This is the summary of the second session of excavation in 2014 in Unit 2, Room 7, and the adjacent passage north of the church nave, in the area of Temple E Southeast (TESE). Room 7 was previously excavated in 1992 and 1994, recorded in NB 850, 854 and 864. It is bounded by Wall 59 (1082.35 – 1084.5 N, 119.00 – 120.13 E, NB 864 Wall 11) and its associated robbing trench (1077.2 – 1082.6 N, 119.65 – 121.6 E, NB 864 B 9 and B 11) to the west, and by Wall 157 (1078.3 – 1085.3 N, 122.4 – 124.6 E, NB 864 Wall 12) to the east. A martyr along the Turkish wall to the north of Room 7 marked the northern boundary of our area of excavation (1085.5 – 1086.7 N, 119.00 – 122.00 E) and an arbitrary line was set between the points 120.23 E, 1077.42 N and 123.99 E, 1078.04 N as a boundary to the south. Despite the earlier decision to section the deposits of room 7 from their continuation into the corridor further south, excavations continued into this area later in the session. The southern boundary of the corridor space is formed by the north wall of the church (Wall 20) and its associated robbing trench (NB 835, pp. 35-44, 65-66, 1074.3 – 1076.1 N, 122.00 – 130.30 E). Its northern boundary is formed by the south wall of room 8 and room 9 (Wall 156 1077.5 – 1079.3 N, 123.5 – 129.7 E, NB 864, pp. 43-44). The corridor itself was previously excavated in 1993 (NB 863). In Room 7, excavation was conducted from May 5 to May 15, and excavation was conducted in the corridor on May 15 and 16. Guy Sanders (director) and Jody Cundy (field director) supervised, and Dylan Rogers and Maggie Burr (area supervisors) recorded. Athanasios Notis was pickman, Angeliki Stamati was shovel(wo)man, and Panagiotis Rontzokos was the barrowman.

Excavation in Room 7 was undertaken in an effort to understand better the function of the room and its relationship to the church and to clarify the chronology of the construction, use and end-of-use phases of the church and Unit 2. Plans to present the entire area to the public in the coming years have made it necessary to consolidate this area as well, and preparing the spaces for consolidation and conservation were also goals of the project. Excavations conducted in the early 1990s, particularly in 1992 and 1994, revealed that both the church and parts of Unit 2 were covered with what is interpreted as a destruction layer. Excavation of the south half of Room 7 in 1992 and the north half in 1994 (recorded in NB 854 for 1992, and NB 864 for 1994) revealed a layer of smashed glass (NB 854 B6, B7, B16, NB 850 B96, B97), lying beneath a layer of collapsed roof tiles. This was interpreted as a destruction layer that was dated to the early 14th century (AD 1312). The tile fall excavated in the southern portion of the room in 1992 (NB 850 B97; NB 854, B6, B7, and B16) covered an area of around 3.2m x 1.57m. A tile fall excavated in the northern portion of the room in 1994 seemed to span the width of the room (NB 864, B16, B17, B18 and B31), and covered the entire trench from north to south (roughly 3.5 meters). A clay floor was also revealed underneath the tile fall (elev. 85.08, NB 854 B16), and a coin of Philip of Savoy, minted in Clarenza, gives the tile-fall a terminus post-quem of AD 1301-1307 (NB 854 B16, (Coin 1992-264).

Williams and Zervos (Frankish Corinth: Hesperia 1993, 3) posited that the destruction came at the hands of the Catalans, who invaded the Peloponnese in 1312. Damage done to the city during the invasion was mentioned in a letter from Bartholomew, Archbishop of Corinth, to Pope Clement V, (Williams and Zervos, 1993, 3). At the time of the 1993 publication of these destruction layers, Williams noted that “all pottery from the destruction level associated with Units 1 and 2 (could) be dated comfortably to the ten years on either side of A.D. 1300” (Williams and Zervos 1993, 3).

