Wesley Bennett and Lucas Stephens
Session II
Temple E Southeast Excavations
Corridor North of Church: 1075-1078.5 N, 121.5-129.5 E
Room 6: 1077-1085 N, 116.85-120.7 E
04-22.05.2015

This is the summary of the second session of excavations in the Corridor North of the Church (hereafter, “Corridor”) and Room 6 in Unit II in the area of Temple E SE. The corridor was excavated from the 4th to the 13th of May by Wesley Bennett and Lucas Stephens (Area Supervisors), Thanassis Notis (pick-man), Kostas Arberoris (pick-man/shovel-man), and Vassilis Kollias (shovel-man/barrow-man), as part of Session II. This same area was excavated previously in Session I by Wesley Bennett and by two different groups during the 2014 season: Jennifer Swalec and Emily Wilson during Session 3, and Dylan Rodgers and Maggie Burr during Session 2. Before the 2014 season, the Corridor was excavated in 1993 under Charles K. Williams II (NB 863). Grave 2015-07 in the Corridor was documented and excavated by Elina Salminen during excavation of Room 6. Room 6 was excavated from the 13th to the 22nd of May by Lucas Stephens (Area Supervisor), Thanassis Notis (pick-man), Kostas Arberoris (pick-man/shovel-man), and Vassilis Kollias (shovel-man/barrow-man). Room 6 was excavated in Session I by Emilio Rodriguez-Alvarez and in Session I of 2014 by Sarah Rous and Rebecca Worsham.
The southern boundary of the Corridor is formed wholly by the northern wall of the church (Wall 20: 1074.5-1076.1 N, 122.06-130.1 E) and its associated robbing trench (NB 835, pp. 35-44, 65-66; 1074.3-1076.1 N, 122.00-130.30 E), while its northern boundary is formed in part by the southern wall of Unit 2, Rooms 8 and 9 (Wall 156: 1077.5-1079.3 N, 123.5-129.7 E, NB 864, pp. 43-44). The latter wall (Wall 156) encloses only the eastern two-thirds of the Corridor, except for the far eastern portion which is the earlier Wall 729 (1078.48-1079.62 N, 128.35-132.11 E), before turning the corner to the north and changing into Wall 157, which forms the eastern side of Room 7. At the junction of this corner, Wall 156 continues slightly westwards to form a stub wall. During Session I, Bennett decided to establish an arbitrary line at 1078 N in order to define better the northern boundary of the trench vis-à-vis Unit 2, Room 7. An artificial line also delineated the eastern boundary of the trench (1076.12-1078.50 N, 129.00-129.60 E), while Wall 59 - the eastern limit of Room 6 (1076.00-1077.40 N, 120.90-121.78 E), extended to the south by another artificial line to Wall 20, defined the western boundary. During excavation of Grave 2015-07, it was found that the eastern end of this grave extended under the east scarp, and a 1 x 1 m extension was made to the east along Wall 20 to facilitate documentation and removal. The material from this extension was not sieved or kept for study until the grave cut was reached.
Excavation in Room 6 was bounded on the west by Wall 58 (1077-1083.3 N, 116.9-118.8 E) and on the east by Wall 59 (1082.3-1084.65 N, 119.25-120.2 E) and its associated robbing trench. The southern boundary was an arbitrary line running west-east from the southern end of Wall 58 (1077 N). The northern boundary was formed by the northern edge of Pit 8 (NB 864, B 38, 41, 69, 70; 1082.9-1084.7 N, 116.85-118.3 E, associated with the building of the museum) and an arbitrary line running southwest-northeast from the northeastern corner of Pit 8 to the western face of Wall 11 (NB 877 pp. 159; 1084.3-1085.45 N, 118.25-119.15 E).
The goals of excavation in the Corridor were to better understand the use of the space and to provide dating criteria for the construction of the church by excavating a foundation trench for Wall 20. During session II, a one meter wide area running north-south was sectioned off near the center of the Corridor (1078.2-1075.6 N, 126-127 E) in order to better define the boundaries and stratigraphy of the foundation trench of Wall 20. Once the dimensions of the cut for the trench were clear, we decided to continue excavation east of the section in order to collect more datable material associated with the foundations of the church. Goals for the excavation of Room 6 were to clarify the function and phasing of the room and to prepare it for consolidation.

Middle Byzantine (AD 802-1058)
Corridor
In its earliest phase this area seems to have been open and little used. Neither Wall 156 to the north (dated by Bennett in Session I to the late third quarter of the 13th century), nor Wall 20 to the south had yet been constructed. The presence of faunal remains and construction material in several fill layers (Contexts 682, 702, 705, 707, 710, 718, 722, 723, 724, 725), the earliest of which (725) is dated by pottery to the early 12th century, attests to mixed activities in this area, although relative to later, Frankish contexts these were fairly sterile of finds.


