Corinth Basket Temple E, Southeast, context 1039

Collection:		Corinth
Type:		Basket
Name:		Temple E, Southeast, context 1039
Area:		Temple E, Southeast
Context Type:		Deposit
Title:		Limestone/Mortar Dust Fill in Apse
Category:		Deposit
Notebook:		1110
Context:		1039
Date:		2016/06/16
Stratum:		mortar and limestone chunks (80%), tile fragments, cobbles, medium subangular, spherical pebbles, coarse subangular spherical pebbles; overall 90%
Description:		Top slope of the context is slight down to the N. The soil color is light brownish white. The soil compaction is compact. The soil is moderately sorted. It is silty sand.
Notes:		This fill level contains a lot of limestone and mortar chunks (ca. 80% of the soil and 95% of inclusions). The layer spans essentially the entireity of the section in the apse. There is some orange-y clay/marl mixed in, mostly on the west side. The tile fragments mixed in are mostly fragmentary, but there is one larger tile fragment in the northern third of the section. This level of limestone dust and mortar may be the remains of architectural work in the apse such as dressing the lime stone blocks in the apse. Alternatively, the thickness of the level (ca. 12 cm) suggests it might have been a lime concrete subfloor. The chunks from the level are very hard. The tile fragments may have served to help level this subfloor. Because we thought the limestone dust covered a working surface, we expected to find a surface beneath this level. However, the level below looks like fill at th emoment, which supports the idea of a subfloor rather than just the remains of limeston working. In looking at the scarp of the fill it seems like the dust is only on the top, above a thick concete like substance. Or it is just layered limestone and mortar debris. Coin 186 found at N1072.1, E 130.9, H 84.62. The consensus is that this was a working surface, not a floor for the church per se. It was more degraded in some places than others.
Context Pottery:		Cooking ware. triangular rim stew pot (1100-1270)1 rim. ; Fineware. white ware, plain, plate. 1 rim. ; Fineware. plain glazed, unslipped (800-1100), chafing dish. 1 rim.
Pottery Summary:		17 frag(s) 0.09 kg. (0% saved) fineware.
		179 frag(s) 2.93 kg. (0% saved) coarseware.
		61 frag(s) 0.54 kg. (0% saved) cooking ware.
Context Artifacts:		iron lump 1; iron nail, square head, square shaft 1 (L 0.037); glass clear bluish bs 1; iron shaft, round, widens then tapers (potential buckle tongue?) 1 (L 0.032); charcoal 1
Period:		Late Byzantine (1059-1210 AD)
Chronology:		mid 12th c.
Grid:		131-129.6E, 1071-1073.3N
XMin:		129.6
XMax:		131
YMin:		1071
YMax:		1073.3
Site:		Corinth
City:		Ancient Corinth
Country:		Greece
Masl:		84.62-84.73m.
References:		Image: digital 2016 0644 Image: digital 2016 0645 Coin: 2016 186