Frankish (1210-1458 CE)
Room 7

In the late 3rd quarter of the 13th century, it appears that the space now identified as “Room 7” was probably both unwalled and unroofed and was in use as an outdoor space of unknown relationship to the church. The earliest level reached was a trampled surface extending throughout the space (its original extent is unknown, as the surface is presently truncated by Walls 59 and 157). It remains unexcavated. A large irregularly shaped refuse pit was cut through the southernmost part of this surface (Context 296 1078.20-1081.30 N, 121.85-123.25 E). Based on its contents, the fill of the pit (Context 274, 1078.20-1081.30 N, 121.85-123.25 E) suggests a deposition related in some way to dining or food preparation. In addition to a large quantity of animal bone and charred organic material, the pit contained a very large number of cooking and fine wares, found in much larger quantities than in other pit fills excavated in Room 7 this season (including 21 kilos of coarse ware, alone). Among the cooking wares, a large, vertical-rimmed stewpot, inventoried as C-2014-8, is suggestive of preparation of food for a large number of people. The fineware consisted of glazed-painted, sgraffito and Protomaiolica bowls, plates and pitchers, dated to late 3rd quarter of the 13th century. A number of fragments of glass drinking vessels were found. The majority of these vessels were Frankish prunted or plain beakers, one of which was inventoried as MF 2014-31. Also present in the glass assemblage was a blue-green goblet stem. Activities other than dining are also represented in the pit fill. Two bronze spindle hooks (as Corinth 12, cat. 1227) attest to wool-working somewhere in the vicinity.

It is hypothesized that in the phase immediately post-dating the deposition of pit fill 274, the room remained unwalled and continued being used as a location for dumping. The southernmost part of the room was roughly leveled with the deposition of a fill (Context 266, 1078.1-1080.80 N, 121.90-123.90 E) which contained cooking and tableware, dated to the 3rd quarter of the 13th century, and fragments of at least two Frankish beakers. It appears that the activities (construction, cooking and dining) represented by the waste were occurring away from Room 7. The above fill was then trampled, apparently acting as a rough working surface, and two pits (Context 275, 1080.16 – 1081.30 N, 121.85 – 122.74 E and Context 305, 1080.32 – 1080.95 N, 120.90 – 121.68 E) were cut into it. While the fill of pit 275 (Context 263, 1080.16 – 1081.30 N, 121.85 – 122.74 E) included a great deal of ash and charred organic debris that might suggest that some cooking activity was going on in the pit itself, the nature of the tableware and other finds in this and other deposits (discussed below) seems to suggest that the majority of the cooking and dining activities associated with the finds were happening elsewhere. The ceramic assemblage of cooking, coarse and fineware was very similar in style to those dumped in fills 266 and 274, primarily Protomaiolica or sgraffito plates and bowls, as well as fragments of a very fine Frankish bottle (as MF 1774) and fragments of at least two finely decorated prunted beakers, one (as MF 92-38) with blue threading. The relatively high quality of the tableware and the breakability of the glass hint at a level of dining and of storage of dining vessels requiring more space and perhaps more formality than could be offered in this outdoor, unroofed and unfloored space. Furthermore, the quantity of ceramics deposited in the fills discussed above (nearly 7 kilos of fineware between 274, 266 and 263) suggests that the dining activities represented food consumption for a large number of people (or many, smaller dining events), and it seems unlikely these events were happening in the small space offered by Room 7 or its associated corridor (each not more than 3 meters wide). The multiple levels of fill in pit 305 (Contexts 304, 301 and 297; contexts 301 and 304: 1080.32 – 1080.95 N, 120.90 – 121.68 E; Context 297 1080.53 – 1080.95 N, 121.31 – 121.73 E) echo this idea.

By the 4th quarter of the 13th century, the space underwent a change in shape and perhaps in function. A layer of fill roughly leveled the southern half of the room at this time (Contexts 251, 254 and 260, which are equivalent, 1078.10 – 1082.10 N, 121.00 – 124.00 E). The foundation trench for Wall 59 (Context 244 and 253, 1078.00 – 1084.70 N, 119.600 – 121.80 E) was cut into this surface in the southern portion of the room, and into an unexcavated, exposed surface in the northern portion. This trench was cut by a 0.75 meter wide robbing trench (1077.20 – 1082.5 N, 119.65 – 121.1 E). Thus the terminus post quem for the construction of the wall is the 4/4 of the 13th c. Two body sherds from a unslipped metallic ware pitcher, dating between 1275 and 1335, strengthen this date. Excavations of the robbing trench in 1992 and 1994 suggested that Wall 59 was robbed out in the 15th or 16th centuries (NB 854, B12, pp. 18-19, 47; NB 854, pp. 18-23). The precise date of construction of Wall 157, bounding the space on the east, is more tenuous, as foundation trenches have not been located, but given the nature of some later fills which seem to lie against the wall (Context 233 and 237), it is likely the wall was constructed at very nearly the same time as Wall 59 and that the wall completely filled the foundation trench. Both walls were constructed of randomly placed courses of fieldstones, occasionally supported by tiles or smaller cobbles. Wall 59 measured 0.65 meters wide and appears to have been roughly 8.6 meters long, including the area now robbed out. Wall 157 measured 0.65 meters wide, and was 8.1 meters long. Wall 157 appears to abut Wall 156, which forms the boundary between Room 8 and the corridor, and is truncated by an Ottoman-Period well (NB 877, pit 95-2). Wall 59 is abutted by a pit on its southern end (NB 850 B94, NB 854 B2).