Frankish 1210-1458
Corridor
In the middle of the 13th century (dated by coin 2015-151 from context 743, and pottery from context 714) a foundation trench for Wall 20 was dug .56 m into the soil (Cut 745, 5.5 x 1.2 m, 1076.6-1075.4 N, 124.8-130.3 E, filled by contexts 714, 728, 731, 734, 735, 739, 742, 743). This was likely one of the first steps in the construction of the church to the south of the Corridor and seems to have changed the use of this area. The foundation trench was likely filled with the same soil into which it was dug, and contained predominantly 12th century material including Coin 2015-131 from context 714. The cement pointing on the exterior of Wall 20 identified by Bennett in Session I (dated to the mid-13th century by its relationship to context 640) likely represents the earliest phase of decoration for this side of the church, soon after but not contemporary with its initial construction.
Soon thereafter but also in the mid-13th century the area started to be used as a burial ground. Grave 2015-07 (contexts 741, 757, 767, 804) was dug into the foundation trench itself (cf. Salminen, Session II summary). Burial continued next to the church (as attested by Graves 2015-01, 2014-08, 2014-09 and 2014-11) throughout the subsequent filling and leveling operations which defined the use of the area until the third quarter of the 13th century when Wall 156 was built. The burials are generally oriented east-west immediately adjacent to Wall 20 with the head at the east, the body supine, and the legs extended to the west. Many of the graves have covering tiles over the skull and torso and stones or tiles propping up the skull. The density of burial in this area was such that later graves occasionally disturbed earlier ones (as with graves 2014-09 and 2014-01, both dated to the mid-13th century; cf. Swalec and Wilson, pp. 1-3). The skeletons represent both sexes and a range of ages including a child (Grave 2014-08, Bone Lot 2014-17), a male adolescent 17-21 years of age (Grave 2014-11, Bone Lot 2014-20), and a female adult likely over 50 years of age (Grave 2014-09, Bone Lot 2014-18).
Simultaneously to the use of the area as a burial ground, several layers of mixed fill (contexts 645, 646, 655, 658, 662, 669, 671, 680, 686, 687) containing faunal remains, charcoal, and building materials were deposited across the area. These filling operations raised the ground level of the area more than 30 cm in some places. Coins from these layers (nos. 2015-50 – context 645, 2015-55 – context 646, 2015-61 – context 658, 2015-71 – context 662, 2015-74 – context 662, 2015-76 – context 662, 2015-77 – context 662, 2015-99 – context 691) date to the 12th and 13th centuries and attest to economic activity involving both contemporary and earlier money. These fill layers are all below Wall 156 (dated by Bennett in Session I to the late third quarter of the 13th century) whose construction formed the area into a passageway linking two specific spaces: Unit 2, Room 7, and the Paved Court to the east of the church nave.
Room 6
Over the course of the 13th and 14th centuries this area underwent several phases of use as a burial site with intermediary floor layers and deep fills separating the graves.
Grave 2015-10 (cut context 803; preserved coordinates: 1079.2-1079.85 N, 118.8-119.3 E; fill context 801) was the earliest burial excavated this session in Room 6 (dated by pottery to the second quarter of the 13th century). The cut for this grave was truncated by Grave 1996-02 at the north and east and by Grave 1996-01 at the south, leaving us in doubt as to its exact dimensions (preserved L .65 m, W .5 m, Depth .14 m) and which surface it was cut into. The burial was oriented roughly north-south almost in the center of the room. It contained the skeleton (context 802, Bone Lot 2015-11) of a subadult laid supine, missing its skull and most of the left side of its body. The absent skull would have been at the north.
Grave 2015-09 (cut context 800; preserved coordinates 1079-1080.5 N, 118.15-119 E; fill context 795) was cut into Floor 6, oriented north-south along the eastern face of Wall 58 late in the 13th or early in the 14th century (NB 864 B 62; dated by Rous and Worsham for stratigraphic reasons to the late 13th – early 14th century). The grave was a simple, narrow pit preserved to a length of 1.5 m, a width of .85 m, and a depth of .64 m. It contained the skeleton of a young adult male in excellent condition (context 797, Bone Lot 2015-10) laid supine with its head at the south propped up by several stones, arms crossed over the torso, and legs and feet extended to the south. The head was covered by half of a roof tile (context 798; preserved L .28 m, complete W .38 m). The grave was later disturbed at its northern and southern ends by Graves 2015-08 and 1996-01 respectively.
