may have been some sort of bedding or leveling layer for the surface; during its excavation, Guy Sanders noted that this sandy limestone is the local bedrock and suggested this deposit in particular may originate from construction (or expansion?) of well 742 or well 902 to the northeast.  Surface 1157 was replaced by surface 911, a reddish limey floor (N: 1009.42 N, E: 262.04 E, S: 1007.37 N, W: 259.22 E, 86.59 masl).  This floor was quite well constructed, with a plastered cobble subfloor (structure 1153, 86.54 masl) and a highly compact soil bedding layer (structure 1156, 86.46 masl).  By contrast, dirt surface 912 above it (N: 1009.33 N, E: 261.96 E, S: 1007.69 N, W: 259.63 E, 86.62 masl) was quite patchy and, having been exposed for a year, rather difficult to identify the boundaries of; had it not been identified as a surface last season, we probably would not have recognized it as such.  All of these contexts were nearly sterile of cultural material other than tile, but they overlay context 1210 which contained 6th century material.; ; A series of square structures was built up against the south side of well 742, presumably in the Late Roman period along with the other features associated with the well (although we found virtually no datable material in any of them, and stratigraphically they can only be associated clearly with the well itself).  All covered about the same area of 1007.15-1007.90 N and 258.35-259.15 E (0.75 x 0.80 m).  We are uncertain about their use and function: the most likely is that they represent a sequence of entrances or thresholds to the well from the south, but they were not associated with any floors we identified during excavation; further excavation of Late Roman strata in the Byzantine room to the south may help resolve this.  The earliest (no context number; unexcavated) is a platform or base consisting of a single layer of uncut cobbles and fieldstones 0.08-0.20 m large.  These stones are difficult to differentiate from the stones supporting well 742 and from the stones of wall 1222, immediately to the west.  This structure seems to have been built over the southeastern half of wall 1222, and extends further south than the overlying tile and ashlar structures, into the line of wall 366 and southern baulk.  Excavation of this platform and the underlying soil deposit is necessary to clarify these relationships.  These stones may have been a bedding surface for a level of flat laying tiles immediately above them (context 1220, 86.12, pottery Roman NPD).  These tiles were then covered with a 0.05-0.10 m thick layer of reddish clayey sand (deposit 1209) which resembles the Late Roman fill operation of context 1210 (above).  A large cut ashlar (0.60x0.70x0.40), which may have come from wall 1222, was placed on this soil, and topped by another layer of flat lying tiles (context 1158, 86.54 masl).  ; ; Unfortunately, we have not been able to identify any walls or primary deposits which correspond to the Late Roman use of the well, possibly suggesting that it was in an exterior space, or roofed with a simple wooden structure.  It should also be noted that we retrieved no evidence for the well head in any period (i.e. no stones with use wear rope cuttings), which was therefore either wooden or spoliated at a later date for use elsewhere.  ; ; Around the Turkish House, we provided additional dating evidence for context 1080 (Session 1 Blue).  Deposit 1143 is part of the same destruction fill as deposit 1080.  Like 1080, 1143 contained large quantities of tile, along with pottery, glass (especially vertical foot goblets), and three additional coins (C-2013-192, -193, and -194, all illegible minimi).  According to the current ceramic chronology, the pottery indicates a date in the second half of the 5th century, but a North African style moldmade lamp in local Corinthian fabric (L-2013-4) suggests a date closer to the mid-6th century for this deposition of material based on comparanda with material from the Fountain of Lamps. ; ; Early-Middle Byzantine (7th- 10th century); No early Byzantine activity has been detected in the excavation area, based on the lack of ceramic material dating to this period.; ; Middle-Late Byzantine (11th- 12th century); Prior excavations have clarified that the large bothros pit in the middle of NW Nezi (Cut 870) was filled over the course of the mid 10th-late 11th century (see Session 1 2013 Blue final report).  The putative N-S robbing trench Cut 1040 was also filled during this period (deposit 1136), further support that the far northwest corner of Nezi field around the Turkish House served as a source of stone for new construction activities and a garbage dumping area during this century and a half.  So far, we have been unable to ascertain whether Cut 1040 (and therefore a now-missing wall from a prior period) continues south of Cut 870, as suggested by Harrington and Mokrišová.; ; South of wall 1087/747, which Harrington and Mokrišová date to the late 11th-early 12th century, another N-S wall was robbed at some point during the 11th century, represented by rectangular cut 1171 (N-S 1009.57-1007.06 N, E-W 262.98-262.28 E) extending northward from wall 366.  Both fills in this cut, 888 and 1167, contained material dated to the 11th century.  Based on the flurry of activity in this vicinity dated to the late 11th century, it is likely that cuts 1040 and 1171 provided source lime and stone for these constructions.  Immediately south of wall 1087 is lime pit 882, initially identified and preliminarily excavated by George and Valente in 2012, dated by them to the late 11th century (based on material excavated from context 917; we recovered no material from the removal of the lime plaster itself which dates later than two micaceous water jar bases from the 6th century in context 1176).  Even though the stratigraphy is unclear as none of these structures connect, the pottery phasings and common sense suggest that the sequence of events in this area is 1) robbing of walls, 2) cutting and use of the lime pit to create mortar for the walls from the robbed stone, and 3) construction of walls 1087/747 and 366 .   ; ; Well 742 potentially served as the source of water for mixing lime mortar, as the lime pit appeared to be set immediately against its north side.  We identified a possible narrow cut around the top of the well, filled with a loose, dark black soil (deposit 1175, 86.40-86.16 masl) which was quite distinct from the surrounding red sandy Late Roman matrix; both this deposit and the comparable black soil around highest preserved course of the well (context 1185) contained 11th century pottery.  Therefore, we suspect that well 742 was a two-phase structure, as after removal of the upper course, we have been unable to identify any type of cut around the well to indicate that the lower Late Roman fill was disturbed during the course of well construction.  However, the construction method of the highest preserved course of the well – three rectangular ashlars with roughly carved exteriors, and a well carved curved interior surface around the opening for the well, held together with cobble chinking stones – is quite similar to what we can ascertain of the lower levels; on the other hand, George and Valente removed several stones from around the well in 2012, and these may represent the true 11th century construction and use phase of the well.  ; ; After construction of the walls, the area was adapted for occupational use, probably as a form of interior or exterior domestic space bounded by the wall 1087 at the north and 366 at the south.  Our 2013 excavation of round, stone built hearth 910 generated ceramics dated to the late 11th century; the interior fills excavated by George and Valente in 2012 were dated to the early 12th, suggesting this hearth was only in use for a few decades at most.  Construction of the hearth seems to have disrupted the western edge of lime pit 882, which was never concretely identified by either us or George and Valente; all we found were spotty bits of lime visible in the western face of the pit, quite dissimilar from the much better preserved solid surfaces of lime found to the east.  Well 742 likely continued to be used as well.  ; ; Excavations in the area E of Wall 332 (N: 1006.06 N; S: 1003.75 N; E: 264.17 E; W: 262.77 E) allowed further investigation of the Byzantine strata in Nezi field. ; ; The structure 452 (N 1005.51, S 1004.01, E 263.75, W 262.78) exposed during excavation in 2009 and removed in June 2013 has now been interpreted as the foundation of a staircase. It did not directly lay against any walls or other structures: the closest wall to this staircase, Wall 332, was separated from structure 452 by a thin layer of soil, 2 cm thick on average. Nevertheless we can argue that staircase 452 can be related at least to the western room bounded by Wall 332, Wall 366 and Wall. And it seems to be contemporary to northern Walls 540, 749 and 1087 the eastern Wall 807, even though no physical relationships are preserved. At the moment we can infer that during the Late Byzantine period the building identified in this area consisted at least of two floors.   ; ; Structure 452 laid on a hard packed earth deposit (deposit 1235). This fill was dumped South of Wall 366 and West of Wall 332 in order to have a proper surface for bedding the staircase foundation (structure 452). When deposit 1235 was dumped a hoard of bronze coins was deposited below the north side of Structure 452, few centimeters beneath the lowest course of stones. These coins belong almost all to the reigns of Nicephorus III and Alexius I, and range from 1178 to 1118 (coins 2013-221, 222, 223, 224, 225, 226, 227, 228, 229, 230, 236, 238, 252, 254, 255, 256), except for two earlier ones: coin 2013-231 dated to 969-1030 and coin 2013-234 dated to1070 -1075, which were likely still in use at the beginning of the 12th century. The coins do not seem to have been contained in a ceramic vessel, we hypothesize that they were originally in a leather bag.  The presence of a hoard beneath staircase does not seem to be unique in Nezi: in the field N of Nezi another hoard was identified in similar condition of preservation according to G. Sanders.; ; Unfortunately not much pottery was associated with this hoard. On the contrary, the new, wide deposit exposed beneath it and unexcavated appears to be very rich in ceramics. This new context is around the Frankish pits 527 and 528 and, according to the stratigraphy exposed in these cuts, it seems to be all the same deposit exposed beneath 1235 and to continue further south. We definitely encourage more excavation here: the numerous coins we found in 1235 can provide a terminus ante quem for this layer exposed beneath 1235. ; ; Frankish (13th century); The Frankish period is another phase of disruption, rather than occupation, in this area; George and Valente also identified a series of pits and wall robbings dating to the 13th century (see Final Report Session 3 Blue 2012).  The western extent of wall 366 was robbed, an action described by cut 687 , and a shallow circular pit was dug below it at the presumed intersection of walls 366 and 306 (N-S 1006.91-1005.81 N, E-W 258.23-257.15 E, 86.17-85.82 masl).  These cuts were then filled by deposits 1204 and 1183 around the third quarter of the 13th century.  ; ; Outstanding Issues; For the next season of excavation in Nezi Field, we recommend the following for this area:; 1.    Excavate the single course stone feature immediately south of well 742 and the fill beneath it in order to investigate the nature of the sequence of stone and tile structures overlaying it.  More work may need to be done in the Byzantine room to the south in order to determine the full southern extend of the stone feature and the late Roman fills which pass under wall 366.; 2.    Remove the remainder of well 742 and the soil surface around it to resolve its initial construction and use.; 3.    Expose more of the pebble floor and tile floor to determine their extent, date, and relationship to walls 1222 and the earlier phase of 366, in order to learn more about Early-Middle Roman Nezi.; 4.    Resume work in the area around the Frankish pit 527, because the coin hoard in 1235 provides an excellent terminus ante quem for the underlying deposits","Report","Corinthia | Ancient Corinth | Central Area | Nezi Field"
"","","","","Corinth:Report:Nezi Field 2008 by Sarah Lima (2008-04-07 to 2008-06-13)","Western Suite of Rooms in the 1961 Byzantine House, Late Byzantine and Frankish Levels","","Corinth","","","Nezi Field 2008 by Sarah Lima (2008-04-07 to 2008-06-13)","During the second and third sessions of the 2008 season at Corinth, a contingent of Team Green excavated to the W of a 1960s-excavated courtyard within the greater area of North of Nezi. The area of excavation initially consisted of a rectangular space, roughly 6.0 x 9.0 m, bounded by four walls and subdivided by two smaller walls. The coordinates for this space fell between 1030 and1039 N, and 260 and 266 E on the Nezi gridding system. During the last week, the excavated area was expanded as far as 267 E.  The work team consisted of Billy Papanikolao (pickman), Vasilis Kollias (barrow man between 10.05.08 and 06.06.08), and Andreas Oikonomou (barrow man between 06.06.08 and 06.12.08). Alicia Carter and Guy Sanders oversaw the excavations.  ; ; History of Excavation; ; Corinth notebooks relate the extent of 1960s excavation activity in this area, which the excavators referred to as the western limits of the “1961 house.” Charles Williams (NB 253 from 1963) describes the northern and western walls bounding the space, noting that their deepest foundations appear to be Late Roman (Wall nos. 3 and 4, descriptions pp. 23, 26-27, and 29; drawn on pp. 10, 23, 16, 129). Williams also described uncovering the top of an E-W running wall that he called “Wall 6.” The foundations of a wall just to the N of Wall 6 were already visible to Williams when he was excavating, and that was given the name “Wall 5.” He excavated a deep deposit consisting of ash, carbon, mudbrick, plaster, and tiles on edge in the narrow space between the two walls, and speculated that this might represent foundations for a staircase. 