Even after it was delineated with Walls 59 and 157, Room 7 seems to have remained unroofed until as late as the early 14th century. No flat, floor like surface appears to have been laid in the space until the surfaces uncovered under the tile fall by excavators in 1992 and 1994, and these layers are dated to at least the early 14th century (NB 864, B16, B19 and B31). Prior to this, nothing resembling an actual floor was uncovered. The surface cut for the construction of Wall 157 (Contexts 251, 254 and 260) was rough and uneven, as was a surface laid immediately above it (Context 233). In addition to the rough quality of the surfaces in this area, there is further evidence to suggest that, even after Walls 59 and 157 were built, Room 7 remained unroofed. While no fire pits appear to have been cut into the surface of Room 7 after the construction of the walls, two refuse pits containing charred organic material and tableware were cut in the southern half of the room (Contexts 243 and 248) after the walls went in. At the same time, the northern third of the space appears to have been used primarily as a refuse dump. A 20 cm thick fill in this area, comprised primarily of building materials (fieldstones and roof tile) was excavated as Context 222 (1082.4 – 1085.5 N, 119.4 – 122.6 E). In addition to the fieldstones and tiles, a piece of incised opus sectile was found, indicating (perhaps) that some of the dumping activity may have been related to activities in the church, which at one point had Cosmatesque paving. It is unclear if the unexcavated surface beneath 222 is a more compact continuation of the same dumping activity.

A series of fills were laid down (Context 233, 1078.00 – 1081.10 N, 120.70 – 123.90 E; 230, 1080.49 – 1084.90 N, 120.3 – 123.5 E; Context 225, 1080.60 – 1084.30 N, 120.49 – 122.70 E). It is unclear whether these deposits were placed deliberately to level the area, or whether they correspond to use and/or dumping phases. All three deposits appear to have been trampled after deposition. A small, circular, refuse pit (Context 227, 1080.70 – 1081.30 N, 122.20 – 122.50 E), dug into Context 225 in the southern third of the room and containing a small amount of fine ware (slipped plain glazed), hints that even the southern portion of the space was still being intermittently used as a refuse dump into the late 13th century.

Soon after this dumping event, Room 7 was apparently deliberately leveled. Dumped fills (201, 220, 218 214) raised the central third of the room by ca 0.10 m and the southern third by 0.04 m, until the southern two-thirds of the surface were roughly level. A lozenge-shaped structure and bench-like structure (Structure 208 1082.60 – 1084.25 N, 122.20 – 123.0 E) was constructed on top of this new level surface and abutting wall 157. Only one course high, the structure measured 0.75 meters long and 0.6 meters wide. The function of this structure remains in question. It appears that Room 7 continued to be used as a dumping location after the construction of the bench. Three dumping events, including two surface dumps (Contexts 197 and 199) and a pit, filled with organic material, fine and coarseware (Context 205) were placed on top of, or cut into, a lens of fill deposited after the construction of the bench (fill 202, 1077.80 – 1080.90 N, 120.80 – 123.90 E, saved as Lot 2014-25). Two sherds of Archaic Maiolica from Context 202 suggest a date as late as the early- to-mid 14th century for all four deposits.

The Corridor N of Church

It appears that in the late 13th and early 14th centuries, the corridor space north of the church underwent several changes in function, perhaps related to the construction or ‘finishing’ of spaces, like Room 7, within or around the church complex.

Like Room 7, it appears that in the late 13th and early 14th centuries, the space between the north wall of the church and Room 7 (referred to here as the ‘Corridor’) was an outdoor, unroofed multi-purpose space used for cooking and the dumping of dining-related waste.

The earliest level reached this session is the unexcavated trampled surfaces at both the eastern and western ends of the space. These surfaces are hard-packed and studded with pebbles on the east, and with large pieces of flat-lying roof tile, on the west, their compaction suggests that during the late 13th century, the corridor space might have functioned as a walkway or alleyway of some sort.