These graves were sealed by Floor 5 (context 789; NB 864 B 56, dated by the excavators to the 1260s – 1270s) dated by pottery to the third quarter of the 13th century. Rous and Worsham place Floor 5 slightly later due to stratigraphic reasons. Floor 5 was excavated in 1996 in the southern half of Room 6, but left unexcavated in the northern half. Graves 2014-01, 2014-05, 1996-01, and 1996-02 were cut into it in the southern half of the room. In the northern half, Graves 2015-05, 2015-06, and 2015-08 also cut into this surface.
Grave 2015-05 (cut context 765; 1082-1083.15 N, 119.05-119.6; fill context 756) was dug 30 cm below Floor 5, against the western face of Wall 59. The grave was oriented roughly north-south and measured 115 x 55 cm. It contained a well preserved juvenile skeleton (context 761, Bone Lot 2015-05) laid supine with its head at the south, arms crossed over its torso, and feet outstretched to the north. The skull was propped up by stones and along with the torso was covered by a single tile broken into two pieces (context 758; complete L .42 m, W .17 m). Pottery in the fill dated this burial to last quarter of the 13th century.
Grave 2015-06 (cut context 766; 1082.75-1083.15 N, 117.45-118.05 E; fill contexts 762, 759) was almost completely robbed out by Pit 8 from the 1931 excavations. It was dug 42 cm into Floor 5 near the eastern face of Wall 58 in the early 14th century (dated by pottery of context 759). The grave was oriented N-S and contained the top half of an adult skull (context 764, Bone Lot 2015-06) propped up by stones and covered by a broken tile (context 760; preserved L .18 m, complete W .30 m). The head was therefore at the southern end of the grave.
Grave 2015-08 contained two burials. The earlier burial (cut context 788; 1080.55-1081.95 N, 118.05-118.6 E; fill context 784) contained a well-preserved juvenile skeleton (context 783, Bone Lot 2015-09) laid supine with its torso at a slight angle to its legs, arms crossed over its torso, and head at the south. This grave was disturbed by the later burial in Grave 2015-08 (cut context 781; 1080.2-1081.95 N, 117.65-118.85 E; fill context 770) which was dug almost immediately on top of the earlier burial. The diggers of the second burial must have encountered and disturbed the skull (context 779, Bone Lot 2015-08A) of the first skeleton which was found disarticulated and placed to the side of the later skeleton (context 775, Bone Lot 2015-08B) underneath the later skeleton’s associated covering tile (context 774; complete L .61 m, W .36 m). This disturbance truncated the top of the earlier grave cut and made it impossible to associate the earlier burial with the stratigraphy of the rest of Room 6. The later burial contained the well-preserved skeleton of a juvenile, laid supine with its head at the south propped up by stones, its arms crossed over its torso, and it legs extended to the south. Both the skull and torso were covered by tiles (context 774) – a larger one (.36 x .61 m) covered the torso and was partially overlaid on the smaller (preserved .30 x .29 m) which covered the skull. The earlier burial was dated by pottery to the first quarter of the 14th century, the later to the late 13th-early 14th century, but their fills were likely mixed. The western side of Grave 2015-08 was later disturbed by Grave 1996-04. These graves were then sealed by Floor 4 (NB 864, B 52, 53, 54), dated by the excavators to the last quarter of the 13th century.
If we follow Rous and Worsham’s date for Floor 6 in the late 13th – early 14th century, then all of this burial activity (as well as the laying down of Floors 5 and 4) must take place in a short period of time at the end of the 13th or beginning of the 14th century.
Both burial activity and the deep fill layers seem to end in the early 14th century, when the stratigraphy give way to much thinner layers (contexts 753, 752, 751, 749, 748) above Floor 4 which may be my context 754 (dated by pottery to the first quarter of the 14th century).

Conclusion
Corridor
We met the goal of finding a foundation trench for Wall 20, and it currently dates the construction of the church to the middle of the 13th century (based on coin 2015-151 from context 743). There seems to have been a gap in activity in the area between the 12th (latest context 702) and the mid-13th centuries. Further excavation could address this apparent gap and better define the use of the space in pre-Frankish levels. Following the construction of the church, the area immediately adjacent to its north wall became a popular location for inhumation. Burial practice continued while the level of soil in the area was raised by several filling operations until, in the third quarter of the 13th century, Wall 156 was built, which seems to have again changed the use of the space. Osteological analyses will provide further information regarding those individuals buried in this area, and their relationship to contemporary populations. The stratigraphy towards the western end of the trench became very difficult for the workmen to read during excavation of contexts 682, 698, and 701. Context 682 (which should predate the construction of the church) was left partially unexcavated for this reason.
Room 6
Figuring out the phasing of Room 6 is made difficult by the patchy state of excavation. The northern half of the room needs to be further excavated and put better into line with the stratigraphy of the previously excavated southern portion. This is made difficult by the high density of burial in the room - an unexcavated skeleton was found beneath Grave 1996-02 and needs to be removed.