2008 excavations around Walls 5 and 6 demonstrated that Wall 5, although truncated, continues eastward, and that the foundations of Wall 6 probably cut a surface much higher than where they rested when we began excavating. These observations make it more likely that the walls represent different phases of dividing the room(s) west of the courtyard, rather than a staircase. ; ; Each of the previously mentioned walls has been given a new number during the course of the 2008 excavations. The concordances between these numbers are: ; ; Wall 3, also given a 1960s number of Wall 58 (E-W wall bounding rooms to N, continues eastward from W limit at roughly 259 E) = Wall 5562; Wall 4 (N-S wall bounding rooms to W, runs from ca. 1039 to 1029 N = Wall 5724; Wall 5 (E-W wall abutting E facing section of Wall 5724, truncated to E) = Foundations: 5604, Wall Superstructure: 5603/5638; Wall 6 (E-W wall ostensibly bonding with Wall 5724, robbed out to E) = Wall 5725; ; The 1960s excavations were also responsible for the excavation of two pits within this space. One lay to the S of Wall 5725, and may have been discovered while excavators were attempting to locate the wall’s lowest limits. The other was located in the very SW corner of the area excavated in 2008, near the junction of Wall 5724 and the E-W wall running across the S limit of the room. This southern E-W wall does not appear to have a structure number corresponding to 1960s or 2008 excavations. This pit was excavated to the level of 84.80, which marks the top of a large cornerstone for an Ottoman building to the W. The construction of the Ottoman wall truncated part of Wall 5724. It is likely that 1960s excavators stopped when they reached the hard cornerstone and did not continue excavating within that space. ; ; 1960s excavations also identified a robbing trench for a large N-S running wall forming an eastern boundary between the courtyard to the E and its associated western room(s). That wall was labeled Wall 71; in 2008, the robbed wall was also given a number of 5473. The first top plan of this area for 2008 demonstrates the location and shape of each of the features described above, along with their elevations. ; ; The phasing of the walls begins with Wall 5562 and Wall 5724 which are demonstrably the earliest based on the depths of their foundations. Wall 5724 also has spatial and stratigraphic relationships with two other E-W walls to the W and N of the courtyard: Wall 5603/5638 (foundations = 5604), and Wall 5725. Wall 5725 appears to bond with Wall 5724 in multiple construction phases, making them contemporary. On the other hand, Wall 5603/5638 is a later reuse of a later foundation event, of which the upper limits do not survive. The robbing trench of Wall 5725 also has a relationship with the robbing trench of Wall 5473. Since the robbing trench of the E-W wall 5725 lies beneath the robbing trench of the N-S wall 5473, we surmise that Wall 5725 must have been robbed well before Wall 5473 was installed. ; ; Late Byzantine; ; Late Byzantine levels were excavated beneath Frankish fill just to the west of the junction between Wall 5562 and Wall 5473, and in the foundation trenches for Walls 5725 and 5724. These levels began at an elevation of approximately 84.85-84.99 to the S (fill 5768), and at an elevation of 84.75 to the N (top of foundation trench fill 5727, fill 5830).; ; The earliest features excavated during this season were the foundation trenches for N-S wall 5724 and E-W wall 5725. Because the walls appear to bond both at upper and lower levels, we expected to find a similar date for both foundation trenches. This proved to be the case, since the foundation trench cuts for Wall 5725 and Wall 5724 cut fill levels with dates in the first half of the 12th century (fills 5727 and 5768, respectively). Within the foundation trench of Wall 5724, a nearly complete jug and two-handled storage jar were recovered, possibly as an intentional foundation deposit within fill 5686. Unfortunately, the overlying levels 5547 and 5509 yielded pottery dating to the 3rd quarter of the 13th century, so the resolution of when the walls were definitively constructed remains rather coarse, within the range of early 12th-late 13th century.  ; ; When lower levels of Walls 5724 and 5725 were revealed during the excavation of the foundation trenches, it became apparent that each one has at least two phases of construction. The excavation of fill 5770 within the foundation trench for Wall 5724 revealed a change in soil strata that corresponded with a visible difference in the appearance of the wall coursing. If the foundation trench fill 5770 represents fill of a second lower foundation trench, then the earlier building event can be dated by a coin to 969-1030 or later. Further excavation is necessary to establish whether the lower level reached in the excavation of fill 5770 actually represents a foundation trench, since it would clearly cut a lower surface than the plastered surface exposed to the E of Wall 5724 at the end of excavations.; ; There also appears to be a robbing event that is Late Byzantine in date. The N-S oriented Robbing Trench 5791 runs from just S of the E-W Wall 5562 to a point where it meets with the robbed out section of E-W Wall 5725, at ca. 1035 N by 265 E. It underlies levels dated to the 12th century (5786), as well as one level dating to the 14th century (5586). The terminus post quem for its construction is context 5830, which dates based on coinage to 1140-1170. The rough terminus post quem from the fills yields dates in the early 12th century (fills 5790, 5840, and 5844). Although it cannot be definitively demonstrated that this robbing event took place during the 12th century as opposed to the 14th century, the dates from the fills seem to point primarily in that direction. The question of whether this is actually a robbing trench also remains open for discussion. The trench is thin, approximately 0.50 m wide, and runs alongside and over a series of small cobbles and tiles set into a line—possibly part of the unrobbed wall. This does appear to be somewhat unusual as a robbing event, though, since it seems more likely that they would have exposed the whole of the top of the wall. Further exploration to the E of the robbing trench as it exists now could be desirable for confirming or disproving the line that we have identified; it may instead represent a continuation of a debris surface that was exposed by Jody Cundy and Megan Thompsen their excavations in the room to the N of the 1960s courtyard. If we have identified a Late Byzantine robbing event of a N-S wall, then a shape emerges of a long rectangular room, bordered by Walls 5562, 5724, a robbed out N-S wall of cobble-tile construction (evidenced by Robbing Trench 5791), and probably also E-W cross wall 5725, which bonds with Wall 5724. The question of how the N room would have been accessed remains in question. ; ; It appears that this area once rested on a higher level than the open space to the E, since we have a difference of elevations at which use surfaces occur. In the courtyard to the E, there is a pebbled surface that appears to be truncated by some kind of division, since the pebbled surface does not occur within the area to the W. Instead, we have identified Late Byzantine foundation trenches cut into a level of Byzantine fill stratified above a plastered floor surface- the only surface that we definitively identified during the course of our excavations in this area. Note: this surface was not excavated in the 2008 season.; ; ; Frankish; ; Frankish periods are well represented to the W of the courtyard. Contexts with Frankish pottery occur between elevations from 85.62 (fill 5581) to ca. 84.55 to the N (contexts 5581, 5583, 5837, 5644), and relatively consistently between 84.95 (fills 5667, 5646; 5509 overlies and is still higher) and 84.55 to the S (fill 5744).; ; During this period, it appears that Wall 5725 was still in place, dividing the room into two halves. The N-S running wall that was robbed during the Late Byzantine period (Robbing Trench 5791) may or may not have been replaced at this time, which would leave the room open to the E. The date of the construction of Wall 5473 remains in question, but it probably would have replaced the earlier robbed wall. ; ; In the southern of the two western rooms, two pits were excavated. Pit cut 5767 was created at least as late as the mid 12th century (cutting fill 5768), and was filled in at least as late as the 2nd quarter of the 13th century (filled by 5754). It is SW in orientation, irregular in shape, and appears to have been truncated by the NE cornerstone of the Ottoman house to the W. Pit cut 5723 was excavated and filled in by the mid 13th century. It underlies fill 5667, which gives a terminus ante quem of mid-13th century for its filling; but the surface which the pit cuts (i.e., the plastered floor surface) has not yet been excavated, and refine the dating of this feature. Although these pits have been included in the summary of the Frankish period, it is possible that both of them are actually Late Byzantine in date. A great many features depend on their relationship with the white plastered floor surface, unexcavated as of 13.06.08. ; ; It would appear that during the 13th century, significant leveling activity took place in the room to the N of wall 5725. Several strata consisting of reddish brown fill with tiles were excavated from the area (contexts 5500, 5503, 5513, and 5494). These contexts lay at similar elevations, and reflect a late filling event that may have been associated with a change in function for the room. ; ; A pit was cut into these dumped fills (pit cut = 5498), and it then underwent subsequent filling activity that consisted of the dumping of various strata of debris and construction material inside of the pit (contexts 5516, 5497, 5491, 5481). Additionally, a stratum with a hard, white plaster consistency was deposited within the pit and spread across the majority of the room toward the E (contexts 5499, 5512, and 5537). All of these contexts have been dated to the last quarter of the 13th century and may represent a single filling event, utilizing different kinds of material.  Much later, perhaps as late as the 18th century, pit cut 5498 appears to have been utilized in the construction of a small wall spur (#5478), as a depression for setting the stones. ; ; Pit cut 5717 lay beneath the bottom boundary of 5498, making it the earlier of the two cuts; but the fact that it is filled by two Late 13th century fills must place its terminus of use not long before the construction of 5498. Since the surface that it cuts has not yet been excavated, it is impossible to say how long it has been in use. The fact that a pit was cut twice into the same location in spite of significant filling events suggests that it could be an important feature for establishing how this area functioned during the Frankish period. Three levels of mixed fill lay between the two cuts (5723, 5727, and 5744), one of which contained a gold ring of Roman date. The pit cut also truncates a small E-W wall spur (Wall #5875), which bonds with the highest courses of Wall 5724. This structure only continues for approximately 1.0 m, and its original extent may be revealed by further excavation, since we had not identified its bottom course as of the end of the 2008 season.; ; Fill 5723 also partially covered the Wall Foundations 5604, which lay beneath Wall 5603/5638. However, it is thought by the director that the foundations 5604 were originally cut into a much higher, later stratum. If they do actually underlie fill 5723, then their terminus ante quem is 1260 +/- 10. The cobble fill was also ostensibly overlain by cleaning pass 5547, which yielded pottery of the 3rd quarter of the 13th c. Even if we successfully determine the date of the foundations, it is nearly impossible to say what the date is for Wall 5603/5638, since there is no matrix of soil around the stones and their construction is definitely different from the cobbles of Wall 5604.; If these walls are Frankish, then their truncation must also be explained, as well as their function in a room where there was already an E-W dividing wall ( Wall 5725) in place. ; ;  A well was constructed in the N room during the second half of the 13th century. Unfortunately, the boundary for the top of the well cut was diffuse, making it difficult to definitively establish the time after which it was constructed. Although the director has speculated about a later level for the cut, I propose that the well was dug into fill deposit 5513, which has been dated to the 13th century. We know that the well was out of use and filled in by the 3rd quarter of the 13th century, since it is overlain by dumped fill 5512. Only a single layer of fill was excavated from the well, but there is more remaining if further excavation of that area makes further access practicable. ; ; In the S room, we uncovered what appeared to be a robbing trench for a N-S wall (Cut 5859). This robbing trench is oriented slightly differently from robbing trench 5791 in the N room, which dates to an earlier period. From the stratum that trench 5859 cuts (fill 5744), we know that it was created after the 3rd quarter of the 13th century. Overlying contexts 5735 and 5801 establish a terminus ante quem of 4th quarter of the 13th century for the robbing event. The trench is rather irregularly shaped and its limits were diffuse when we were first attempting to identify its path. In particular, we were puzzled by the fact that the trench did not appear to continue southward further than 1.5 m. If a wall did exist along that line, it does not appear to have been an extensive one. We are continuing to explore the potential boundaries of this wall to the S of cut 5859 (e.g., context 5870), and the possibility exists that its limits may be different from what we have currently identified. ; ; Dividing wall 5725 was also robbed (cut 5546) after the 3rd quarter of the 13th century and before the 4th quarter of the 13th century, if it is safe to assume that the trench was filled around the same time that it was cut. The wall was robbed to the E of where it intersected with both of the two aforementioned robbing trenches (5791 and 5859). The result was a truncation of the remaining exposed E-W running wall section, which remained in place between ca. 261-264.50 E. Therefore, the area to the W of the courtyard would have remained partially divided between N and S after the robbing. The robbing trench 5546 underlies the bottom of the robbing trench for Wall 5473, which presumably also means that the foundation event for Wall 5473 postdates the robbing of wall 5725. It remains in question to what extent these western room(s) were divided from the courtyard during the second half of the 13th century.  ;  ; Yet another robbing pit (cut 5719) was created to the E of Wall 5725 during the last quarter of the 13th century, probably for the purpose of robbing the lowest stones of the wall. It truncates robbing trenches 5791, 5546, and 5859, making it the latest of all four robbing events. There still remains some of this context to be excavated, since the boundary of the cut was diffuse where it overlay the wall 5725, and it was uncertain which strata belonged with the robbing event 5546 and which belonged with the later robbing pit (5719).; ; To the S, we explored the martyr of robbing trench 5893 (i.e., the robbing event of wall 5473). Our goal in examining the line of Wall 5493 was to determine where its W limits lay, so that we might be able to definitively determine whether or not there was ever a full length N-S predecessor further to the W that could have truncated wall 5725. While exploring the robbing trench fill, we also uncovered a foundation trench (#5894) for a later wall spur installation that cut into it. Since we know that the terminus post quem for the robbing event was 4th quarter of the 13th century at least (based on the fact that it overlies the robbing trench 5546 for E-W wall 5725), we also know that the foundation of the small wall spur must postdate that period. ; ; Conclusion; ; Excavation within the area to the W of the 1960s-excavated courtyard revealed Late Byzantine and Frankish construction events that indicate a consistent division of the space into N and S rooms. What remains unclear is whether those rooms were entirely separate and divided from each other, or whether access was readily available between them. According to the data set that we currently possess, it seems most feasible that Wall 5725 existed as a continuous E-W wall during the 12th century, dividing an area consisting of Wall 5562 to the N, Wall 5724 to the W, and another E-W wall to the S. There may or may not also have been a small N-S wall dividing the room to the N from the courtyard and the S room that was removed at this time, depending on how the evidence for robbing trench 5791 is interpreted; if it is regarded as a continuation of the tile deposit visible to the E, then that entire N area should be regarded as a continuous unit stretching from E-W. ; ; These walls may also have Middle Byzantine predecessors, but that question cannot be answered without further excavation below currently exposed levels. The presence of Middle Byzantine pottery within foundation trench fill pairing with a different kind of wall construction along similar lines (Wall 5724, fill 5770) suggests that this is at least a possibility. ; ; The Frankish period seems to have divided the courtyard space from the western space by robbing out Wall 5725 and installing a N-S running wall - possibly one that lay where putative robbing trench 5859 is located. The presence of a new N-S wall would explain the truncation of the E-W wall and the high elevation of Frankish fills within the W rooms. However, we have yet to locate an extensive N-S wall (or robbing event thereof) that would have functioned in this capacity.; ; ; ; ; I. Lotting registry; ; contexts saved: ; # 5481: fill of pit cut 5498, subpacking of wall 5478 (Frankish, 1300 +/- 10); # 5491: fill of pit cut 5498, subpacking of wall 5478 (Frankish, 1270-1280); # 5497: fill of pit cut 5498, subpacking of wall 5478  (Frankish, late 13th century); # 5499: Plaster pit lining (Frankish, 1280 +/- 10); # 5500: Stratum cut by pit 5498 (fourth quarter of the 13th); # 5547:  Fill between walls 5604/5603/5638 and wall 5725 (third quarter of the 13th); ; partial saves: ; # 5503: stratum cut by pit 5498 (fourth quarter of the 13th, needs final weights and counts); # 5512: plaster fill (third quarter of the 13th, needs final weights and counts); # 5516: clayey pit fill (c. 1300, needs final weights and counts); # 5667: fill cut by pit 5723 (mid 13th, needs final weights and counts); # 5675: fill of pit 5723 (mid 13th, needs final weights and counts); # 5686: fill of foundation trench 5718 for wall 5724 (early 12th, 1120 +/- 10); # 5703: fill of robbing cut 5719 (fourth quarter of the 13th, mini lot with 5708, frankish and loomweight held); # 5708: fill of robbing cut 5719 (fourth quarter of the 13th, mini lot with 5703); # 5735: dumped fill to W of 1960s excavated courtyard (fourth quarter of the 13th, needs final weights and counts); #5754:  stony fill within pit cut 5667 (second quarter of the 13th); (# 5778: soft fill within robbing trench 5791 (third quarter of the 13th, glaze ware held for lotting with 5798); # 5798: fill within robbing trench 5859 (fourth quarter of the 13th, saved for lotting with 5778); # 5870: fill to W of 1960s excavated courtyard (late 13th); # 5604: fill within cobble wall foundations; ; saved for mending: ; # 5558: fill covering and filling well 5806 (Frankish, mid-13th c.); ; ; II. Lotting groups for relevant features (saved contexts bolded) ; ; Pit cut 5498; 4th quarter of the 13th c., out of use by 1300; TPQs for construction: cuts 5503 (4th quarter of the 13th c., pottery); 5513 (13th c., pottery); 5500 (4th quarter of the 13th c., pottery); TPQs for filling events: 5516 (1300, pottery), 5499 (1280 +/- 10, pottery), 5497 (late 13th, NPD, pottery), 5491 (1270-1289), 5481 (1300 +/- 10, pottery); TAQs: overlying contexts unknown.; ; Pit cut 5717; 4th quarter of the 13th century; TAQ/TPQ: Underlies and is filled by 5627 (late, 13th, pottery); TPQ for filling: Filled by 5644 (late 13th, pottery); TPQ: cuts same reddish brown tiled surface as robbing trench 5491; TAQ: definitely overlain by 5503 (4th quarter of the 13th, pottery); ; Cut 5806 for well 5876 ; Constructed and filled by the 4th quarter of the 13th century; TPQ for construction: G.S. feels that level of cut unknown, so no definitive TPQ; ; TAQ for filling: out of use by 3rd quarter of the 13th century, because overlain by 5512 (=5499) (3rd quarter of the 13th c., pottery) and 5537 (2nd half of the 13th c., NPD, pottery);; TPQ for filling: Top fill and covering head: 5558 (mid 13th c., pottery), if cuts 5513, TPQ date is 13th century.; ; Robbing pit 5719 (E of Wall 5725); excavated and filled in the 4th quarter of the 13th c.; TPQ for filling: Filled by 5703 (=5708), 4th quarter of the 13th c., pottery; ; TPQs for construction of trench: Robbing trench for 5725 is truncated by 5719;;  Robbing trench 5791 is truncated by 5719; 5719 cuts 5735 (4th quarter of the 13th); 5719 cuts 5746 (Frankish, 3rd quarter of the 13th c.); 5719 cuts 5837 (3rd quarter of the 13th c.); ; S. Robbing trench 5859; Excavated and filled in by the 4th quarter of the 13th c.; TAQs for filling: 5744 overlies (3rd quarter of the 13th, pottery), 5735 overlies (4th quarter of the 13th, pottery), 5801 overlies (Frankish, 2nd half of the 13th century); cut by robbing pit cut 5719 (4th quarter of the 13th c., TAQ); TPQs for filling: Fill 5798 (Frankish, 4th quarter of the 13th century), 5808 (Frankish, 3rd quarter to mid 13th c.), 5812 (2nd quarter of the 13th, strat. relationship), 5816 (Late Byzantine, Late 11th), 5822 (Late Byzantine, early 11th/early 12th), 5858 (2nd quarter of the 13th, strat. Relationship); TPQs for construction: 5746 (3rd quarter of the 13th century, pottery), Plastered surface; or, if it cuts 5667, mid 13th, pottery; ; Cobble wall foundations 5604; Need to know level of top of cut to know TPQ; cobble fill overlain by 5547 (3rd quarter of the 13th c., rough TPQ); ; Pit cut 5723; excavated and filled in by the mid 13th c. ; TPQ for construction: Cuts plastered surface; TAQ for construction: Underlies 5667 (mid 13th c., pottery) ; TPQ for filling of pit: 5675 (mid 13th c., pottery); ; N. Robbing trench 5791 (N-S); 1140-1170 or later; TAQs for filling: 5786 overlies to W (Late Byzantine, 12th century), 5586 overlies to E (14th c.? or later); TPQs for construction of trench: cuts same level cut by well, same level cut by pit 5717; it’s a flat reddish brown tiled surface.; TPQs for filling:  5778 (3rd quarter of the 13th), 5790 (12th c., NPD), 5840 (Late Byzantine, 1090-1110), 5844 (Late Byzantine, 12th century); ; Pit cut 5767 (the SW corner pit); Constructed 1150+, filled in by 1250.; TAQ for filling: Contexts overlying cut unknown, filled at least as late as the mid 13th.; TPQs for construction: fill 5668 (mid 12th c., pottery) is cut by 5767; TPQ for filling: filled by 5754 (2nd quarter of the 13th century, pottery); ; III. Phasing of features based on pottery dates and stratigraphic relationships; ; Post-Frankish; Corner of Ottoman house (top of cut unknown); Corner of Ottoman house (top of cut unknown); E-W wall spur 5478: 18th century? No foundation for upper part of wall spur; ; E-W wall 5603/5638: Probable reuse of foundations 5604, so impossible to date; ; Foundations of 5604: need to know level of top of cut to know TPQ; cobble fill overlain by 5547 (3rd quarter of the 13th c., rough TPQ); ; ; Frankish; Foundation trench # 5894 for wall spur E of 5473: 4th quarter of the 13th century or later, strat. relationship; TPQ for filling event: fill 5892 (Late 13th, strat. relationship); TPQ for construction: cuts robbing trench 5893 (filled in by 3rd quarter of the 13th c. or later, pottery); ; Robbing trench # 5893 for wall 5473: 4th quarter of the 13th c. or later, pottery; ; TPQ for filling event: fill 5510, fill 5886 (3rd quarter of 13th), fill 5770 (Late 13th); TAQ for filling event: foundation trench 5894 cuts robbing trench 5893; TPQ: overlies cut 5446, which dates to the 4th quarter of the 13th century.; ; Robbing trench # 5546 for wall 5725: Excavated and filled in by the 4th quarter of the 13th c.; TAQ for filling: 5837 (3rd quarter of the 13th, stratigraphic relationship); Underlies robbing trench for wall 5473 (4th quarter of the 13th c., pottery); TPQs for filling: Filled after 5852 (Frankish, 3rd quarter of the 13th century); ; Pit cut 5717: 4th quarter of the 13th century; TAQ/TPQ: Underlies and is filled by 5627 (late, 13th, pottery); definitely overlain by 5503 (4th quarter of the 13th, pottery); TPQ for filling: Filled by 5644 (late 13th, pottery); TPQ for construction: cuts same reddish brown tiled surface as robbing trench 5491; ; Pit cut 5498: 4th quarter of the 13th c., out of use by 1300; TPQs for construction: cuts 5503 (4th quarter of the 13th c., pottery); 5513 (13th c., pottery); 5500 (4th quarter of the 13th c., pottery); TPQs for filling events: 5516 (1300, pottery), 5499 (1280 +/- 10, pottery), 5497 (late 13th, NPD, pottery), 5491 (1270-1289), 5481 (1300 +/- 10, pottery); TAQs: 5516 (1300, pottery), 5494 (1275-1300, pottery); ; Robbing pit 5719 (E of Wall 5725): excavated and filled in the 4th quarter of the 13th c.; TPQ for filling: Filled by 5703 (=5708), 4th quarter of the 13th c., pottery; ; TPQs for construction of trench: Robbing trench for 5725 is truncated by 5719;;  Robbing trench 5791 is truncated by 5719; 5719 cuts 5735 (4th quarter of the 13th); 5719 cuts 5746 (Frankish, 3rd quarter of the 13th c.); ; We underdug this context and there is still some martyr remaining. ; ; S. Robbing trench # 5859 for N-S wall: Excavated and filled in by the 4th quarter of the 13th c.; TAQs for filling: 5744 overlies (3rd quarter of the 13th, pottery), 5735 overlies (4th quarter of the 13th, pottery), 5801 overlies (Frankish, 2nd half of the 13th century), cut by robbing pit cut 5719 (4th quarter of the 13th c.); TPQs for filling: Fill 5798 (Frankish, 4th quarter of the 13th century), 5808 (Frankish, 3rd quarter to mid 13th c.), 5812 (2nd quarter of the 13th c., stratigraphic relationship), 5816 (Late Byzantine, Late 11th), 5822 (Late Byzantine, early 11th/early 12th); TPQs for construction: 5746 (3rd quarter of the 13th century, pottery), cuts plastered surface.; ; Cut for well 5806: constructed and filled by the 4th quarter of the 13th c.; TPQ for construction: G.S. feels that level of cut unknown; I suggest that it cut level 5513 (13th century); TAQ for filling: out of use by 3rd quarter of the 13th century, because overlain by 5512 (3rd quarter of the 13th c., pottery) and 5537 (2nd half of the 13th c., NPD, pottery);; TPQ for filling: Top fill 5558 also covers head (mid 13th c., pottery); ; Pit cut 5767 (the SW corner pit): mid 13th; TAQ for filling: Contexts overlying cut unknown, filled at least as late as the mid 13th; if 5509 overlies, then the TAQ is the 3rd quarter of the 13th c.; TPQs for construction: 5668 (mid 12th c., pottery) is cut by 5767; TPQ for filling: filled by 5754 (2nd quarter of the 13th century, pottery); ; Pit cut 5723: excavated and filled in by the mid 13th c. ; TPQ for construction: Cuts plastered surface; TAQ for construction: Underlies 5667 (mid 13th c., pottery) ; TPQ for filling of pit: 5675 (mid 13th c., pottery); ; Late Byzantine; ; N. Robbing trench 5791 (N-S): 1140-1170 or later.; TAQs for filling: 5786 overlies to W (Late Byzantine, 12th century), 5586 overlies to E (14th c.? or later); TPQs for construction of trench: cuts same level cut by well, same level cut by pit 5717; it’s a flat reddish brown tiled surface, cuts 5830 (1140-1170); TPQs for filling: 5778 (3rd quarter of the 13th), 5790, 5840 (Late Byzantine, 1090-1110), 5844 (Late Byzantine, 12th century); ; N foundation trench, Wall 5725 (cut #5721): 1st half of the 12th century; TPQs: cuts 5727 (early 12th, NPD, pottery); TPQ for filling: 5727 (early 12th, NPD, pottery); 5711 (Late Byzantine, late 11th); TAQ for filling: 5547 (3rd quarter of the 13th c.); There are other fill levels to be excavated, but they may relate to an earlier phase of wall. ; Wall 5725 bonds with Wall 5724.; ; S foundation trench, Wall 5725 (cut # 5720): 1st half of the 12th century; TPQs for construction: Cuts (at least) 5768 (mid 12th c., pottery); ; TPQ for fillingFilled by 5680 (12th c., NPD, pottery); possibly we missed a 2nd layer of fill. ; TAQ for filling: to the best of our knowledge, overlain by 5509 (3rd quarter of the 12th c., pottery); Wall 5725 bonds with 5724.; ; Foundation trench, wall 5724 (cut # 5718): 1st half of the 12th century; TPQs: At least cuts 5768 (mid 12th c., pottery); TPQ; TPQs for filling: 5686 (1120 +/- 10 or early 12th, pottery); lower fill 5770 (969-1030, coin; late 10th/early 11th, pottery) may relate to an earlier construction event.; TAQS: to our knowledge, overlain by 5509 (3rd quarter of the 12th century, pottery); Wall 5725 bonds with 5724.","Report","Corinthia | Ancient Corinth | Central Area | Nezi Field"
