Corinth Basket Nezi Field, context 1226

Collection:		Corinth
Type:		Basket
Name:		Nezi Field, context 1226
Area:		Nezi Field
Title:		Thin dump fill west of wall 1222
Category:		Deposit
Notebook:		1107
Context:		1226
Page:		0
Date:		2013/06/10
Stratum:		Inclusions of tile pieces, ceramic sherds, bone, pebbles, cobbles, glass, metal, some wall plaster, charcoal, brick (~ 35% total)
Description:		Top slope of the context is slight down to the NE. The soil color is light reddish brown. The soil compaction is hard. The soil is poorly sorted. It is sandy silt.
Notes:		We are digging this deposit to the west of wall 1222 while the Blue team works in the area to the east. We are hoping to determine the extent and possible construction date of this wall, to compare the finds from the area west of the wall to the finds from the area east of it, and to ascertain whether the pebble mosaic floor uncovered during a previous session extends below this wall to the west. Pebbles and cobbles are mostly angular, with an occasional very well rounded cobble, possible from a pebble mosaic floor. Below this thin deposit we are uncovering a hard-packed earth floor, which is also overlaid by (but not cut by) pit 1205 and its fill 1204. Along the west face of wall 1222, this floor is cut, and the deposit inside the cut is softer and contains more and larger pieces of roof tile than 1226 itself. This may be part of a foundation trench for wall 1222, but it seems odd that a foundation trench would not extend further south along the wall's face, especially since it stops at a place where there is no clear change of masonry that might indicate a new phase of the wall. If it is a foundation trench, it would mean that the floor below the southern area of 1226 predated the wall. Once this context was fully excavated, it came down on four different deposits. One was the hardpacked floor below the sourthern area of 1226. This floor did not continue under the entire deposit, but stopped at the borders of 3 different deposits -- the tile rich area near wall 1222 (not a foundation trench, since it extends only about 1.5 m along the western face), a circular area below the southwest corner, and an area in the north where the floor ended gradually but was not clearly cut. Boundaries with the floor, the area near the wall, and the circular area in the SW corner were clear, while the boundary between 1226 and the area to the north was more diffuse. It appears that the hardpacked floor was laid down against wall 1222, then cut or eroded and filled later with the tile-rich deposit. Another alternative could be that wall 1222 originally extended further west, and that a single course of stones was located in this area. The floor may have been laid against these, and perhaps the stones were then robbed out at a later date, leaving a void. The Blue team working to the east of wall 1222 uncovered a single course of stones sitting at a similar locaation along the east face of wall 1222. Two pieces of marble revetment were recovered from this area.
Context Pottery:		Coarseware. Gaza, amphora. 1 bodysherd. ; Fineware. Pre-Roman91 bodysherds. ; Fineware. Early Roman13 bodysherds. ; Fineware. African red slip form 67 or 68, bowl. 1 bodysherd.
Pottery Summary:		105 frag(s) 0.36 kg. (0% saved) fineware.
		227 frag(s) 3.75 kg. (0% saved) coarseware.
		125 frag(s) 0.99 kg. (0% saved) cooking ware.
Context Artifacts:		Glass, clear light blue: bs 3, outward thickened rim 1, handle 1; Marble revetment, grey and white, 2; Glass, clear green: bs 1, flaring rim 1; Bronze: oval shaped slag (?), 1; Lamp, type 27, handle 1; Glass, unknown color: bs 7, outward thickened rim 1; Iron: 1 nail, 1 rounded shaft, 1 blade; Painted wall plaster: 7 red, 2 white, 1 black, 1 green, 1 yellow, 1 red with stripes; Glass, clear white: bs 7, squared rim 1
Period:		Late Roman (5th -6th c AD)
Chronology:		Early 5th century
Grid:		258.13-255.66E, 1006.28-1009.98N
XMin:		255.66
XMax:		258.13
YMin:		1006.28
YMax:		1009.98
Site:		Corinth
City:		Ancient Corinth
Country:		Greece
Masl:		85.91m.
References:		Coin: 2013 214