| Collection: | Corinth | |
| Type: | Basket | |
| Name: | Nezi Field, context 6623 | |
| Area: | Nezi Field | |
| Context Type: | cut | |
| Title: | Possible edge of 1960s excavation trench | |
| Category: | Cut | |
| Notebook: | 1103 | |
| Context: | 6623 | |
| Page: | 0 | |
| Date: | 2009/06/09 | |
| Description: | The context shape in plan is rectrangular. The top break of the cut is gradual. The sides of the cut are mixed. | |
| Notes: | 6623 is an e-w cut which, at this point, we are attributing to the 1960s excavation. It extends east from wall W54 to the east side of wall 6642. The fill inside was soft and cleared over a nice surface with patches of white ash. We are attributing it to the 1960s since we feel that it is unlikely that it was a cut for a robbing trench. Several factors bring us to this interpretation: First, there is only one side of the cut, the north side. It extends east from wall W54 on the west and almost disappears on the east, making a southern return that is not straight, but goes around some rock tumble to reach Wall 6267 on the south. Looking at the photos from the 1961 excavation (Corinth Photographs 18, Excavation views II 1960, p. 35, photos 61-27-1, 61-27-2, 61-26-5), two deep cuts are visible east of the south end of wall W54. The one closest to the wall seems to be the deep sondage in the corner of W54 and wall 6267 that is still present in the room today. The eastern side of that sondage seems to run along the line of wall 6421, really only an ashlar orientated n-s. This is approximately where the line of the southern return of 6623 runs. The other one, just to the east, seems to be a bothros, given its circular shape, the bottom of which may or may not be still present. Although we cannot be sure due to the angles of the photographs, it seems as if the cut for the sondage, which extends east from wall W54, is in the right spot to be the cut we are now calling 6623. Second, the soil filling this cut, i.e. between the cut and the scarp of the sondage, was always soft and looked disturbed. This area was not excavated in the first session of 2009, but a cleaning pass was taken over the area (6126). In Session 2, we excavated a deposit (6338) which covered the entire e-w extent of the room. This deposit, for us, seemed to be inside a cut which ran the length of the room, a cut which was in turn cut by a later pit (6224) and later robbing trench (6254). In the western part of the room, the line for this cut is in the same place as the line for 6623, and the soil of 6338 in this spot was very soft, like that of 6620. Additionally, The pottery of 6638 gave us a date of c. 1280, a date not in keeping with the 10-12th century dates we were getting with the fills we had excavated above 6638 in the eastern part of the room. Third, this cut seems wrong for a robbing trench or foundation trench. It is shallow. It ends on an intact and solid floor which continues underneath the undisturbed soil to the north of 6623 (6622). Berg, in NB 229, records no wall at this location nor robbing trench. He, in fact, records no activity in the immediate area at all except for finding the well and excavating an area with plaster on the adjacent walls, which might be a reference to the sondage since there was a small piece of plaster adhering to the corner of walls 6267 and 6421. However, he is not specific as to location when he talks about this. These are the reasons for our calling 6623 a 1961 excavation cut. We are not 100% sure in this interpretation, but given this evidence, it is our best guess. If we are correct, this might explain the Frankish date for 6338 as contamination. What we thought was a long deposit of fill inside a cut extending over the entire room really should have only been excavated as half the room, the eastern half. The western half was erosional deposition, back fill, disturbance and contamination from over 50 years of exposure. Rask, 19 June 2009: Berg refers to the excavation of this area on June 6th, 1961, NB 229, p. 182, as the space between his walls #34 (W54), #33 (10080.10094), and #25. No photographs of the specific area were taken, but the it is depicted in the post-season views found in Vol. 18, 1960 II. The photos indicate that in this area, Berg excavated everything to the level of the top of the well, and two specific features to a lower level. The first is the sondage taken at the corners of W54 and 6267/5361. According to the photos, his excavation of the sondage revealed the northern face of 6267, the wall located about a meter or so north of Berg's Wall #25 and the southwest boundary of our own trench. Berg did not include wall 6267 on his plans, but it does seem to have been drawn on the 2009 Nezi field plan. The pit that he excavated at this time, cleaned by Potenza and Boehm in 2009 session 1, has a large number of jumbled rocks on its east face (under wall 6422). It is unclear if 6422 was excavated by Berg, but on his final plan (p. 188) he draws a small structure that jogs east and then south from W 54 in a similar way to how we originally interpreted 6422; this may be a reference to his sondage and the jumbled rocks therein, or 6422. Also likely, however, is that the structure drawn by Berg refers to a pile of larger rocks possibly visible north of the sondage and south of the staircase in photo 61-26-5 (p35); again, this interpretation is based on a general photograph of the area. The second delineated feature visible in the photographs is a circular pit to the east of the sondage and up against Berg's Wall 33 (our 10080). This is probably what Berg refers to on p. 182 as a circular pit just west of his Wall 33 and north of his Wall 25. He indicates that the pit had a plastered southern face and was filled with fine white ash. The pottery was saved as Lot 683. He excavated the pit to an elevation of 84.16m - our closing elevation for 6662, the final context of the season and approximately under where the pit should be, was 66.18. It is still possible that the area was excavated further and that 6620 was redeposited earth - if so, the excavation activity must have been completed after Berg's 1961 efforts. See photos: Vol 18, 1960 II, p. 34, 61-26-4; p. 35, 61-27-1, 61-27-2, 61-26-5 | |
| YMax: | 1029.58 | |
| Site: | Corinth | |
| City: | Ancient Corinth | |
| Country: | Greece | |
| Masl: | 84.57-84.69m. | |
| References: | Report: Nezi Field 2009 by Martin Wells, Katie Rask (2009-06-17 to 2009-06-18) |