At the end of the period represented by these unexcavated surfaces, the space underwent a shift in function. A looser packed surface (Context 389) was laid down in the west, and a trench (Cut 403, 1075.40 – 1077.80 N, 124.10 – 125.10 E) was dug, bifurcating the space on a roughly NW-SE line. This trench is in rough alignment with the eastern wall of Room 7 (Wall 157). While it has been suggested the cut could represent a demolition or robbing event associated with Wall 157 (or an earlier iteration thereof), its function remains unclear. Understanding the function of this cut will be instrumental in identifying the use of the unexcavated surfaces, as the presence of a wall bifurcating the corridor would preclude use of the space as a walkway.

After the cut was filled (Context 398), in the 3rd quarter of the 13th century, four post holes were cut into the southern third of the corridor, running along a roughly west-east line (Contexts 333, 341, 365 and 360), all about 0.7m from the north wall of the nave (Wall 20). They appear to be grouped in pairs of two, with contexts 333 and 341 placed 0.7m apart, followed, to the east, by a 2m gap, and then contexts 359 and 364, set about a meter apart. Their function is not clear, but their width (between 25 and 35 cm) could indicate an expectation that they would bear weight. It has been suggested that they may have served as supports for scaffolding, or perhaps for a pitched roof placed over the southern side of the corridor for a short period of time.

From this point on, the northern and southern halves of the space appear to have served different functions. Deposition of layers of fill occurred throughout the space for the entirety of the period covered by this session’s excavation. While small dumping or leveling events spread across the space, the northern half of the corridor appears to have been a focus for larger-scale dumps of both construction and cooking refuse. A large pit, roughly 7x2 meter (Context 408), running roughly west to east and cutting through the northern portion of trench fill (398), was filled with multiple layers of what appears to be general dumping or construction debris (Contexts 379, 366, 377 and 354). Also note that the pit is bounded by the EW wall that forms the S wall of unit 2 room 8 and 9. Fine ware from all four lenses of fill date these dumping events to the late 3rd – early 4th quarter of the 13th century. The filled surface appears to have still functioned as a walkway or work surface at this time, as each layer of fill excavated appeared trampled. At around this time, the space was further delineated by the construction of a wall (Wall 380), abutting wall 157, separating the northern portion of the corridor from the southern boundary of Room 7, only one course of which was extant. The wall appears to have been constructed of randomly placed fieldstones. Some leveling tiles were found in the wall. It measured 1 meter long and 0.7 meters wide. Into this newly-delineated space, a series of fills were deposited (Contexts 374, 386, 383, 376, 372, 361, 353, 351, 349, 346, 343, 327, 325, 285, 321, 313 and 300). The amount of time that passed between dumping events is unclear. The lenses of fill, as mentioned above, appeared packed and trampled, and so it is likely that the space was being used as a walkway or work surface while the layers of fill were being deposited. Ceramic assemblages from these contexts date them to the end of the 13th century. The deposition of the final three lenses of fill (Contexts 321, 313 and 300), created a level surface (elev. 85.05 for all three) in the space for the first time since the north-south trench was cut, and it is possible that much of the dumping activity took place over a very short period of time as an effort to create a level surface in the space. This notion is, perhaps, supported by evidence from previous excavation in the outdoor area east and northeast of the church. A patio, paved with rough, square limestone blocks, covered the open area to the east of the church (NB 829 B29, pp. 53-56). One paving stone, located immediately to the east of the northeastern boundary of the trench, suggests the possibility that this paving continued into the corridor space. If the corridor space was paved, the level surface created by the deposition of contexts 313, 300 and 321 would have been immediately beneath it and these surfaces would, therefore, have functioned as a level subfloor for the pavement.

The idea that the activities represented by the repeated depositions of fill in the courtyard may have taken place over a short span of time is strengthened by the nature and location of five pits cut at various points into the uneven trampled fills in the northern half of the room. Three (Contexts 336, 326 and 371) were cut into a trampled layer of fill (372), on the western side of the space, while two (Contexts 329 and 344) were cut into another trampled layer of fill (343), in the mid- to-eastern side. The surfaces into which the pits were cut are not level. Four (Contexts 336, 326, 329 and 344) appear to have been fire pits and contained a high proportion of ashy, carbonized organic material. Because all five pits are located north of the line of post holes discussed above, it is likely that the post holes, and whatever they supported (perhaps scaffolding or a pitched roof?), were still in place at the time the pits were dug and filled (with fill contexts 334, 325, 328 and 342). Like pit 205 and refuse dumps 197 and 199 in Room 7, all of this activity appears to have occurred in the early 14th century, and the fills of the pits in the corridor space contained material similar to that in Room 7 (fragments of prunted beakers, as MF 3071 and 1992-38 from context 329, for instance, and fragments of glazed fineware, from context 334, 325 and 370).

