North of Nezi 2010: Green First Session Report (Scott Gallimore)

The following summarizes the results of excavations in two areas north of Nezi field during the first session of the 2010 excavation season at Corinth. These areas were the room directly west of the courtyard of the Byzantine house and the room directly north of the courtyard. Excavations took place from 7 April, 2010 until 23 April, 2010. Supervising these excavations were Guy Sanders (director) and Martin Wells (field director). The excavation team included Scott Gallimore (recorder), Athanasios Sakellariou (pickman), Panos Stamatis (shovelman), and Pavlos… (barrowman).

The main focus of excavations during this session was the room directly west of the courtyard of the Byzantine house (E. 261.10 – 264.70; N. 1030.80 – 1034.90). We dug in this room each day of the session (7 April – 23 April) with an aim to identifying the earliest phases of Byzantine occupation along with tracing possibly Middle Roman and Late Roman usage, abandonment, and post-abandonment of the space. This room had been previously excavated in the 1960s (NB 235), in the second and third sessions of 2008 by Sarah Lima, and in all three sessions of 2009 by Will Bruce, Scott Gallimore, Karl Goetz, and Dan Leon. We excavated a single context in the room directly north of the courtyard of the Byzantine house (E. 265.30 – 270.50; N. 1035.60 – 1039.20) on 9 April during a period when the stratigraphy in the room west of the courtyard was causing some confusion and we needed some time to consider the best method of approach. This room had been previously excavated in 1961 by Steven Lattimore (NB 230), in the second session of 2008 by Nathanael Andrade and Jody Cundy, and during all three sessions of 2009 by Will Bruce, Scott Gallimore, Karl Goetz, and Dan Leon.


ROOM WEST OF THE COURTYARD

Frankish:

At two different points during the Frankish period, two deep pits were dug into the room west of courtyard. The earliest of these pits (fills 5754, 5766, 5943, 6481; cut 6326=5767), dating to the first half of the thirteenth century, is located in the southern part of the room and was subsequently truncated to the southwest by the corner of the Ottoman house. Where this pit is not truncated, it is circular in profile and is relatively deep (top elevation of 85.01; bottom elevation of 82.88). It is possible that this pit represents an attempt to dig a well that was abandoned before reaching the water table. Near the bottom of this pit, the diggers came upon the foundations for the northern curb (structure 6738) of the Roman decumanus. While they continued to dig until reaching the bottom of these foundations, they stopped when they hit they hit sterile bedrock perhaps indicating they did not feel this location was suitable for a well. The latest of the two pits was dug against the southern face of wall 5725 and was semi-circular in shape (fill 6583, cut 6655). This pit, which dates sometime between the late thirteenth and late fourteenth century, contained several different lens of fill, the latest of which was excavated during the 1960s (NB 235, Bothros 9). Unfortunately, it is difficult to assign any specific function to this feature. It is deep enough to perhaps be considered another failed attempt to dig a well (top elevation of at least 84.99; bottom elevation of 83.35), but it is unlikely that a well would be dug against the face of a wall.

Middle and Late Byzantine:

No evidence of Late Byzantine activity was encountered in this room during this excavation session. This indicates that these levels must have been removed during previous excavation sessions. Asides from the necessity to continue investigating the Frankish pits mentioned above, the latest activity discernable in this space was Middle Byzantine in date, specifically the eleventh century A.C.

During the eleventh century, a floor of packed earth was laid down in this room which likely would have covered the entire space (6668=6670=6672). In several areas this floor was disturbed due to later activity in the room and was only preserved in a few isolated patches. This floor was laid down on a series of leveling fills which would have altered the floor level of the room by a noticeable amount (fills 6679, 6482, 6489, 6490, 6528). The earliest of these fills (6528) has a bottom elevation of 83.96 while the latest (6679) has a top elevation of 84.36 indicating a change in floor level of approximately 0.40m. 6528, the earliest of these fills, was laid down on part of another floor surface consisting primarily of rounded to subrounded, spherical, medium-sized pebbles (6656). Floor 6656 has an associated cut, 6708, although its original shape has been disturbed by the two Frankish pits in the room (defined by cuts 6326=5767 and 6655). This floor surface may have originally been rectangular in shape and covered most of the central part of the room. It does not appear that 6656 was intended to be a floor covering the entirety of the room, however, and instead occupied a central position with surfaces of compact earth surrounding it.

