We, Anne Feltovich (ACF) and Catherine Person (CWP) and Emily Rush (EMR), excavated North of Nezi between May 5, 2008 and June 13, 2008, focusing on bringing three rooms down to Middle to Late Byzantine levels, on phasing their walls, and on finishing the pit begun the previous session in Room E (277.62-278.42E, 1016.30-1020.45N). The three rooms are: the Room North of the Eastern Half of Room F (271.60-276.50E, 1020.78-1022.83N); the Room Bounded by Walls 5519, 5483, 5484, and 5284 (265.90-270.52E, 1023.57-1027.98N); and the Room Bounded by Walls 5631, 5403, and 5484 (the eastern wall of the room is not known, but the room is cut on the east by later wall 5553). This last room is cut by a later north-south running wall 5552 and was excavated in two parts: the coordinates for the area north of wall 5552 are 271.12-274.30E, 1026.36-1027.66N; the coordinates for the area south of 5552 are 271.20-274.60E, 1023.40-1025.90N. Please note that there are two wall numbering systems in use for the walls of this area. The first was created in the 1960s and will appear as a W followed by a two-digit number. The second is the current numbering system used in North of Nezi which appears as a four-digit number. Both numbers will appear on plans for the walls of this area when possible. The director was Guy Sanders, assistant field director Alicia Carter, pickman Panos Kakouros, and wheelbarrow and sieve operators Takis Papaioannou and Vasilis Kollias.

The following summary documents the findings of the 2008 excavation season in the four rooms in which we excavated. Each room will be initially treated individually and the conclusion will related these rooms to each other and the area of N of Nezi excavations as a whole.

Room E
Our objective in this room was to finish the pit started this year in session one which contained the four complete vessels (pit fills dug in session one: 5250, 5278, 5281, 5282; dug in session two: fill 5464 and cut 5482).

Room north of the eastern half of Room F (271.60-276.50E, 1020.78-1022.83N):

Excavations in this room began in the last session and were continued by us in this session. This room was also excavated in 2007. Our intentions were to find the foundation trench for wall 5403, and to understand the phasing of the walls enclosing the room. In excavating this room we further uncovered an earlier wall in the middle of the room (wall 5446). The walls of this space have been dated to Middle Byzantine based on the finds from the foundation trench on the northern side of wall 5403 (foundation trench 5818). The phasing of these walls is as follows:
1) Wall 5446
2) Wall 5403 (its foundation trench cuts wall 5446, and it is built over wall 5446). Wall 5403 is the same as wall 5484 to the west.
3) Wall 5435 (its foundation trench cuts that of wall 5403 and is built over wall 5403).
4) Wall 5434 (its foundation trench cuts wall 5446, and it is built over wall 5446, and it abuts wall 5435). Wall 5434 is the same wall as Wall 5344 to the east.
5) Wall 5346 (built over wall 5434) and Wall 5450 (later phase of wall 5434) – the relationship of walls 5346 and 5450 to one another is uncertain because they are not stratigraphically related.

Wall 5403 is part of a longer wall at the edge of a terrace which is higher on the southern side than the northern side. The coins and pottery from the foundation trench on the southern side of wall 5403 (dep. 5397, cut 5402, dep. 5414, dep. 5417, dep. 5419, dep. 5433, cut 5436), date to late 6th century, but coins from the foundation trench on the northern side of the wall (deposit number 5818) date the wall to middle Byzantine (coins 2008-230 and 2008-231 are dated to A.D. 931-944). All of the levels which we dug in this room cannot be dated more specifically by pottery, and therefore based on stratigraphy, the levels which we excavated are Middle Byzantine or later. We did not dig down far enough to reach the foundation trench for wall 5446, so we can offer no date other than a relative one of earlier than wall 5403.

Room bounded by walls 5284, 5484, 5483, 5519:
When we opened this room is consisted of a raised strip of soil left by the excavation of three bothroi in 1961 (NB229, pg. 180). Our goal was to excavate the remaining soil stratigraphically to an 11th century level and to phase the walls surrounding the room (5284, 5484, 5483, 5519) and the later wall cutting the room along the west side (foundation 5485 and superstructure 5490). We did not excavate the narrow strip between wall 5485 and wall 5284 because it was too difficult to reach. It will be excavated when wall 5485 is removed.
In this room the higher levels were contemporary with later wall 5484 as the western boundary. We dug through a series of leveling fills and came down to a layer of redeposited tiles on top of floor 5606. This floor is the earliest layer excavated that was in use with wall 5485 and dates to the Frankish period. The layer immediately below this floor (5834) is another floor which runs under wall 5485 and presumably over to wall 5284; this floor, the latest floor in association with the earlier room bounded on the west by wall 5284, dates to the late Byzantine area. Therefore, it appears that the earlier room was used until the end of the Byzantine area, then wall 5485 was built at the end of the Byzantine era or beginning of the Frankish era, and the later room was used beginning in the Frankish era. When we reached the level that goes under wall 5485 (floor 5834), we left a martyr along the wall so that future excavations can better understand the stratigraphy and we could avoid contamination. Wall 5485 should be removed next when permission is granted. Wall 5485 has already been partially removed in the south by the 1960s excavations in order to excavate the ‘bothros’ underneath.
We believe the area of robbing trench 5506 was the doorway for both the Late Byzantine room (bounded on the west by 5284) and the Frankish room (bounded on the west by 5485) and that the robbing trench robbed out one or more threshold blocks. Below floor 5834 we excavated a series of fills and uncovered an earlier floor (not excavated) which appears to have been association with the threshold block robbed out by robbing trench 5506. Excavation to the immediate north of this robbing trench was carried out by Jody Cundy and Nate Andrade, and some of their contexts should be compared to ours.
Phasing of the walls is as follows:

1) Wall 5484. Wall 5484 is the same wall as 5403 to the east and 5216 to the west.
2) Wall 5519. Although 5484 and 5519 have not been related stratigraphically we believe that 5484 is the exterior wall and therefore before the interior wall is 5519.
3) Wall 5483. Wall 5483 is built against walls 5484 and 5519. Although no foundation trenches have yet been found in this room, foundation trench 5779 on the east side of wall 5483 is above the foundation trench for wall 5403=5484 (foundation trench 5818).
4) Wall 5485. Wall 5485 is built on top of wall 5519.
5) Wall 5490. Wall 5490 is the superstructure of wall 5485.

See summary of Jody Cundy and Nate Andrade for phasing of wall 5484=5216 relative to wall 5284.

Room bounded by 5403, 5383, 5631, and 5553

This room is cut by later east-west running wall 5552 which cannot be removed until permission is obtained. North-south running later wall 5553 also cuts the room on the east side; we did not excavate to the east of wall 5553. We excavated both to the north and to the south of wall 5552, but the levels excavated to the north of the wall were all higher than the levels excavated to the south of wall 5552; both sides of the wall were last excavated in the 1960s.

Our goal in this room was to excavate down to the Byzantine level in order to understand more about the possible Byzantine structure bounded on the south by wall 5403=5484=5216.

Excavation to the north of wall 5552 suggested that the doorway in wall 5631 was moved at least three times: we phased the four visible thresholds in wall 5631, and robbing trenches 5636 and 5654 appear to be in association with the moving of the door. A possible fifth and lowest threshold is visible in the northern face of the wall, but has not been phased or given a context number. Against wall 5631, we excavated a series of four floors. Excavation started below the bottom of highest threshold (5647), so we do not have the floor contemporary with this phase. Floors 5632 and 5642 may have been contemporary with the next highest threshold (5670). Floors 5650 and 5659 were clearly contemporary with the third highest threshold (5648). We have not excavated down to the level of the lowest threshold yet, but it was partially exposed by robbing trench 5654. All four floors date to Late Byzantine. We have not yet found a foundation trench for wall 5631 so this wall cannot be dated.

Excavation on the south side of wall 5552 started at a lower elevation than where we stopped on the north side of wall 5552, so although they are the same room cut by later wall 5552, we were unable to stratigraphically link our excavations on both sides of the wall. On the south side of the wall we excavated two Late Byzantine floors (5707 and 5733) and one Late Byzantine surface (5765), which was cut by a pit containing a whole vessel (pit 5755). Both floors and the surface are contemporary with Late Byzantine wall 5483. Below surface 5765 we found and excavated the foundation trench for wall 5483 (foundation trench fill 5779). We continued excavation below that level in what we hypothesize was exterior space before the building of wall 5483. In this area we excavated one Middle Byzantine surface (5811), which we hypothesize to be exterior because it was created before the building of north-south wall 5483 and because it is rough and uneven compared to an indoor floor. This exterior surface (5811) was cut by two pits (5804 and 5809). Underneath surface 5811 we revealed and excavated the foundation trench for wall 5403 (foundation trench 5818), which was built in the Middle Byzantine period (dated by two coins of Constantine VII found in the foundation trench 5818). This wall was built at the edge of a terrace which was higher on the southern side of the wall (we excavated this area as “Room North of Eastern Half of Room F”).

Conclusion

Two of the rooms (room bounded on the south by wall 5484 and room bounded on the south by wall 5403, which is the same wall) appear to be part of the same structure built in the Middle Byzantine period and reused in the Late Byzantine and Frankish period with some new walls being built (specifically, walls 5483 and 5485). This structure had one long wall (wall 5403=5484=5216) which was built in the Middle Byzantine period. This wall was certainly a terrace wall and may have also originally been the exterior southern wall for the structure. We have not yet revealed foundation trenches for walls 5519 and 5631, which are continuations of each other but were probably built separately; we cannot date them, but they appear to be an interior wall of this structure. Wall 5483, built in the Late Byzantine period, divides two interior rooms of this structure. Wall 5284 also divided two interior rooms (see records of Jody Cundy and Nate Andrade for phasing). There is no evidence suggesting that the Room North of the Eastern Half of Room F is part of the same structure, although it shares exterior wall 5403. This room was first used in the Middle Byzantine period.