"","","","","Corinth:Report:Nezi Field 2008 by Joseph Lillywhite, Joel Rygorsky, Matthew Sears, Martin Wells (2008-04-07 to 2008-06-13)","Early Modern through Late Byzantine levels in Nezi Field","","Corinth","","","Nezi Field 2008 by Joseph Lillywhite, Joel Rygorsky, Matthew Sears, Martin Wells (2008-04-07 to 2008-06-13)","We, Joseph Lillywhite, Joel Rygorsky, Matthew Sears and Martin Wells, continued excavation in the entirety of Nezi Field from May 5 – June 13th, 2008.  This report will summarize our own findings, while also incorporating those of Alexis Belis and Christina Gieske, who excavated during Session I of the 2008 season.   The shape of our excavation area was somewhat irregular; its maximum coordinates ranged from 993.98 N to 1015.43 N and from 255.41 E to 279 E.   In the area of the Nezi Field 2007 excavations we resumed excavation where the 2007 team of Lina Kokkinou and Angela Ziskowski left off, the northern edge of which is an irregular escarpment left by the excavations of 1936 and 1961; in the northwestern area of Nezi Field, the northern edge of which is also an irregular escarpment formed by 1960’s excavations, we take up where Alexis Belis and Christina Gieske, who excavated from April 7th-April 26th, 2008, left off; south of where AB and CG excavated, our excavation began at a ground level revealed by a bulldozing operation.  Both of these latter two regions border the first on their eastern edge.  The bulldozing operation in the southwestern portion of Nezi Field was undertaken because the 2007 excavations proved that Nezi field had a deep disturbed agricultural stratum. This context was carefully dug 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. The northwest area, where AB and CG excavated, 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 (wall 243) properly before removal. We worked under the supervision of director Guy Sanders and assistant field director Alicia Carter. We excavated with Panos Stamatis (pick man), Sotiris Raftopoulos (shovel man/barrowman) Kleomenes Didaskalou (pick man), and Vangelis Kollias (shovel man/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 2008 ASCSA Corinth Excavations in Nezi Field describes our interpretation of the stratigraphy encountered in our excavation area.  ; ; LATE BYZANTINE (1059-1210); The earliest contexts found to date in Nezi field date from the Late Byzantine period.  ; ; Two fills, 408 and 424 are datable by pottery to the Late Byzantine period, specifically to the last quarter of the 12th century CE.  Both of these fills are bounded on the east by wall 332, while 408 is bounded to the south by wall 365, and 424 to the north by wall 366.  On this basis, we tenuously interpret these three walls as having been constructed prior to these fills, making them Late Byzantine or earlier in date.  If subsequent excavation in this area reveals associated floors or foundation trenches, more accurate and precise dating should be pursued.  Context 371, which lay immediately to the west of where 408 was deposited, also was dated by pottery to the 12th century; however, 371 was overlain by a context whose pottery dated to the early Frankish period (401), leading us to the interpretation that both of these fills have been disturbed by a process of natural deposition, and thus are not related to the usage period of these walls.; ; Walls 332, 365, and 366 are part of a series of walls that form two rooms (one bounded by walls 305, 306, 332 and 365, the other bounded by walls 365, 306, 332 and 366).  Based upon the appearance of the walls, it seems that walls 305, 365 and 366 all abut wall 306, which leads us to believe that wall 306 should be no later than contemporary with walls 365 and 366, i.e. wall 306 should be dated no later than Late Byzantine, last quarter of the 12th century CE.  Circumstantially, it also seems appropriate to tentatively date wall 305 as contemporary to walls 306, 365 and 332, since these four walls together form a room.  It should be noted, however, that no contexts have yet been found inside this room that can be dated to the Late Byzantine period.; ; An area that will need further examination is that revealed beneath deposit 325, a tile filled destruction layer that directly overlaid a floor in the SE corner of the excavation.  The floor ran up to wall 316 to the W and 311 to the E.  There are no securely dated deposits of the Late Byz. In this area but for 325 (see below), which may turn out to be Frankish after the floor is excavated.  It is likely, however, that both wall 316 and 325 were constructed in the Byzantine Period.  More excavation is needed.; ; One other context was excavated that was datable by pottery to the Byzantine period.  A pit (cut =386), filled by context 385, was a small pit cut into the silty layer of natural deposition that seems to have lain over all of Nezi field (both the 2007 area of excavation and that which we excavated in 2008).  While its pottery does date to the Byzantine period, we believe this is impossible stratigraphically.  Since the pottery recovered from this pit comprises a total of only four coarseware sherds, we interpret the cutting of this pit as an activity much later than the Byzantine period.  The digging and filling of this pit will be able to be more accurately dated when the surrounding fill it cuts is excavated.; ; FRANKISH (1210-1458 CE); ; A multitude of various contexts seem to indicate that Nezi Field was the site of sustained activity during the Frankish period.; ; One distinct area of Frankish activity can be reconstructed in the southwestern area of Nezi field.  Discussed above was a tentatively dated Late Byzantine room bounded by walls 305, 306, 365 and 332.  Excavation of a later floor partially bounded by the limits of this room, fills underneath this floor, and a trench cut for the partial robbing of wall 305 allow us to speculate on the usage of this area during the Frankish period.  Floor 374, which lay partially directly beneath a layer of silty natural deposit (=301) and partially below a small extent of patchy surface(277) datable to the 13th century AD (npd), was bounded by walls 305 and 306 to the south and west, but overlay walls 332 and 365 to the north.  The pottery associated with floor 374 is datable to the early 13th century CE, perhaps around 1230.  Thus, we interpret this floor as part of an early Frankish partial re-usage of the earlier Late Byzantine room.  The contexts below floor 374, however, are somewhat problematic in their pottery dates.  There was some discussion in the field as to whether this context was truly a floor, however, since it was such a hard surface of relatively uniform clayey matrix with 3 small pits were dug into its surface (350, 353, 356) it seems likely that our interpretation of its being a floor is correct. ; ; Two of the three contexts excavated below floor 374 are consistent with our interpretation of the phasing of this part of the site; fill 387 dates to the second quarter of the 13th century, and the patch of red surface excavated as context 378 has a pottery date of early 13th century.  The other (389), however, has been dated by pottery to anywhere between 1250-1340.  Thus, our pottery here is somehow contaminated, the dating of the pottery needs to be re-evaluated, the construction of the floor needs to be pushed back to after 1250, or our entire interpretation needs to be rethought.  It seems that, when floor 374 was put in, the original northern and eastern boundaries of the room (walls 365 and 332) were built over, thus creating a larger space bounded to the west and south by walls 306 and 305.  The northern and western boundaries of this early Frankish space, however, are indeterminate, since floor 374 was not bounded by any visible structures to the north or west.  Cut into floor 374 were a series of three small pits, all placed just north of wall 305 and running along its bearing E-W.  These pits (352, 354 and 357) were all quite shallow, and their fills (350, 353, 356) gave no precise clues about their purpose.  We tentatively interpret these as small garbage pits cut into floor 374, but their alignment along the line of wall 305 does suggest the possibility that these may have been post holes used in the support of some structure for which we have no other evidence.  Unfortunately, the pottery from two of the three pits was lost during a particularly windy day at the pot sheds, and the third did not contain pottery that gave a definitive date. In the second half of the 13th century, wall 305 was partially robbed out by cut 304.  This cut had two distinct fills, 303 and 381, the first of which is datable by pottery to the third quarter of the 13th century, and the second less precisely to the second half of the 13th century.  Our interpretation, based upon stratigraphy and pottery dates, is that wall 305 was partially robbed out after floor 374 fell out of use.; ; The other room discussed above, bounded by walls 365, 306, 366 and 332, has no Frankish floors.  Above 408 and 424 we found two distinct Frankish fills.  331, which has a pottery date of early fourteenth century (?) overlaid 360, which has a pottery date of second quarter of the 13th century.  Below 360 was uncovered wall 332, the eastern wall of our putative Late Byzantine room; this again points to a discontinuance of usage of this room in the Frankish period.  Also below 331 was fill 368, which was of indeterminate Frankish date.  Cut into fill 368 was pit 431, whose fills (336 = 338) date to the mid thirteenth century.  At the bottom of this pit, we discovered a well or cistern head (346), which had pottery datable the second quarter of the 13th century associated with.  It is unclear to what period this structure 346 should date.  A linear stone feature only partially exposed this season may be a stone built drain that is running roughly N-S up to the mouth of the structure – this may suggest it is a cistern rather than a well.; ; Another area where we see Frankish activity is in the area bounded by wall 313 to the east and 332 to the west.  Fill 394, bounded on either side by these two walls, was the lowest context we removed from this area; its pottery date is Frankish, first half of the 13th century.  Below this fill, we came down onto a reddish clay floor, which ran all the way from wall 313 to wall 332, and further to the northwest in a strip that runs along the eastern edge of wall 332. This floor is truncated in the south by pit 310, so we are unable to know its southern boundary.  Its northern boundary is unclear, as it seems to be disturbed to the north by fill 398 (datable by pottery to the second half of the thirteenth century), although we cannot find a cutting at the interface of the two fills, so we cannot explain the disturbance as another pit.  We believe further excavation in this area will reveal more information about the limits and usage of this space, but it does seem clear that we are dealing with some sort of built space in usa before the middle of the thirteenth century CE.  This unexcavated floor upon which fill 394 sits is thus likely either early Frankish or Late Byzantine, and is bounded by both walls 313 and 332. ; ; Above fill 394, we excavated what we interpreted as a rough surface (358), the pottery date of which was also first half of the 13th century.  Above surface 358, we excavated other Frankish contexts: 340 and 344 were rough surfaces dating to the first quarter of the 13th century, and 348 was a lens of blackish fill, whose date is unfortunately unknown due to an accidental post-excavation contamination of the pottery collected with the context.  Directly overlying surface 340 and surface 358 was context 280, dating to the last quarter of the 13th century and abutting a small semi-circular structure (283).  At the SE corner of 280 a small ash deposit (281) and its underlying debris (284), date to the Late Frankish period. The fill inside the semicircular structure, which was directly to the W of the small ashy deposit but not abutting it, dated to the late 13th century, while the fill beneath it (deposit 288) dated to 1280 +/-10 years.  All of these contexts seem to post-date the usage of wall 332, since surface 358 and fill 348 partially covered wall 332.  In contrast, both surfaces 340 and 350 abutted wall 313, leading us to believe that wall 313 was in use when these surfaces were constructed and used.  The southern boundary of surface 358 was cut by pit 310.  The fill of this pit (308) has a pottery date of second quarter of the thirteenth century.  Pit 310, however, is later, and should post-date the usage of surfaces 358 and 340, since pit 310 also cuts fill 302 (=314), which has a pottery date of the last quarter of the 13th century.  Thus, in this area, we believe we have evidence of Frankish activity (340, 348, 350, 394) from the first half of the 13th century, which included a re-use of wall 313.  The cutting of pit 310 sometime during or after the last quarter of the 13th century may indicate a terminus ante quem for the destruction or abandonment period of this space.; ; Directly south of this area, just west of and over top of wall 316, we discovered more evidence of Frankish activity in Nezi Field.  Of Frankish contexts, we found here only fill or destruction levels, i.e. no contexts directly associated with usage periods.  328 was the earliest context we uncovered here; this fill sat directly on top of courses of stone foundations for two walls, 316 and 305.  The pottery date of 328 is the first half of the 13th century.  On top of this fill, we seem to have encountered destruction debris, which was excavated as contexts 285, 287 and 321.  These contexts were full of tiles and large boulders, which we speculate may have fallen from wall 316 or been dumped here upon the collapse of some other structure(s).  The pottery of this destruction debris dates to the second half of the 13th century.  Context 318 was laid on top of 328, and seems to be a small lens of dumped fill; its pottery date is third quarter of the thirteenth century, and may be related to some sort of post-destruction/abandonment leveling activity.  Context 289 overlaid all of these fills, and is the last deposit of Frankish date in this area; its pottery date is also third quarter of the 13th century.  It is interesting to note that the deposition of 328 on top of the foundations of walls 316 and 305 (pottery date = second half of the 13th century) post-dates the pottery dates of surfaces 340 and 358 to the N (pottery dates = first half of the thirteenth century); perhaps the abrupt truncation of these surfaces, as well as the surface below context 394, is related to the destruction of the superstructures of walls 305 and 316?; ; One of the main goals of excavation in the eastern area of Nezi field (E of robbing trench B54, wall 313, and wall 313) was to remove the overlying contexts of a very large Boney Ashy Layer (BAL).  This deposit is cut by the apsidal structure and underlies much of the Frankish/Late Byzantine deposits in the area.  It was revealed beneath deposits 432, 407, 373, 364, 355, 359, and parts of floor 337 in the northern/central area of Nezi field.  Further excavation is needed to precisely identify the limits of the BAL which will certainly be an excavation priority in 2009. ;  ; Directly E of wall 316 no part of the BAL was uncovered, but there were several areas of Frankish activity.  The most notable are the fills above and around the late Byzantine tile filled destruction debris of 325, which sat atop a floor that extended up to wall 316 at its NE corner, bordered by wall 299, pit cuts 290, and 310 to the N, and the edge of the excavated area to the E and S.   This area also has several natural deposits dating to the Late Byzantine period but their dates are tenuous and could change with further excavation (see above).  ; ; Wall 399, projecting from the eastern edge of excavation, must date to the Frankish period or later, as deposit 375, which dates to the 2nd ¼ of the 13th century, runs beneath it to the S, and possibly the BAL to the N.  Other than the terminus post quem for wall 299, dates for most of the deposits in this part of the site are difficult to fix precisely. The cobble fill of 375 was cut by pit 297 and its fill 292, which dates to the last ¼ of the 13th century or later, as well as pit 293, filled by 291.  Above 375 was a series of fills also dating to the 13th century: 309, 296, and 294.  In this area, however, E of wall 311 several late Byzantine deposits were also uncovered in very close proximity to the Frankish material: deposit 384 also goes beneath wall 299, 380 is bordered by wall 311 to the W and cut by pit 297 to the E, 382 sits directly against the S portion of wall 311, 383 is a small red patch perhaps related to the floor beneath 325, and 388 is an erosional fill that continues into the eastern edge of excavation. Of these Byzantine deposits it is 388 that is best dated, as it had a moderate amount of pottery dating to the 2nd ¼ of the 12th century.  ; ; Just to the S and W of wall 311 deposits continued to be of various dates, with 377 dating to 13th century and 379 abutting it, dating to the 12th.  Deposit 312, which runs into the southern edge of excavation, overlaid deposits 379 (Late Byz.) and 323/322 (Frankish).  The entire area should be clarified when the clay floor revealed beneath 325, 300, and 390 is excavated.  Overall most deposits were small and did not provide much evidence indicating precise dates.  As 375, the largest and most securely dated (2nd ¼ of the 13th century), sat directly above 388, it is likely that all of these small fills and depositional layers date to the Frankish period.  ; ; What does seem clear, however, is that the area E of and abutting wall 316, was disturbed in the Frankish period. The loose rocks of deposit 300, which dates to the early 14th century, were revealed by the bulldozer and sat directly upon the floor mostly revealed beneath 325.  The large context 302/314 overlaid 325 in parts but also ran up to the missing eastern section of wall 316 and dates to the 4th ¼ of the 13th century.  Indeed all contexts abutting the E section of wall 316 date to the Frankish period (307, robbing trench 315/319, 317, 320, 322, and 324) except for 325.; ; A Frankish pit, 286/290 was sunk through both the floor revealed under 325 and the silty fill of 302. The upper fill of this pit (286) should then date no earlier than 302, or the 4th ¼ of the 13th century.   Pit 290 was not completely excavated, however, and its interpretation may change when the bottom layers of fill are examined.  Just to the east of 290 is pit 310 (see above).  Between these two pits (and cut by them) were fills 326 and 327, both dating to the Frankish period.  At the northern edge of 290 parts of a wall are visible running E-W.  This wall had parts of floor 337, inside the apsidal building, running over it.  It seems clear that after the floor beneath 325 was covered in destruction collapse a long period of deposition and natural processes affected the area.  As there is no robbing or foundation trench yet identified for wall 316, the debris and fills over and to the E of the missing eastern half of the wall were most likely deposited after the wall was removed or collapsed.  More excavation is needed to determine this hypothesis.  To the E of wall 311 there are no surfaces and much of the material may have been due to natural processes (esp. 388) or a later leveling operation, perhaps associated with the BAL.  If the Late Byz. Pottery dates of deposits 380 and 382 prove correct then wall 311 must date no later than this, but more excavation is required.; ; Within a room of the apsidal structure bordered to the W by wall 313, the east by wall 334, and the N by wall 335, we excavated a floor (337) and a series of fills S of cut B71 from the 2007 excavations.  Above this floor a few contexts, 329, 330, and 333, must date to the Frankish period, as 337 contained pottery from the 2nd ¼ of the 13th century.  Floor 337 abutted wall 313 to the W, 335 to the N, and 334 to the E.  To the south pit 290 seems to have cut floor 337, as parts of the floor were visible resting atop the E-W wall at the N edge of the cut.  Just beneath floor 337, S of pit B191 (2007 excav.), more of the BAL was revealed along with a reddish layer that may go beneath it.  Wall 334 cuts through the BAL as can be seen in the scarp of robbing trench B216 (2007 excav.).  E of pit B191 and W of wall 334 a series of fills produced a mixture of dates.  Just beneath the floor and over the BAL, fills 359 and 355 yielded a Late Byzantine date for their pottery. However, 339 and 341 abutting them in the NE corner, while containing only late Byzantine pottery, were stratigraphically later than 351, which dated to the 2nd ½ of the 13th century.  Therefore 339 and 341 must be Frankish. The same can be said for 342, which overlies wall 347, but 343 rests against this wall and dates to the Frankish period.  Deposits 345 and 349, furthermore, rest partly over 343, and thereby date to Frankish times.  ; ; All other deposits in this area, 361, 362, 363, 364, 367, 369, 372, and 373 are small and insecure regarding their dates.  Surfaces 361, 363 and 367 may have been misinterpreted in the field as they seem to be part of a series of fills cut into the BAL rather than true surfaces.  Cut 370 was only identifiable when a red matrix was discovered beneath deposit 364 that seems to go beneath the BAL to the S.  The BAL, in addition, seems to be laying within some of this cut, namely, that to the W of the exposed area and beneath deposit 364.  More excavation is needed to clarify these relationships.; ; Between the N edge of the apsidal structure and the baulk left by the 1936 excavations at the extreme N edge of Nezi field, a pit (cut 430), a series of destruction debris layers, possible natural deposits, and floors were excavated around wall 420.  Pit cut 430 was sunk into part of wall 420 and probably dates to the Frankish period, though it has not been completely excavated.  From this pit we removed 9 layers of fill that followed a pattern of a central slumping in the central portion (in this case extending to the southern edge) and a softer lens draping over the harder central cone.  A hard clayey layer was left at a higher elevation when excavation ceased.  The harder central cone slump consisted of contexts, 427, 423, 422, 421 (which was pure clay), and 418.  The softer strata around these included possibly 428, although parts of 427 seemed to overlie it, 419, and 417. The top layer of fill within pit 430 was 416.  To reveal the cut of this pit several layers had to be taken off (412, 414) and around (415) wall 420.  These were of firm to hard compaction and possibly related to the destruction debris to the N as they were composed mainly of clay and degraded mudbrick. They might be the result of weathering of the walls in this area – the building material being washed off the walls and pooling on the surface below.  ; ; Excavation N of wall 420 began with an obvious destruction layer intermingled with clay slumping and erosional deposition from a structure that we were not able to identify.  Above the tile layer 395 several clay fills (391,393) and some erosional debris (392) were removed, all dating to the 2nd ¼ of the 13th century.  395 was bordered to the south by a much disturbed robbing trench, 396, revealed in 2007.  Some of the tiles associated with 295 were visible in the bottom of robbing trench 396.  It was clear that there was a series of overlying phases of destruction.  S of 395, deposit 397 also represents a tile destruction layer that was visible in robbing trench 396, but its pottery dated to the Late Byz. Period.  Deposits in the area that are stratigraphically earlier than 397, however, provide Frankish dates.  These include 399, 400, 404, and 402 (another tile collapse).  The earliest of these, 402, dated from the late 12th to the mid 13th century. Cleaning E and N of wall 420, deposit 403, also yielded a date in the mid 13th century.  Beneath 395 a small patch of soil, 413, at a higher elevation than the Frankish layers around it, dated to the late Byzantine period but with very little pottery.  It will most likely be dated to the Frankish period after further excavations needed to fully decipher this area and its relation to the BAL are carried out.; ; Near the E edge of robbing trench B54 (2007 excav.) and the N limits of Nezi field, what may be either floor surfaces or erosional debris were revealed.  These contexts (425=433) were the same fully rounded pebble mixture with a few boulders projecting above their strosis.  There is no structure associated with the surface so it may be erosional.  Whatever the case, 433/425 dates to the 1st ¼ of the 13th century and so the stratigraphically later fills in the area, 404, 405, 406, 409, and 410 must all be after this date.; ; South of wall 420  deposit 432, which abuts the wall and sits directly on a portion of the BAL, dated to the 2nd ½ of the 13th century.  To the E, N, and overlying parts of 420, deposit 429 was ceramically dated to the 12th century but not precisely datable.  It stands to reason, then, that 429 should be re-dated to after 432 and is therefore Frankish.; The only deposit that cannot be proven Frankish at this time is 407, just NE of the apsidal structure.  This sat directly upon the BAL and will need further investigation before a precise date can be given.  The fact that 375 ran beneath wall 299 in the S edge of the trench, however, that the BAL seems to run up against the N face of 299, and that the cleaning pass of the BAL, 267, yielded a Frankish date, strongly suggests that the BAL is Frankish.  If this is correct 407 would need to be dated to the Frankish period.  More excavation is needed.; ; NATURAL DEPOSIT:  POST-FRANKISH TO EARLY MODERN; ; Above the various Frankish levels uncovered in Nezi field during the 2008 excavation season, we encountered throughout the area thick silty deposits that consistently contained pottery of various time periods.  Our current interpretation of all these contexts is that they are natural deposits created by the erosion of soil from further uphill over the course of hundreds of years.  Implied in this interpretation is that in these areas of Nezi Field, very little non-agricultural activity occurred between the end of the Frankish and beginning of the Early Modern periods.  We dealt with these deposits on an ad hoc basis, not fully realizing with what we were dealing until near the very end of the season.  Some were removed as cleaning contexts (e.g. 264 and 267), while others were excavated more carefully and are entered into to our Harris matrix (=257, 260, 262, 273, 278, 301, 371, 401, 411).  As a consequence of the random nature of these deposits, the pottery dates from context to context can vary widely, e.g. 371 has a pottery date of 12th century CE, 411 of Ottoman II, and 257 of 19th century CE.  ; ; EARLY MODERN; ; In the northern portion of the excavation area, the earliest feature is a pit (Context 248), which cut 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. AB and CG dug one lense of fill in this pit (247), which was early 20th century CE according to its pottery date.  We dug three more lenses of fill in this pit (249, 251 and 252), two of which had pottery dates of Early Modern, and one of which had a pottery date of Frankish.  We discontinued excavation in this pit, in large part because its northern edge had been disturbed during the course of the 1960’s excavations carried on North of Nezi Field.  We were not confident that we were digging in sequence, and we took the decision to delay excavation inside this pit until such time as the contexts surrounding it could be better defined, which did not happen during the 2008 season.  We support the original presumption of AB and CG that it seems likely that this pit 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). ; ; Sometime after pit 248 was cut a cementy fill layer, represented by contexts 250, 252, 265, and 274 was deposited, the pottery from which dated to the late 19th-early 20th centuries.  This cementy dumped fill layer was found in pit 248 and was also cut by the laying of the E-W wall 243.  Wall 243 is represented chronologically by its cuts, 272 for the E-W portion, and 276 for the N-S return.  The lower fills for the cuts, 268, 269, and 275 (the N return foundations), contained flecks of the cementy fill through which they were dug.  The foundation course, 266, was exposed during the beginning of the 2007 excavations while searching for the foundation trench.  Pottery from the foundation courses of wall 243 dates to the 1st ½ of 19th century, but as this wall cut through the cementy dumped fill it must date to the late 19th/early 20th century.  Sometime after the original construction of wall 243 a S return, 244, was added, but not bonded.  An aerial photograph from 1909 does not show the southern extension and the pottery dates to early modern NPD.  A more precise date is not attainable.; ; A water pipe, 258, cut 261, was punched through wall 243 sometime in the late 19th, early 20th century.  The sections of repair to the superstructure of wall 243, 253 for the superstructure, 254 cementy fill beneath 253, and 255 (concrete directly over water pipe 258), provide this date, as does the packing over the pipe to the S, 256, and the fills for the installation of the pipe (259 and 263).  Notably the silty fill in this area, 257, 260, and 262, through which the pipe was cut, also date to the early modern period (and so too that to the E of 243, deposit 273).  The pipe itself (258) brought water from somewhere S/SE of Nezi to the Giamboranis house, and extended from the N edge of the excavation area to the south as far as wall 306 (see above), which it overlaid for several meters.  North of wall 243 the pipe sat upon the cementy dumped fill (274), which also seemed to have been deposited over the pipe. Clearly the cementy dumped fill was too soft to preserve any sort of cutting.  53 sections of pipe are preserved varying in length from 0.30-0.36m. with a thick layer of lime incrustation inside.  Male ends were generally pointed north except for the portion in the repaired section of 243, where the pipe was deposited at a slightly higher elevation.  ; ; Beneath the cementy dumped fill and just N of wall 243 a small oval pit, cut 271 filled by 270, must predate the wall and the pipe.  Very little pottery in this pit emerged, but what did exist dated to late Frankish (late 13th) times.  The chronological relation of this pit to 248 is unclear at this time and needs further excavation.  ; ; One other area of early modern activity is 279, a small ashy deposit revealed by the bulldozer W of 313.  This patch was too small to suggest any conclusions with confidence.  ; ; CONCLUSIONS; ; While many of the walls uncovered in the 2008 excavation season will most likely prove to be of Late Byzantine or earlier date, there is little evidence of securely dated Pre-Frankish activity in the Nezi field.  In the western half of excavation, what appear to be three small rooms with shared cross-walls yielded a few Late Byzantine deposits but the period of construction or first use phases have not yet been revealed.  These rooms, bounded by N-S wall 306 to the W and 332 to the E, are divided by the E-W walls 366 in the N, 365, and 305 in the S.  On the last day of excavation what may be another wall appeared N of 366 that could prove to be part of the same complex.  Wall 376, which runs W of 306, is in line with wall 305 to the E and may prove to be another room of this structure.  It should be noted, however, that while several pre-Frankish fills were found inside these rooms (371, 408, 424) nothing unearthed conclusively indicated a Byzantine period of use.  ; ; To the E of wall 316 the only possible period of Late Byzantine activity is deposit 325 and the floor revealed beneath it and deposits 300, and 390.  This area may prove to be another Late Byzantine building, bordered by wall 316 to the W, 311 to the E, and the wall visible in the N face of pit cut 290 to the N (the edge of excavations limits our knowledge of any southern delineation.  Indeed north and on top of the wall in pit 290 was floor 337, which dated to the 2nd ¼ of the 13th Century.  Most of the SE area is heavily disturbed and eroded, however, with fills primarily dating to the Frankish period.  More excavation is needed.; ; In the central and north sections of Nezi field activity centered around trying to define the limits and relationships of surrounding contexts to the Boney Ashy Layer (BAL), which is visible inside, to the E, and to the N of the apsidal building.  The BAL may be part of a Frankish leveling operation across most of the E ½ of Nezi field.  A Frankish date is suggested for the BAL by deposit 375, a large fill layer at the SE edge of excavation that could be seen to run beneath the S face of wall 299.  The N face of 299 appears to have the BAL poured up against it.  A cleaning pass probing the limits of the BAL also yielded a Frankish date.  Notably the E wall of the apsidal structure, 334, cuts through the BAL, making everything contextually associated with this structure Frankish.  The floor and fills generally followed this rule, although many deposits beneath floor 337 north and east of pit B191 were small and insignificant, sometimes giving late Byzantine pottery dates.  Stratigraphically, however, this area should date to the Frankish Period.  One exception, which may well prove itself Byzantine, is cut 370, discovered beneath deposit 364, which itself was one of a series of disturbances into the BAL.  More excavation is needed.; ; Pursuing the N limit of the BAL led us to a series of destruction and fill layers N of wall 420.  These all can be tentatively dated to the Frankish Period, although a few small deposits did not have pottery past Late Byzantine.  Much tile and clay destruction collapse was removed near the Northern limits of Nezi field which extended S as far as wall 420.  The pit that removed part of 420, while not fully excavated, will probably prove Frankish as well, though this is by no means certain.  Running against the S face of 420 and sitting in part over the BAL was deposit 432, which dated to the late 13th century.  Although more excavation may show the BAL also present N of 420, a red layer beneath the E portion of 432 seems to go under the BAL, suggesting that perhaps wall 420 is the Northern limit.  Before excavating the BAL more excavation is needed to the N and E of 420, explorations should be carried out in the N room of the apsidal structure, and several patches to the E, left by the 2007 excavations, should be removed.  ; ; Evidence of modern activity came primarily from the NW corner of Nezi field and dates to the end of the 19th/early 20th century.  These included a wall and several pits cut through the silty erosional debris that was mostly removed by bulldozer to the S.  The E-W wall 243 was removed with its bonded N return and later, unbonded, S extension.  This wall 243 was cut through a layer of soft concrete fill (250) that sat above the silty debris and ran into pit 248.  Through this wall was punched a pipe (258) that was preserved running S as far as the possible Byzantine wall 306.  Another pit (271), shallow and with little pottery, was found beneath the concrete fill but the relationship of this pit to the larger 248 requires further excavation.","Report","Corinthia | Ancient Corinth | Central Area | Nezi Field"
"","","","","Corinth:Report:Nezi Field 2010 by Tully, John (2010-05-05 to 2010-05-21)","2010 Session II White Team Final Report: Area North of 1961 Byzantine House - west room and southwest corner","","Corinth","","","Nezi Field 2010 by Tully, John (2010-05-05 to 2010-05-21)","North of Nezi 2010; White Second Session Report (John Tully); ; The following summarizes the results of excavations in two areas north of Nezi field during the second session of the 2010 excavation season at Corinth. These areas were:; - the area bounded by coordinates 265.90-270.70 E, 1023.65-1028.00 N.  This was known as the 'West Room' in Yellow Third Session 2009, and was excavated from 5 May, 2010, until 14 May, 2010.  For consistency, this will here too be referred to as the West Room.; - the area bounded by coordinates 275.01-276.92 E, 1027.53-1028.88 N.  This was known as the southwest corner of the 'Well Room', the east room of the Byzantine house, in Blue First Session 2010, and was excavated from 14 May, 2010, until 20 May, 2010.  For consistency, this will here too be referred to as the Southwest corner.; Supervising these excavations were Guy Sanders (director) and Martin Wells (field director). The excavator was John Tully, with assistance from supervisors and workmen in the area.  ; The objective in the 'West Room' was to complete removal of all material occupation traces, focussing initially on the area under 6624, and, in particular, to trace any sign of a possible EW road or pathway in this area.  The objective in the Southwest Corner was to trace the ashy deposit noted by Blue Third Session 2010 on the south side of Wall 5631 as continuing under the wall, and to understand better the activity in the area.;  ; Conclusions:; 'West Room'; 6923, the large deposit of large Neolithic and Early Helladic Sherds excavated last, is strong evidence for Neolithic and Early Helladic settlement in this area. ; The juxtaposition of Early Helladic and Hellenistic layers supports previous hypotheses that this area was not a focus for the classical or archaic city.; The juxtaposition of Hellenistic and Byzantine layers provides further evidence for site reorganisation and cutting-back that occurred in this area in the Early Byzantine period.; No additional evidence for an EW road or pathway through this area was found beyond the probable E-W robbing trench of the southern side of the decumanus excavated in 2009.; ; The Southwest Corner; The stratigraphy in this area was disturbed owing to a tree in the SW corner, and prior excavation in the 1960s. 6972, as the deposit nearest the tree, may have been particularly affected.  Nevertheless, its ceramic date, if accepted, gives foundation trench 6704 and its associated wall 6421 a terminus post quem of 5th/6th AD.; The consistency of the dating of the deposits below 6972 excavated suggests that this area represents the results of a single dump c 225 BC.; ; Future Considerations; Excavation in both areas was prematurely terminated, before bedrock was reached, because of the low quantity of pottery being recovered.  As such, both might be productively explored.  In particular:; West Room; The area under the redeposited fill of 6887 might lead to a deeper understanding of Neolithic and Early Helladic activity in this area.; the Southwest Corner; The area under 7008 and foundation trench 6707 might be examined to investigate activity prior to the third quarter of the third century BC.; ; 'West Room'; The West Room was excavated in the 1960s by Lattimore and Berg (NB 229, p 180), but most recently in the second and third session 2009.  Our efforts in 2010 concentrated on completing the excavation started in 2009.  As such, it was a broad, shallow dig, with several isolated parts of the room being excavated for their traces of material occupation.; ; Early Helladic and Neolithic Occupation; Most Early Helladic and Neolithic material found in this area was found in Hellenistic layers, and small, consistent with being redeposited colluvium washed down from Acrocorinth.  6923, however, was a thick, compact layer, and contained only Neolithic and Early Helladic sherds up to Early Helladic II, suggesting that this was not redeposited.; ; Hellenistic occupation; Most evidence of occupation found was Hellenistic, in layers also containing much redeposited Neolithic and Early Helladic material.  This was primarily found in the higher area to the north of the room under stone structure 6853: 6849 (2nd quarter 3rd BC), 6863 (3rd BC), 6870 (mid 3rd BC), 6875 (1st half 3rd BC), 6887 (3rd BC).  ; The juxtaposition of Byzantine and Hellenistic layers supports theories of post-Roman clearing and site reorganisation in this area.  ; The absence of archaic and classical material from these redepositions perhaps supports the notion that this area was being newly occupied in this period, with the focus of the earlier city elsewhere, further to the north.  Alternatively, this may also reflect significant site reorganisation and clearing in the early Hellenistic period.; ; Roman occupation; Roman occupation has previously been traced in this room, eg, in 6673 (1st/2nd AD), the robbing trench to the west of the western bothros.  The only additional evidence discovered for Roman activity this year was robbing trench 6893 for wall 6157, previously identified on the excavation of cut 6380 as context 6381.  Fill 6894 dated this to the late 1st BC/early 1st AD.  It is noteworthy that both of these actions are fills for robbing trenches, and that both are at a lower elevation than the layers dated ceramically to the Hellenistic period (6649 and below).  The Roman floor level, if such there was, would thus most likely have been at a higher level, one not here present quite possibly because of post-Roman clearing of the site, rather than because of lack of occupation. ; ; Byzantine occupation; Much previous evidence for Byzantine activity had already been identified in previous years in this room, down to the late 10th/11th centuries (6646).  Only two further such traces were found in this excavation. ; A feature of seven stones in two rows (6853) was revealed in 2009 by the excavation of 6624 (11th AD NPD).  6868, the fill on which the stones sat, was ceramically Byzantine (NPD), but contained a coin of Romanus I (931-944), indicating that the structure was likely constructed and in use in the Middle Byzantine period, a date also in keeping with that of 6624.  This was the only structure excavated or revealed this year.; Deposit 6903, a fill of Byzantine date (NPD), filled cut 6904, a thin cut of the southeast corner of the higher area in the northern part of the room.  Only a small section of this cut survives, as it was itself cut by cut 6665 (filled by deposit 6676: late 12th/early 13th), excavated in 2009.  Nevertheless, the profile of 6904 suggests a pit rather than a robbing trench.  In addition, the looser soil forming 6903 was only identified after excavation of 6875, a context of Hellenistic date.  As the edge of the higher area slanted here, it is possible that 6904 did not cut 6675 (1st half 3rd BC).  Alternatively, we may have missed 6904 when excavating 6675.  In 2009, the excavators believed that cut 6665, a robbing trench filled by deposit 6676 (late 12th/early 13th), cut the layer we this year excavated as 6875.  If correct, this would suggest we did miss the cut at a higher level.  Alternatively, they may have failed to notice 6904, which was very slender.; ; Southwest Corner; This area was last excavated by Marty Wells and Rob Nichols, Blue First Session 2010.   In exploring the room, they unearthed wall 6421 restricting access to the southwest corner, and excavated its foundation trench (6704: Late Roman/mid-Byzantine).  We returned to learn more about earlier activity in this area.  Excavations were complicated by a tree in the southwest corner of the room, where walls 54 and 5651 meet. This could not be removed as it was structural, and might imperil them.  Its roots had caused some disturbance to the stratigraphy.; ; Hellenistic occupation; Bar 6972, all activity was dated to the 3rd BC, and involved a large dumped fill in several layers.  These layers extended under the walls, and were disrupted by root activity from a tree in the southwestern corner of the area.  Hence, each was taken as multiple contexts.  There was a significant number of joins not just between contexts forming the same layer, however, but between layers, including between 6993 and 7008, and 6888 and 6993.  This may be owing to root activity.  Alternatively, given the close dating of the contexts, all to the 3rd century BC (2nd half, 2nd quarter, 3rd quarter, or 225 BC +/- 10 years), we might argue that the fill represents stages of a single dumping or clearance operation.  In favour of this may be that all deposits sloped to the NE, suggesting they were all dumped from the same direction.; ; Late Roman activity; 6972, a small patch of fill dated to the 5th/6th AD, was the only additional evidence of late Roman activity found in this area.  It is also the latest layer cut by 6706, the foundation trench for wall 6421.  As such, it confirms the late Roman/mid Byzantine date ascribed that trench, and wall.","Report","Corinthia | Ancient Corinth | Central Area | Nezi Field"