Floor 6656 was cut into a series of fills of unknown character spreading across the room (6710, 6713, 6714, 6717). These fills tended to have high percentages of poorly sorted inclusions and could represent some type of dumping action. This could perhaps coincide with the fact that the earliest of these fills, 6717, was laid over a robbing trench (fills 6722, 6734; cut 6720). The robbing trench appears to be associated with the foundation for the northern curb of the Roman decumanus which had first been identified in the northern scarp of the Frankish pit defined by cut 6326=5767. Stones laying atop this foundation were likely the target of the robbing trench and there may have been an attempt following the robbing out of these stones to level off this space with a series of fills.

The act of dumping material into this space appears to have also preceded the digging of the robbing trench since this feature truncated another large fill (6752) containing a large percentage of poorly sorted inclusions which would have covered most, if not all of this space. This fill appears to date to the ninth or tenth century C.E. and may be part of a period of post-abandonment in the space. Overlying fill 6752 at its eastern end was a shallow lens of soil with few inclusions possibly representing an accumulated fill which built up against the eastern face of wall 5724.

There was also other activity which occurred in this room at some point during the ninth or tenth century A.C. The robbing trench defined by cut 6720 was not the first to be dug in association with structure 6738. Fill 6752 overlay an earlier, smaller robbing trench which only affected the easternmost revealed section of structure 6738 (fill 6754, cut 6756). In this part of structure 6738 a different construction technique was employed. Most of the revealed blocks associated with this feature are substantial in size with a height of approximately 0.55m. At the eastern end, however, it appears that two blocks were stacked on top of each other to achieve this same height. The robbing trench defined by cut 6756 was dug to remove the upper block of these two. This robbing trench also truncated a deposit of what appears to be dumped fill in the northeast corner of this room (6758). Fill 6758 contained a high percentage of poorly sorted inclusions and sloped steeply to the south giving it the appearance of a ramp. However, parts of this context continued beneath wall 5725 to the north and wall 6375 to the east making it difficult to interpret since we cannot reconstruct its original shape.

Fill 6758 was dumped in over part of another robbing trench (fills 6761, 6808; cut 6762), this one apparently for a north-south wall that ran along the eastern edge of this space. This robbing trench was fairly deep (approximately 1.2m) and came down on sterile bedrock at its lowest elevation. Part of the wall robbed out by this trench (structure 6817) is visible beneath the easternmost revealed block of structure 6738. There is also another block which abuts the southwestern edge of the robbing trench. This wall appears to be quite early, at least predating the construction of structure 6738. It appears that the robbing trench defined by cut 6762 was the first action to occur in this space following a period of abandonment which lasted for several centuries. This trench was dug at some point in the ninth or tenth century, but there is no preceding activity in this space until the sixth or seventh century.

Early Byzantine:

No evidence for any activity has been revealed which can be associated with this period. It appears, thus, that this space was abandoned sometime during the Late Roman period with usage of the space not occurring again until the ninth or tenth century. This abandonment may coincide with the construction of the Late Roman Wall at Corinth possibly in the mid-sixth century. The construction of this wall east of the Forum placed Nezi field outside of the city proper and the lack of evidence for activity in the room west of the courtyard would suggest this area was abandoned shortly afterwards.

Late Roman:
The latest discernable Late Roman activity in this space occurred in the form of a tall, rectangular patch of slumped mud-brick (6768) located in the eastern part of the room. This mud-brick could date to the sixth or seventh century A.C. In the Middle Byzantine period this mud-brick was truncated by the robbing trench defined by cut 6762 and covered by fill 6758. The slumped nature of this mud-brick indicates it collapsed from the north-south wall which was later robbed out by the trench defined by cut 6762 in the Middle Byzantine period. This collapse may have occurred after the abandonment of this space leading into several centuries of post-abandonment. 6768 covered a small part of a larger surface that may also represent slumped mud-brick (6773). This mud-brick may have again slumped off from the north-south wall at the eastern end of the room, but the lack of any noticeable slope towards this wall could also suggest it is some type of dumped fill that included mud-brick within its soil component

If fill 6773 were dumped into this space, this occurred over another fill that was likely dumped in (6776). This earlier fill is characterized by comprising of mixed soil, numerous pieces of charcoal, and evidence of burning. The evidence of burning is not so substantial to suggest any kind of destruction occurring in this space, but does indicate that the fill was originally obtained from a location that may have suffered from some type of fire. Both fill 6776 and 6773 were dumped into this space over a large fill of slumped mud-brick (6784) that does appear to be associated with the north-south wall robbed out in the Middle Byzantine period. The soil was mixed and contained large amounts of white marl and red mud-brick and had a noticeable slope away from the area of the wall. At the eastern edge of 6784 where this context was truncated by the Middle Byzantine robbing trench for this north-south wall there were several cobbles and boulders which likely represent some type of collapse off of the wall when this mud-brick slumped down. Based on pottery evidence this collapse may have occurred at some point in the late third or early fourth century A.C., although it is not infeasible that it may have occurred even later than this.