Both the post holes and the pits were covered over in the early 14th century, when the leveling fills (contexts 313, 321 and 300) were laid down. These fills seem to be part of the same event as leveling fill 194 in Room 7, which covered pit 205 there: perhaps these four fills (194, 313, 321 and 300) were laid down as a final stage in the preparation of Room 7 and the corridor to be floored and/or paved. A corroded iron knife blade (Context 319, inventoried as MF 2014-20), was found lying on the surface (Context 389) adjacent to post-hole fill 331. The presence of the knife blade lying on a trampled surface could suggest that the deposition and subsequent covering of the knife may have happened relatively quickly.

Conclusions:

Excavation in Room 7 and the corridor space during this session revealed that neither Room 7, nor the space north of the nave, were ‘finished’ spaces until at least the start of the 14th century, when it appears that a floor was laid down in Room 7 and paving was laid down in the Corridor. It is unclear whether or not some of the cooking and dumping activity evident in the spaces related to the Church or the structures associated with Unit 2 to the north prior to their monumentalization were associated with the construction or preparation of the areas for building or not. Certainly, construction debris from the church area (or other nearby monumentalized space) was dumped, particularly in Room 7, in which fragments of opus sectile, marble wall facing, marble and glass tesserae and other building materials were found (in contexts 230, 254 and 274, all dated to the second half of the 13th century). The quality of the tableware, both fine and glassware, from the pits, particularly in Room 7 – indicates that these were secondary deposits coming from somewhere close, but not directly connected, to the area.

The nature of the glassware found in pit fill 274, in Room 7 (as well as some glass fragments from fills 266 and 263) might shed some new light on glass deposits found at higher elevations in 1992 and 1994. Williams and Zervos have suggested that Units 1 and 2 were, in the late 13th century, part of a nascent monastic community being built up around the church (Williams and Zervos 1993, 11-13). A deposit of glass representing at least 42 Frankish cups and 3 glass lamps, was uncovered in Unit 7 in 1992 (NB 854 B6, B7, B16, NB 850 B96, B97, now Lot 1992: 77, Williams and Zervos 1992), apparently from within a collapsed cupboard. It was interpreted as being property of this community and as having been intended for use by a specific group of people (Williams and Zervos 1996, 26). The similarity of the forms found in Lot 1992: 77 to ones removed from pits filled in the area before it was roofed or walled (for instance, a number of prunted beakers corresponding to Lot 1977-77-1 and 3) could suggest that a nascent monastic community may have been dining near Room 7 (and depositing dining waste within it) prior to the construction of the built monastic building identified by Williams, constructed when the floors in Room 7 were finally laid. Conversely, it could be suggested that prunted beakers of these forms were in common circulation in late 13th century Corinth. Further study of the glassware recovered around Temple E, SE might help to clarify these issues.

Further excavation in the corridor is needed to clarify the chronology of the construction phases of the church. More work in the corridor might also clarify the nature of the north-south cut (Context 403) and the hard-packed surfaces it cuts into. Excavating within the spaces to the west of the corridor might further help to clarify the relationship between Rooms 6 and 7 and Rooms 5 and 4, excavated this season by Kirsten Lee. A flat, packed surface, similar to that uncovered in the corridor space, was found in the southern portion of Room E (at elev. 84.84), and could potentially be related to the outdoor spaces discussed above.

Recommendations for Further Excavation:
Room 7
1. Finish excavating in the northern third of the room (underneath Context 222), in order to understand better the earlier dumping in the mid-3rd quarter of the 13th century.
2. Clarify the southern portion of the Room (especially those contexts related to Wall 380). The deposits directly below Wall 380 might indicate better what exactly is happening in this space during this short time span of activity in the 3rd quarter of the 13th century, before Room 7 is actually Room 7.

Corridor
1. Continue excavations in the Corridor to find the foundation trench of Wall 20, the north wall of the church, which will help to date the construction of the church.
2. Continue to articulate the relationship of the Corridor with the spaces to the north and west. Is there any similarity of the corridor with the rooms directly to the west (where Team Blue replace with names of excavators is excavating this season)?