Corinth Basket Nezi Field, context 1234

Collection:		Corinth
Type:		Basket
Name:		Nezi Field, context 1234
Area:		Nezi Field
Title:		Upper Dump Fill of cut 1245
Category:		Deposit
Notebook:		1107
Context:		1234
Page:		0
Date:		2013/06/12
Lot:		Lot 2013-026
Stratum:		Soil color, mixed: red, black. Among inclusions were pebbles, gravel (large and small), fragments of tile, pottery (fine and coarse), bone, shell, iron slag, large stones.
Description:		The soil color is light greyish mixed. The soil compaction is soft. The soil is poorly sorted. It is sandy silt.
Notes:		When excavating the eastern edge of 1234, we left a small scarp to distinguish the easternmost cut that seems to have turncated pit 1211; it is filled with a distinct deposit of reddish soil. To the north and west of Wall 746, as exposed in the southern area, was a patch of stones clustered as to suggest a possible foundation for a robbed out wall.Yet the stones were so close to Wall 746, that we rather think these unbonded materials to have been part of a collapsed superstructure for Wall 746 to the east. The northern section of loose stones, lying on top of a tile layer, seems to represent a collapsed superstructure of Wall 746 to the east; perhaps debris was pushed up against Wall 746 from the west, contributing to the collapse of superstructure on the eastern side. 1230 was already in place, and the collapse happened as part of episode 1234. The northern collapsed-cluster is roughly 1.23m long x .92 m. wide, going to s single-course depth of c.26m before hitting tile. The southern section of collapsed superstructure is c.56m long and .65m wide. It was removed as it sits on top of deposit 1234. Bits of mud brick were revealed during its excavation. At c. .40 m down we arbitrarily changed baskets because this deposit was so large. The large pieces of bones (many jaws and ribs, etc.) the prevalence of highly burnt cooking ware amod the pottery and the large pieces of iron slag-- all mixed together at all elevations of pass 1234, leads us to believe that this area was a dump for trash and destruction debris prior to the period in which pits 1211 and 1229 were cut. Update: Initially we made an arbitrary basket change during the excavation of this deposit, 1234, because it continued down very deep. This new deposit, 1238, was a continuation of deposit 1234 but at a lower elevation. The soil characteristics of both are identical, as are the inclusions which continue to be large and diverse (i.e., bone, shell, tile, large and small stones, etc.) While excavating deposit 1238 a cut was discerned on the northern edge of the scarp, which revealed that deposit 1234 and 1238 were actually the upper and lower fills within a very large pit cut into a reddish sandy soil on the east. Pit 1211 was cut into this larger pit. Update 18/6/13: After the full excavation of pit 1245, we determined that this pit was cut in the late 11th century, and continued to function until the first half of the 12th century when it was put out of use. Despite encountering Frankish fine ware pottery in the bottommost level of this pit (deposit 1244) and the topmost level of this pit (1234), we interpret these sherds as contaminants from beyond the southernmost boundary of pit 1245, accidentally breached by our workmen. Likely cutting pit 1245 was a later Frankish pit further to the south, running under our southernmost scarp. The Frankish sherds emerging in contexts associated with Pit 1245 are thus contaminants, coming from a breach of this later, Frankish context. We are choosing to date the contexts associated with pit 1245 (1234, 1238, 1241, 1244) on strategraphical grounds, and interpret pit 1245, and the deposits filling it, as episodes within the Late Byzantine Period for the following reasons: 1. What was initially taken to be pit 1211 contained deposits dating to the late 11th century CE (1214) and the 3/4 of the 12th c. CE (1200). There was no Frankish material whatsoever. As 