Middle Roman:

The third century A.C. is when we first see evidence of active usage of this space. It is during this century when the large foundations for the northern curb of the Roman decumanus (structure 6738) were laid down. Specifically, the foundation trench for this structure was dug at some point during this century (fill 6795, cut 6796). This foundation trench was unique in that it was dug deeper than the lowest elevation of the blocks of structure 6738 (bottom elevation of 6795 is 82.75; bottom elevation of 6738 is 82.93). This appears to have been a purposeful decision and it became clear that each individual block which is part of this structure lies on a different type of soil. What this suggests is that the foundation trench was dug and then small patches of soil were laid down in an effort to level each block independently. At the eastern-most revealed end of structure 6738 this foundation lies on a large block from an earlier wall which may have been an important marker for leveling the other blocks. This foundation trench was covered by a small number of fills (6785, 6792). The soil of these fills tends to be mixed in character and contains numerous inclusions including large amounts of charcoal. Directly above the foundation trench defined by cut 6796 was a shallow surface of compact earth (6793) which appears to have been purposefully laid down, perhaps coinciding with the establishment of structure 6738. Surface 6793 was of homogenous thickness throughout and contained very few inclusions of any type. The soil was also fairly homogenous distinguishing it from the mixed fills described above. Along with overlying the foundation trench for 6738, surface 6793 also overlay a small, circular pit of unknown function at the western end of the room (fill 6798, cut 6799).

Both the foundation trench (cut 6796) and the small circular pit (cut 6799) truncated a shallow surface of compact earth (6800) similar in character to surface 6793. This may be another surface purposefully laid down in this space and may be associated with some earlier version of the decumanus since it is unlikely that foundations associated with this road were laid down for the first time only in the third century A.C. In fact, surface 6800 was one of several of these surfaces of compact earth (6802, 6804) superimposed on one another across the space of this room. Each is relatively shallow, of homogenous soil type, and contains relatively few inclusions. The earliest of these surfaces, 6804, overlies a deep dumped fill of mixed soil and mud-brick (6806) which appears to date to the late second or early third century. The nature of this fill could suggest it was some type of leveling fill for the surfaces above. Fill 6806 overlay an uneven surface of white marl mud-brick (6823) that covered only a few patches of the northern part of the room. The uneven nature of this mud-brick argues against it slumping off a wall and it is likely that it was dumped into this space. Below fill 6823 is a deep dumped fill of mixed soil which appears to overlay a floor surface associated with wall 6817. However, we only excavated a small portion of this context and it is difficult at this point to provide any indication of function.


ROOM NORTH OF COURTYARD

Middle Byzantine:

The only context encountered in this room appears to be Middle Byzantine in date. At some point during the ninth or tenth century A.D. a fill was built up into a ramp abutting the southwest junction of walls 6526 and 6016, perhaps to facilitate dumping of material on either side of these walls. This ramp (6491) was then covered by a deep dumped fill of dirt, tile, and stone (6516) which abutted the southern face of wall 6526 and the western face of wall 6016. Fill 6516 was one of a series of contemporary dumped fills in this area (6532, 6550, 6554) which could represent a period of post-abandonment for this space prior to its reorganization as part of the Byzantine house.


CONCLUSIONS

The room west of the courtyard represents one of the components under investigation in the Byzantine house situated north of Nezi field. While the primary goal of these excavations has been the identification of the construction phase for the house, the decision was made during session 1 to explore earlier levels in this space to attempt to trace periods of usage and abandonment prior to the construction of the house. While our excavations did require us to finish digging two Frankish pits, the majority of the contexts we encountered provided us with indications of the earliest Byzantine usage of the space as well as the latest Roman usage.

The earliest evidence for use we have encountered occurs during the late second and third centuries C.E. when a series of surfaces were laid down along with the foundations for the northern curb of the Roman decumanus. Several more surfaces were laid down subsequent to this. By the Late Roman period there are indications that this space may have been neglected or abandoned. There is evidence of slumped mud-brick and collapse from a north-south wall and several fills were dumped in. The latest evidence of activity is a patch of collapsed mud-brick which would have abutted the western face of this north-south wall. When usage of the space resumed in the Middle Byzantine period (during the ninth or tenth century) it came in the form of a series of robbing trenches and fills. The north-south wall (perhaps associated with structure 6817) was robbed out as were components of the curb. Following this a series of leveling fills were dumped in and the earliest floor surface, a pebble floor only covering part of the room was laid down. On top of this were laid more leveling fills and until the first floor surface to cover the entire room (6668=6670=6672) would have been laid down sometime in the eleventh century.