"","","","","Corinth:Report:Nezi Field 2013 by Grace Erny and Emily Joy (2013-06-22 to 2013-06-23)","Session 3, 2013, Pink Team, Nezi Field North","","Corinth","","","Nezi Field 2013 by Grace Erny and Emily Joy (2013-06-22 to 2013-06-23)","Nezi 2013 Season; Session 3 Final Report; Grace Erny and Emily Joy ; N 1005.89 – 1022.92; E 255.66 – 271.22; 27 May – 21 June 2013; ; This is the final report for the third session of excavation at Nezi, 2013.  Guy Sanders (director) and Rossana Valente (field director) supervised.  The Pink excavation team for this session consisted of Grace Erny and Emily Joy (recorders) and Panos Kakouros (pickman).  The first ten days of excavation focused briefly on the area south of wall w35 and east of wall 5218, then moved north and east into the area south of wall 5484 and east of wall 1154.  Previous excavation in this area was undertaken during the 2007 season. Our excavation goals for this area included clarifying the relationships between the various walls and surfaces present there.  In the final six days of excavation, we moved south in Nezi field to work in the area west of Wall 1222. This area is bounded to the north by a foundation trench for the Late Byzantine Wall 1087 (C809), and to the south and the west by unexcavated scarps. As we excavated the deposits west of 1222, the Blue team continued to work to the east of the wall.  By digging in this area, we hoped to determine the extent and possible construction date of wall 1222, to compare the finds from the area west of the wall to the finds from the area east of it, and to ascertain whether the pebble mosaic floor uncovered in situ by the Blue team roughly 0.5 m east of the north end of wall 1222 continued below this wall to the west.  It was also suggested that excavations in this area might encounter a continuation of the tile-rich dump deposit 1080 excavated during Session 1 of the 2013 season, which yielded much Late Roman pottery, including several rare forms, and many coins.; ; The two areas in which we excavated in this session are far apart, and since we did not dig the contexts in between them we will present the two areas separately in this report.  ; ; Area 1:  27 May – 7 June (N 1015.44 – 1022.92; E 266.44 – 271.22); ; The number of walls, floor-like surfaces of hard-packed earth, and fill deposits in this area suggests that it was an interior space, likely residential. It appears to have served this function from the Early Roman period through the Late Roman period and to have undergone a destruction and several fill operations and reconfigurations within that time.; ; Early Roman, ca. 1st c. BCE – early 2nd c. CE; ; In the Early or Middle Roman period, probably in the second century BCE or earlier (based on the pottery dates from the fill dumped on top of it), a floor of hard-packed, grayish, clay-rich earth (structure 1191) was in use in the area.  Two walls, wall 1154 (N 1020.04-1020.43, E 268.32-268.89, orientation NW-SE, constructed with a mixture of roughly hewn and squared limestone blocks bonded with mud) and wall 1213 (N 1020.07-1020.64, E 270.14-271.09, orientation E-W, constructed similarly to 1154 with the addition of roof tiles) were in use at the same time as this floor, which extends directly up to them with no cuts for foundation trenches visible.  These two walls may have formed part of a room at this point, with a space left for an entryway between the east face of 1154 and the western end of 1213. Wall 5435 and wall 5218 prevented us from digging further to the north and east, confirming the extent of the floor.  Floor 1191 probably continued south through the putative entryway between 1154 and 1213, possibly into another room to the south, although the presence of the later Roman wall 1155 makes this difficult to determine.  Excavations directly south of wall 1155 and 1213 in the western part of deposit 1199 descended upon a hard-packed surface with a similar composition and elevation to 1191.  The hypothesis that this surface is a continuation of floor 1191 is supported by the presence of patches of charcoal and ash directly above both surfaces.  These ash and charcoal deposits do not have clear edges and do not contain enough material to constitute hearths.  Rather, they seem to be the remains of small, localized, one-time events, perhaps related to cooking.  At some point during the floor’s use, pockets of tiny (approximately 0.001 m) greenish-brown seeds collected on top of it (at the bottom of deposit 1199).  This material may also indicate food preparation activities in this area, although an identification of the seeds by an archaeobotanist would be helpful for interpretation here.  ; ; One squared limestone block of wall 1213 has a rectangular groove (length 0.08 m, width 0.02 m, depth 0.04 m) incised on its upper surface.  The block appears to be in secondary use here, and it is possible that the groove was originally used to support a stele with a tongue at its base.  The presence of such a block is consistent with evidence for Hellenistic cult activity in the vicinity.; ; Middle Roman, ca. 2nd - 4th c. CE; ; In the Middle Roman period, this area saw much activity, including multiple fill operations and a destruction.  In the potential room bounded by wall 1154 to the west and wall 1213 to the south, floor 1191 went out of use as material was dumped on top of it. This material was deposited in two discrete events.  The deposit laying directly against wall 1154 in the western half of the area (context 1151) was rich in crushed mudbrick and large broken pieces of roof tile mixed together.  The soil here was quite red, a common effect of mudbrick being exposed to heat, and contained inclusions of charcoal.  These observations suggest that a destruction occurred here, possibly involving the partial burning of a building.  Similar deposits containing high proportions of mudbrick and rooftiles were excavated directly above context 1151 in 2007 (B5069, B5082) and reportedly did not extend further west than the east face of wall 1154, which implies that the putative destruction postdates wall 1154.  ; ; The deposit to the east of this destruction (context 1169), by contrast, contained almost no mudbrick, and the roof tile pieces present were less numerous and smaller.  One notable find from context 1169 was a fragment of furnace brick with some bronze adhering to it, which suggests that bronze production was occurring in this area during or before the Middle Roman period.  The deposit directly above 1169 was also excavated in 2007 (B5070) and consisted of a clayey surface identified by the excavators as a possible floor and dated by  them to the second half of the 3rd century, presumably based on pottery.  1169 is likely leveling fill which was dumped into the area as a preparation for this surface.  The pottery from this context, which was dated to the 2nd c. npd, supports this interpretation.; ; It is difficult to reconstruct whether the leveling operation or the destruction event occurred first.  Both of them were dumped directly on top of floor 1191.  The large fragments of tile, however, became somewhat scarcer towards the bottom of the destruction deposit 1151, although the change was not dramatic enough to warrant a change of context.  Neither we nor the previous excavators noticed an extension of the putative floor 5070 into the western half of the area, which seems odd given that there is no evidence for a wall or other boundary that might curtail its westward extent.  One possibility is that the surface 5070 originally extended as far west as wall 1154, and then the destruction occurred sometime after the floor’s construction in the late 3rd century.  This event then destroyed the western part of this surface, which would mean that deposit 1151 would postdate both 5070 and the leveling fill 1169 below it.  Ceramic evidence support this interpretation, as the pottery recovered from the destruction (1151) was dated to the Middle to Late Roman period, is later than the 2nd century pottery date assigned to the leveling fill (1169).  A carved gemstone depicting Aphrodite Hoplismeni (MF 2013-13) was also recovered from 1151. Although we dated it on the basis of comparanda to the Early Roman period (1st-2nd c. CE), a valuable or heirloom item such as this may have been kept for a long time and does not necessarily imply a date this early for the entire context.; ; This destruction event seems to have prompted a reconfiguration of space in the area in the later part of the Middle Roman period.  To the south of wall 1213, at least two pebble-rich, hard packed, slightly uneven surfaces were in use sometime before the 4th century CE, but after floor 1191 went out of use.  One overlays the other, but their similar compositions and elevations suggest that they may have been used at roughly the same time and perhaps represent repairs to the same surface.  Time constraints prevented us from excavating these putative floors and gaining a better understanding of their stratigraphic relationships to each other and the surrounding walls, but they are shown on the bottom plan for context 1199 and are labeled as Floors 1 and 2.   ; ; In the 4th century, these two surfaces went out of use as more fill (deposit 1199) was dumped on top of them, possibly as preparation for a later floor.  Wall 1213 also went out of use at this time as it was covered by the same fill. This fill contained much redeposited earlier material, including Early Roman redwares and relief lamps (all Broneer type 22; see in particular L 2013-5), Hellenistic and 4th century BCE loomweights, and several earlier figurines (MF 2013-22, probably Early Roman, and MF 2013-15, possibly 4th century BCE).  Stone tesserae and large quantities of painted wall plaster were also present in this fill, probably from earlier Roman domestic or semi-public spaces in the area.  ; ; After this fill operation was performed, wall 1155 (N 1020.24-1020.56, E 268.90-270.09, orientation E-W, constructed with limestone, roof tiles and pebble conglomerate bonded with mud) was constructed along the same line as but at a higher elevation than the earlier wall 1213.  Wall 1155 abuts wall 1154 at its western end but stops at the east with a large squared limestone block (height 0.90 m, top surface 0.50 m x 0.40 m).  This block possibly delineated the western edge of a point of entrance into an interior space bounded by wall 1154 to the west and wall 1155 to the south.  ; ; The area south of wall w35 and east of wall 5218 also appears to have been in use in the Middle Roman period, when a series of floors was constructed in the area.  Deposit 1148 was comprised of areas of looser, sandier soil alternating with compact, flat layers of more clayey soil, which we interpreted as several layers of flooring with patches of crushed mudbrick fill in between.  Pottery from this deposit supports a Middle Roman date. The boundaries between these successive floors were difficult to distinguish, and they were likely laid down roughly contemporaneously as part of repair operations in an interior space.  A shallow carbon and ash-rich deposit (1147) was laid on top of this series of surfaces and was probably in use at roughly the same time, but it did not appear to be a proper hearth, and the area was probably only sporadically used for burning. ; ; Late Roman, ca. 5th c. CE; ; A new floor (1142) was laid over the series of Middle Roman floors sometime in the 5th century (based on pottery dates).  Both this floor and 1199 were cut by a robbing trench, which was cut by a pit.  The fill of the trench and pit were dug in 2007 (B5151 and B5152 for the trench and B5148 and B5150 for the pit) and yielded very mixed pottery dates, ranging from Hellenistic to 5th century CE.  This may indicate that there were few pieces of definitive pottery from these fills and that stratigraphic dating would be more useful in establishing a chronology for this area.  Based on our current stratigraphy, both the trench and the pit should date to the 5th century or later.; ; Suggestions for future excavators; ; Two future plans for excavation in this area spring to mind.  The first of these would be to continue digging in the area exposed by the excavation of the fill deposit 1199, where four different contexts (three surfaces and one deposit) are now visible.  We did not assign context numbers to these four contexts since we were unable to dig them at this time, but the bottom plan for context 1199 shows their elevations and locations.  Excavating the later two surfaces would help to clarify their extent and exactly when they were in use.  They could be compared to the series of Middle Roman surfaces (deposit 1148) that we excavated to the west of the robbing trench and might aid in an understanding of the relationship between the areas to the east and west of the robbing trench.  Removing these two surfaces would also allow us to see more clearly if the Early Roman floor 1191 does indeed continue south below wall 1155.  Another deposit, not a surface, was also exposed below the fill 1199.  It is at a lower elevation than floor 1191 and may constitute leveling fill for the floor, so digging in this area could help give a more secure stratigraphic date for the surface 1191.; ; Another place where further excavation could be useful is in the area west of the robbing trench.  Digging more here might clarify the relative construction dates of wall w35, which abuts and extends west of wall 1154, and wall 1155, which abuts and extends east of wall 1154.  We could also see if an earlier floor similar to 1191 exists in this area as well, which would help link the areas east and west of the trench and determine if they formed two halves of the same interior space in the Early, Middle, and Late Roman periods.; ; ; ; ; Area 2:  10 June – 17 June (N 1005.89 -1010.04; E 255.66 – 258.13); ; Late Roman, ca. 5th-6th century CE; ; In the fifth century, multiple dump fill operations took place in the area west of the Early to Middle Roman wall 1222 (for coordinates, construction, and dating of this wall, see the final report of the Session 3 Blue team, Kate Larson and Jon Meyer).  The first of these dump operations (deposit 1247, N 1009.25-1010.04, E 255.71-257.79, pottery Late Roman 5th century) was deposited on top of two hard-packed earth surfaces (further excavation would be needed to determine their date and function).  This dump was particularly rich in large pieces of broken roof tile.  Although the tile-rich fill extended all the way up to the west face of wall 1222, the Blue team reported no continuation of this fill east of the wall, and so the deposit was probably dumped over the western edge of wall 1222.  It may represent the southern edge of the tile-rich dump deposit 1080, which was excavated in Session 1 by Katherine Harrington and Jana Mokrišová.  If this is the case, then this fill layer was cut in the Late Byzantine period by the foundation trench for wall 1087 (cut C809).; ; Later in the fifth century (dated by ceramic evidence), more than 0.4 m of fill was dumped to the west of wall 1222 (deposit 1233, likely equivalent to deposits 1227 and 1248 excavated by the Larson and Meyer this session, which were on the east side and overlaying the north end of wall 1222).  This large dump operation probably took place in discrete smaller dump operations over a span of hours or days, which led to minor variations in color and composition throughout the deposit.  Many of the finds recovered from these fills were architectural or construction-related, including many broken roof tiles, pieces of pebble conglomerate flooring, rectangular bricks, painted wall plaster, brown-coat plaster, marble revetment, and a diamond-shaped brick of a type commonly used for flooring.  The presence of these materials may indicate that the fill operation was carried out in conjunction with other building projects in the area. Large pieces of slag, possibly from glass production or metal refinement, also imply that industrial activity was taking place in the environs in the Late Roman period or earlier.; ; At one point during the fill operation, a hard-packed earth surface (context 1236, N 1005.89-1007.44, E 256.85-257.61) was briefly in use in the southeastern part of this area.  It seems unlikely that it was a proper floor, as it was quite irregularly shaped and did not extend up to the west face of wall 1222.  Since the fill above and below it was very similar in composition and in date (Late Roman 5th century, based on pottery), this surface was probably a work surface that was used as a place from which to dump more material.  It could have become compacted through heavy foot traffic or after being exposed to the elements during a hiatus in the fill operation.  In any case, more fill was soon deposited on top of it (context 1226; see Larson and Meyer’s report for a description of the later 6th century fills in this area). ; ; What could have prompted so many filling operations?  There was clearly a need to raise the ground level in this area sometime during the 5th century.  As Larson and Meyer have proposed in their report, the fills may have been related to the construction or reconstruction of feature 742, a well or manhole.  We could find no evidence in previous notebooks of Late Roman surfaces constructed on top of these fills in our area, but this does not mean that such surfaces never existed – they may have been disturbed or disrupted by later Byzantine and medieval activity in the area.  ; ; Suggestions for future excavators; ; Time constraints prevented us from fully excavating all of the Late Roman dump fill in this area.  However, removing more of this fill would allow future excavators to determine the extent of the packed earth surfaces that we began to expose below deposits 1233 and 1247 and to ascertain whether these represent work surfaces or more permanent and earlier structures.  It would be interesting to see if the pebble and tile floors (probably of Early to Middle Roman date) that were exposed by Larson and Meyer on the east side of wall 1222 continue to the west of it.  Such information could tell us more about the use of space in this area before the fifth century dump operation.  Further excavation of the deposits laid against wall 1222 would also clarify the stratigraphy in this area and give a more precise idea of the date of the wall’s construction.","Report","Corinthia | Ancient Corinth | Central Area | Nezi Field"
