| Collection: | Corinth | |
| Type: | Basket | |
| Name: | Nezi Field, context 1233 | |
| Area: | Nezi Field | |
| Title: | Dump fill west of wall 1222 | |
| Category: | Deposit | |
| Notebook: | 1107 | |
| Context: | 1233 | |
| Page: | 0 | |
| Date: | 2013/06/12 | |
| Lot: | Lot 2013-020 | |
| Stratum: | Inclusions of tiles, ceramic sherds, cobbles, pebbles, glass, crushed mudbrick, bricks, boulders, lime concrete (total ~ 40%) | |
| Description: | Top slope of the context is slight down to the N. The soil color is light reddish brown. The soil compaction is compact. The soil is very poorly sorted. It is silty sand. | |
| Notes: | This deposit consists of very poorly sorted soil with inclusions of large pieces of broken roof tile. Cobbles and pebbles are mostly angular or semirounded, and there are a few limestone boulders that appear to be roughly worked and which may be pieces of wall blocks. The soil alternates in layers of darker and lighter reddish brown, but Panos is confident that they are part of the same deposit. It appears similar to the deposit that the Blue team is digging on the east side of 1222 and may be part of the same dumping operation. We recovered a large piece of pebble mosaic flooring, which may indicate that there is a continuation of the floor visible to the north of our area at a lower elevation. As we're moving further south in this deposit towards the edge of the packed earth floor, it appears that this fill actually continues below the floor and predates it. It may have been dumped in the area as preparation for the floor, which was then broken or eroded away at a later time. It also now appears that the circular area visible below the SW corner of deposit 1226 (see notes for that deposit) was also a part of this same fill. Since this fill continues below the floor, we removed the floor as a separate context (see structure sheet 1236) and continued to dig 1233 below it. Wea re finding several pieces of roof tile with lime concrete encrusted on them. Although we started out sieving 50% of this context, we changed to sieving 20% after recovering little of interest for a long period of time. A diamond-shaped tile was also found in this context, of a type that is often used for flooring. These sorts of materials suggest that construction activities may have been taking place in the area. Below this fill layer, we are uncovering another section of packed earth floor (this one abutting the west face of wall 1222). This floor appears to have been cut deliberately along its southern edge, where inclusions of ash and charcoal are also visible. Below 1233 along the northern edge of the area is a band of soil with large tile pieces and boulders -- possibly a destruction layer. Below the southeastern part of the fill (extending below pit 1205) the soil is more limey and redder in color, with fewer large inclusions of tile and stones, and may be another surface or a continuation of the one further north. In the rest of the area, fill 1233 seems to continue into lower elevations. Three pieces of cut limestone were also uncovered as we descended in elevation. They appear similar to the blocks from wall 1222 and may have fallen from there. They seem to be floating on soil and not making up part of any structure. We are making the decision to close this context at this point. Although some of the deposits wea are uncovering may simply be lenses representing different dump loads in the same fill operation, we will keep them separate for now and possibly combine them later. We are starting with the tile-rich area in the northern end on Guy's advice and will move to the other dump-like deposit in the area in order to ascertain their relationship to the two surfaces -- do they extend underneath them or not? 17/6 A small strip of soil was left at the northern end of wall 1222 while the Pink and Blue teams were working on opposite sides so as to avoid cross-contamination (and because we initially thought that wall 1222 might continue in this area). It will now be removed by the Blue team as context 1248. It is possible that this area is the same deposit as Pink's 1233 and/or Blue's 1227, but we will need to excavate it fully and compare notes and elevations before we can tell for sure. 20/6: After comparing notes with the Blue team, the similar elevations, soil compositions, and inclusions present in 1233 and 1227 have led us to equate the two contexts. They likely represent the results of the same dump fill operation around wall 1222. | |
| Context Pottery: | Fineware. Early Roman70 bodysherds. ; Cooking ware. Stewpot, outturned rim, similar to 2005 2-39, stewpot. 3 rims. (saved to lot) .; Fineware. Pre-Roman290 bodysherds. ; Coarseware. Table amphora as 2005 1-27, table amphora. ; Fineware. Archaic figural closed vessel1 bodysherd. (saved to lot) .Boy riding horse; Fineware. Pre-Classical19 bodysherds. ; Coarseware. Red-painted table amphora, table amphora. 1 rim. (saved to lot) .; Fineware. Whiteware plain, cup. 1 bodysherd. (saved to lot) .; Coarseware. Micaceous water jar, jar. 1 rim. ; Fineware. African red slip, form 50A? (saved to lot) .; Fineware. Unidentified red slip, bowl. 1 rim. (saved to lot) .hemispherical with outturned rim; Coarseware. Niederbieber 771 rim. 2 bodysherds. (saved to lot) .; Coarseware. Amphora as Hesperia 2005 119, amphora. 1 rim. (saved to lot) . | |
| Pottery Summary: | 370 frag(s) 1.68 kg. (2% saved) fineware. | |
| 1122 frag(s) 15.75 kg. (1% saved) coarseware. | ||
| 492 frag(s) 3.66 kg. (1% saved) cooking ware. | ||
| Context Artifacts: | Glass, clear colorless: 1 rounded and thickened rim (bottle?) with double trail of clear blue. (saved to lot); Lamps, type 27, glazed handle 2, shoulder 1 (saved to lot); Glass, clear light blue: bs 8, tubular base 1, base 1, rounded rim 1, squared rim 1 (saved to lot); Stone tesserae: white 9, pink 1, dark grey 7; Slag, 3 (saved to lot); Attic glazed lamp, shoulder 1 (saved to lot); Plaster: 39 red, 27 white,7 yellow, 3 black, 40 light blue, 5 striped; Pebble conglomerate flooring, 9; Marble revetment, 21; Glass, clear light green: bs 10, rounded and thickened inward rim 2, rounded and thickened outward rim 2 (saved to lot); Diamond brick, 1; Worked bone pin or awl with groove around head. Similar to MF-10136. p. L. 0.062; Rectangular bricks, 8; Glass, clear green: 1 rounded and thickened rim (bottle?) with single trail of the same color. Diam. .07 (saved to lot); Worked bone pin or awl. Similar to MF-9902. p. L. 0.044; TC palmette antefix on tile, black and red paint. See Hesperia Supplement 35, RT 45. 5th century? (saved to lot); Iron: rounded shafts 11, square shafts 2, nails 4, tacks 4, strips 3, blade 2, hook 1, slag 9; Glass, color unknown: bs 42, tubular base 1, thickened rim 2, rim 2, flaring rim 1 (saved to lot); Worked bone, flat rectangular slab, p. dim. 0.030 x 0.008 x 0.002; Glass, clear colorless: bs 15, squared rim 1 (saved to lot); Bronze: buckle(?) 2, pin(?) 2, slag 6, circular fitting 1 | |
| Period: | Late Roman (5th -6th c AD) | |
| Chronology: | Early 5th century | |
| Grid: | 257.59-255.66E, 1007.17-1009.98N | |
| XMin: | 255.66 | |
| XMax: | 257.59 | |
| YMin: | 1007.17 | |
| YMax: | 1009.98 | |
| Site: | Corinth | |
| City: | Ancient Corinth | |
| Country: | Greece | |
| Masl: | 85.37-85.8m. | |
| References: | Coins (5) |
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