| Collection: | Corinth | |
| Type: | Basket | |
| Name: | Temple E, Southeast, context 648 | |
| Area: | Temple E, Southeast | |
| Title: | grave fill S of wall 20 | |
| Category: | Deposit | |
| Notebook: | 1109 | |
| Context: | 648 | |
| Date: | 2015/05/04 | |
| Stratum: | very small white inclusions c. 2%; very few small dark/charcoal inclusions; medium pebbles (1-2cm diameter, c. 5%); some coarse pebbles (4-7cm diameter, 10-20%); sub-rounded; few, very fragmentary ceramics; small- to medium-sized fragments of bone | |
| Description: | Top slope of the context is uneven. The soil color is dark yellowish brown. The soil compaction is loose. The soil is poorly sorted. It is silty sand. | |
| Notes: | One box of fragmentary, disarticulated bone was collected. Note that some of these bones - especially phalanges - come from the child burial (context 675) and were dislodged in the process of excavation. This context was started to salvage what is left of a child grave (context 675), presumably already cut by the robbing trench of wall 20 and since its excavation (and cleaning context 524) left to erode out of the scarp. Initially, it was thought there might be two separate deposits and cuts overlying the skeletal remains. On excavating, it became clear it was only one fill - although see below for possible intrusions. The boundary of the cut is very clear to the south and west: the fill for the grave is much looser than the surrounding deposit. To the north, the deposit was excavated as 524 and I therefore had no comparison - but apparently some bones were found in 524, presumably the left half of the child inhumation (for right half, see 675). To the east, it seems obvious that a later cut has intercepted ours: the fill continues loose and there is no boundary I could note, but an adult long bone was exposed about 20-30cm to the E of the child's legs and at a higher elevation. I assume the adult bone is part of a separate, later deposit, but one that is similar enough to 648 that a difference in the soil compaction, etc, could not be seen. The fill contained no indication of grave goods, but there are some small ceramics, most likely part of the matrix of the soil dug out to form the pit and then used to fill it after internment. ON MAY 5th, as excavation continued, the above was partly REVISED. It became obvious that there are bones from other individuals all around the skull and also just south of the femur of the child. To the W especially, I now doubt we have identified the edge of the pit, since the soil seems to continue loose further that way. (The S edge still feels/seems clear.) The soil was more compact around the skull and S of the torso of the child: I believe the soil around the cranium is compact because of organic chemical processes around the body; the soil S of the torso seems to continue compact far enough that I believe it's the bottom of the pit and not something caused by decomposition of the body. (Furthermore, the hard soil starts just below the level of the skeleton.) Please note that some small fragments of bones and entire phalanges from the child fell out in the process of excavation: these were boxed with other bones from 648. It seems likely that only the right half of the child skeleton remains; the other half was perhaps excavated as part of 524. The skeleton's skull rested on a tile, had another one propping its jaw shut, and is recorded in more detail as 675. Concerning the relationship with overlying contexts, final judgment should be left to those present in both 2014 and 2015. Based on the soil description for context 28, a pit that partly overlay 648, the two are separate, discrete deposits, and we therefore have two pits partly overlying each other. MAY 6th: After removing skeleton 675, the removal of the fill was finished. The soil turned harder very soon below the skeleton. As has previously been noted, the area to the E seems intercepted: there are bones continuing into the scarp, and the soil continues loose. However, since this context explores the child burial and it's obvious that the disarticulated bones are unrelated to it, excavation was stopped shortly E of the child's skull even when no boundary or change in compaction was found. Two long bones, a tibia and a femur, were found S of the child's legs. They are clearly disarticulated (the femur was right next to and parallel to the tibia): it seems either they were dumped in with the child burial or were part of an earlier burial that was disturbed - or possibly a mixture of both. The skull of 675 appears to have rested on tile fragments, with a big worked block also underneath it. On the scarp, it looks like the stone might be part of the lining of an earlier grave. 01/06/2015 (Larkin Kennedy, Rossana Valente) Animal bones, 0.04 kg, all thrown. | |
| Context Pottery: | Fineware. slipped plain glazed (1100-1300), bowl. 1 bodysherd. probably 14th c; Coarseware. matt-painted, pitcher. 1 bodysherd. | |
| Pottery Summary: | 11 frag(s) 0.01 kg. (0% saved) fineware. | |
| 99 frag(s) 0.4 kg. (0% saved) coarseware. | ||
| 13 frag(s) 0.05 kg. (0% saved) cooking ware. | ||
| Context Artifacts: | one small lamp fragment - thrown; misentered | |
| Period: | Frankish (1210-1458 AD) | |
| Chronology: | 14th c NPD | |
| Grid: | 125.48-124.47E, 1074.36-1074.69N | |
| XMin: | 124.47 | |
| XMax: | 125.48 | |
| YMin: | 1074.36 | |
| YMax: | 1074.69 | |
| Site: | Corinth | |
| City: | Ancient Corinth | |
| Country: | Greece | |
| Masl: | 84.95-85.33m. | |
| References: | Images (4) |