"","","","","Corinth:Report:Nezi Field 2010 by Cameron Pearson and Lincoln Nemetz Carlson (2010-05-27 to 2010-05-28)","2010 Session II Blue Final Report: Well Room (A), Room south of Courtyard (B), and Room South of the Byzantine House ( C )","","Corinth","","","Nezi Field 2010 by Cameron Pearson and Lincoln Nemetz Carlson (2010-05-27 to 2010-05-28)","Corinth Excavations 2010 Session II; North of Nezi Room A; We, Cameron Pearson and Lincoln Nemetz Carlson, continued the excavation in the area north of Nezi opened by Rob Nichols and Martin Wells in the first excavation session of 2010. During the first week of the second session of the 2010 Corinth excavation season, May 4 – May 7 we excavated primarily in the northwest room of the Byzantine house—the ‘well room’ (6288)—bounded by walls 54, 5631, 6426, 10086, 10081, 10087, 55 and 6333 (E. 273.95-283.00; N. 1026.9-1034.78). Generally, current excavation in this area continues the work carried out during the 1960s by Henry Robinson (director) and William Berg III (supervisor).  Our objectives were to continue the work of the previous session and expose the drain structure 6727 in order to see if there was any evidence of a Roman north-south road in the area.; The following is a summary and interpretation of the first part of the second session of excavations. The director was Guy Sanders, the field director was Marty Wells, the pickmen were Thanasis Notis and Panos Stamatis, the shovelman and barrowman Sotiris Raftopoulos, and the dry sieve was operated by Iannis Senis ; Late Roman/Early Byzantine (300-801 CE); These layers are concentrated primarily in the center of the room in and around drain (structure 6827). In the Late Roman period, a sewer drain (structure 6827) was in existence, which has been dated to the late 4rd- 5th c. B.C.E. on pottery (6931, 6939, 6943) found between it and the cut for the drain (6737). It is oriented NW-SE, under the phases of the later Byzantine room and continued under wall 10086 to the east. It is unclear if it continued to the west. It is possible that it connected to the north-south drain associated with the Roman road east of room. The drain consisted of a combination of building materials: worked fieldstones, marble pavers and a collection of weathered and/or badly carved architectural members: two geison blocks, three half-columns cut lengthwise, and two unfluted (so far as is visible) cylindrical blocks, one with an offset empolium.  At some point the drain went out of use, and an extensive fill of re-deposited 8th c. material (6788) was deposited over it, followed by subsequent Middle Byzantine activity 6686 and 6682 in later periods.; Excavation west of the built part of the sewer revealed that there were no more covering slabs despite the walls of the drain curving southwest. The cylindrical rough-hewn block (not a column) with the offset empolium to the south was fully uncovered along with a badly carved half column and some worked fieldstones to the north.  They all lined the drain. It is unclear whether this part of the drain was ever covered or if it was robbed out at some point. One of the half columns was revealed lying near the bottom of the drain (cf.6867).; Based on the contexts (6931, 6939, 6943), between the drain (6827) and the cut (6737) the date of the drain’s construction is 4th-5th c. AD. It is unclear which roads or other drains it was connected to but it is likely linked with the unexcavated sewer next to the Roman road just above it to the east. It then goes out of use in the middle 6th -7th c. The top layer (6856) of the small mound that formed the western end of where the covering slabs had lain over the drain dates to the 7th c. but it could have fallen in from above as the slabs were not sealed by any means (the drain continued to the west but with no covering slabs). The rest of the fill  (6854, 6860, 6861), which was clearly from the wash inside the covered portion of dates to the middle of the 6th c.; One explanation for the different layers and types of soil inside the area where the drain was covered is that it was plugged up some time in the 7th c. The small mound toward the west of the covered area would have been created by the blocking. The half column found during the removal of the bottom fill (6867) for the drain (6827) could have served this purpose. The covering slabs to the west and any evidence of the dark silt (6854, 6861) not found outside of where the drain was covered (6832) would have been removed during this stopping up operation. The problem with this explanation is that there is no clear evidence that the soil (6867) at the bottom of the covered eastern section of the drain is earlier than the fill that hypothetically would have been used to fill up the western part (6832). Furthermore, in order for the stopping up theory to be validated, there would have be a good explanation as to why a century or two after its construction such trouble would be taken to plug it up.; A second idea is that the drain simply went out of use. However, this explanation has to account for why the soil in the covered portion of the drain contained layers of dark silt and wetter soil (6854, 6860, 6861), which were not found outside to the west (6832).  If it clogged up on its own there should be traces of this silt to the west as well. It is possible that the silt was removed while the covering slabs to the west were robbed out, perhaps in connection with the building of wall 6421 or its repair.; A third solution would have the drain simply never containing covering slabs to the west. James Herbst has suggested that there would have been a need for such drains to funnel out water before it flooded the forum to the south but it is doubtful that the drain would have been able to function without covering slabs. ; Of important note is that during a cleanup defining the edge of one of the Frankish piers (6841), a piece of Roman sculpture, most likely from a relief, was found. It consists of the right side of the face (S 2010).  ;  Conclusion; We have dated the drains (6827) construction (4th-5th c.) and the end of its use (7th c.) Notably, we did not find evidence for a Roman north-south road in or around the drain. It remains to be explained why the drain was built at such a late date. It if is associated with the road’s construction to the east it should be early (ca. 1st c.). For a clearer picture of why and for what purpose the drain was built at this time, comparanda from other Roman drains in Corinth will need to be studied. ; ; ; ; Corinth Excavations 2010 Room B; North of Nezi; We, Cameron Pearson and Lincoln Nemetz Carlson, continued the excavation in the area north of Nezi opened by Sarah Lima, Mark Hammond, and Kiersten Spongberg in session II 2009.  ; During the second week of the second session of the 2010 Corinth excavation season, May 10 – May 19 we excavated primarily in what we are calling Room B (the second room we dug this session which was called the East Room by the previous excavators) south of the courtyard in the Byzantine house— Bounded by walls 5403  to the south, 6300, 6027,  (threshold) 6285 to the east, 5483 to the west, and to the north 6267,  (threshold) 5671, and (foundation) 6245. Our objectives were to continue the work of the previous session and to search for any trace of a North-South Roman road. ; The following is a summary and interpretation of the second part of the second session of excavations. The director was Guy Sanders, the field director was Marty Wells, the pickmen were Thanasis Notis and Panos Stamatis, the shovelman and barrowman Sotiris Raftopoulos, and the dry sieve was operated by Iannis Senis.; Hellenistic 3rd Century; A series of ash pits were found in the southwest (6901, 6906, 6917) and one in the north (6924). All of these dated to the Hellenistic period with one late Roman contaminant in 6906 and three in 6926. Despite the contaminants, which probably entered these ash contexts because we mistakenly dug them before later contexts or due to overdigging, it seems most likely that in the Hellenistic period the whole area covered by Room B was an ash dump for some sort of industry. ; Late Roman 3rd C.; A large cut, as of yet undated, appears to run east-west through the center of the room. It could have been for a Roman wall along the south side of the east-west road. There is evidence for this cut in the rooms to the east and west of Room B. A small wall bit, most likely a foundation, (6968) might be what is left of the robbing out of this Roman east-west wall. The pottery on top of this wall bit (6968) dates to the 3rd c. AD (6966). Another possible small foundation for a wall (6937) runs north-south under wall 5403. The relationship between these two hypothetical wall foundations is unclear as they have not been excavated. We are also unsure if the tile dump 6916 is a structure at all (whether a furnace or another wall foundation?).  However, we can postulate that sometime from the 6th-8th c., the Roman wall was robbed out and filled with deposits 6967, and possibly 6982 and 6888 as well. Another problem left for future excavation is the relationship if any of wall 6933 to wall 6120. We had originally thought that wall 6120 was associated with paving stones 6190, which reached the wall. But since the Hellenistic ash is visible just below wall 6120 it is possible that this wall is earlier than the paving stones which are associated with threshold 5285 to the east, which the previous excavators had concluded was earlier than threshold 6261 on the north side of the room but has no precise date.   ; Conclusions; In Room B we hypothesize that a Hellenistic ash layer was probably cut for a wall of an east-west Roman road.  We exposed the cut which should be explored by the next team.  They should begin at the north west of the cut and try to decide what the relationship is between the cut and walls 6968 and 6933. We could not see evidence for the cut continuing on the area just east of wall 6933. There was a clear greenish layer passing form the western to the northern scarp of 6967, implying that the cut does not continue between walls 6933 and 6968. However, the paving stones at the bottom of fill 6967 appear to end at the northern edge of the cut, indicating that it does indeed continue along the lines of wall 6968 to the west. Other questions to answer are what is 6915. Is it a structure of a dump? Also it could be that wall foundations 6937 and 6968 formed a corner where the north south road met. What is their relationship?  ; Room C ; ; In the third week of Session II, we turned out attention to the room directly to the South of Room B, referred to here as “Room C.”  Room C was last investigated by Anne Feltovich, Catherine Persona and Emily Rush during the 2008 season. Room C, referred to as Room E by Feltovich, Person and Rush during the 2008 excavation, is bounded by walls 5403 to the north (formerly W 32), Wall 5435 to the west (formerly W 22), Wall 5435 to the South (formerly W 23) and 5346 to the east.  ; We were interested in looking into the relationship between the Room B and Room C, which appeared to be terraced above Room B, and for looking of signs of the N-S Roman road that may have ran through both rooms.  ; During the 2008 session, the previous excavators established that the wall dividing the room, Wall 5446, was the first wall in the room and the other walls in the room were built in this order.; ; a) Wall 5446 ; b) Wall 5403; c) Wall 5435; d) Wall 5434; e) Wall 5346.; Early on in the excavation, we discovered a wall (Wall 7001) running parallel with 5446 to the west of 5446.  Wall 7001 also seems to have been cut by the foundation trench for wall 5403 and thus is one of the earliest features of the room.  At this time, however, it is hard to say whether wall 7001 predates, postdates or is contemporary with wall 5446.  Two overlying early Roman Contexts (6997 and 7003) deposited between Walls 7001 and 6997 would seem to indicate that both walls predate the 2nd century AD.  Walls 7001 and 5446 also seem to be aligned with Structure 6916 (the furnace or tile dump) and Wall 6937 in Room B, but this might be coincidental.  Further investigation of Structure 6916 is recommended in order to establish its relationship, if any, to Wall 7001.; ; It seems that during the late 1st/early 2nd century AD, the area between Walls 7001 and 5446 and the area to the east of Wall 5446 (between 5446 and wall 5346) were filled with leveling deposits (6997/7031 and 7010/7021) which brought the surface of the room to the current extant height of the two walls (7001 and 5446).  At the present time, however, we do not have enough information to understand the intentions behind this action.; ; In the late 3rd/early 4th century AD, a pit (Cut 7020) was cut into the 1st/early 2nd century deposit (7010/7021) up against and to the east of Wall 5446 and a large amount of charcoal and ash was deposited (Deposit 7019).  The top of this pit of charcoal was cut by the construction of another pit above it during the 6th century AD (Cut 5380).  Fill to the west of wall 5435 (7003)  dates to the same period (3rd/early 4th century AD) as the charcoal and ash deposit, though it is unclear if the two deposits are related.  ; ; Excavations and cleaning also revealed a partial Greek inscription on the southern face of a block in Wall 5446.  Although we were able to make out and transcribe a couple of letters (as documented on Structure 5446 Context Sheet), the fragmentary nature of the inscription inhibits any further conclusions as to the nature of the writing.","Report","Corinthia | Ancient Corinth | Central Area | Nezi Field"