1211 was later revealed to have been part of much larger pit 1245, with deposits excavated from the center of the pit (and thus avoiding the southern scarp entirely), these earlier deposits formed a sort of 'core sample' of the deposits filling the center of pit 1245. As there was no Frankish material in deposits 1200 and 1214, we believe that these deposits, further away from the southern scarp, provide a cleaner context from which to draw a sound chronology. As pottery from the uncontaminated deposits 1200 and 1214 thus carried no traces of Frankish material, they should date to the Late Byzantine period, as should pit 1245, into which they were deposited. 2. Cut 1229 and its fill (1228), cut deposit 1244 (the latest fill of pit 1245) and thus has to postdate it. Deposit 1228, which contained a large sample of pottery, produced not a single Frankish ceramic, and all dated to the 1/2 of the 12th c. CE. As this pit was far from the southern scarp, there was no chance of contamination. 3. Deposit 1224 was a fill probably intended to level the top of pits 1245 and 1229; it overlaid the top of both pits, and thus postdated them. No Frankish material emerged from deposit 1224 (which was dated by pottery to the Late Byzantine period), and therefore on the basis of stratigraphy, the deposits filling pits 1245 and 1229 should be no later than Late Byzantine. N.B.: our hypothesis can be tested by excavation of the reddish soil into which pit 1245 was cut. A substantial deposit is extant to the east of pit 1245, and a smaller deposit can also be found east of Wall 746, into which the NW part of pit 1245 was cut. This deposit should be contemporary with or earlier than the late 11th century CE, as it was cut by pit 1245 and filled with debris during the Late Byzantine period. If, however, excavation of this orange earth deposit reveals Frankish pottery, then pit 1245 and its associated deposits (1234, 1238, 1241, and 1244) must be Frankish, too. Further excavation under the southern scarp should also bring to light Frankish activity, namely the deposit(s) into which our pickmen scratched while excavating 1234 and 1244.
Context Pottery:		Fineware. misc 11th century25 bodysherds. (saved to lot) .; Fineware. ww polychrome II, cup. 2 bodysherds. (saved to lot) .joining 1238; Fineware. whiteware polychrome I, plate. 2 rims. 1 bodysherd. (saved to lot) .; Fineware. Roman12 bodysherds. (saved to lot) .; Fineware. glaze painted IV, slipped (1220-1260), bowl. 2 rims. 1 bodysherd. (saved to lot) .; Fineware. light on dark II, slip painted (1160-1200), bowl. 3 rims. 4 bodysherds. (saved to lot) .; Fineware. glaze painted IV, slipped (1220-1260), bowl. 1 rim. (saved to lot) .no overglaze; Coarseware. Frankish matte-painted, amphora. 4 handles. 2 bodysherds. (saved to lot) .; Fineware. misc 12th century1 rim. 17 bodysherds. (saved to lot) .; Coarseware. burnished slip-painted, pitcher. 1 rim. 1 handle. 2 bodysherds. (saved to lot) .; Fineware. slip painted IV, bowl. 1 bodysherd. (saved to lot) .; Cooking ware. triangular rim stew pot (1100-1270), stewpot. 2 rims. (saved to lot) .; Fineware. protomaiolica, slipped (1260-1325), plate. 1 rim. (saved to lot) .; Fineware. Syrian frit, bowl. 1 bodysherd. (saved to lot) .; Fineware. pre-Roman42 bodysherds. (saved to lot) .; Fineware. scraffito, bowl. 1 bodysherd. (saved to lot) .; Fineware. glaze painted IV, slipped (1220-1260), dish. 1 bodysherd. (saved to lot) .
Pottery Summary:		133 frag(s) 0.9 kg. (100% saved) fineware.
		2388 frag(s) 35.44 kg. (100% saved) coarseware.
		459 frag(s) 6.82 kg. (100% saved) cooking ware.
Context Artifacts:		Iron sheet: 1. Two holes. L: .047 m; W: .022 m (saved to lot); Iron: nail square shank 2 (saved to lot); Circular iron amalgams (hearth blooms?): 11 (saved to lot); Glass: 4 colorless BS; 3 blue-green BS; 1 green BS, 1 yellow BS; 3 colorless rims, 2 blue-green rims, 1 green rim (saved to lot); Lead strip: 2 (saved to lot); Slag: 19, including 1 with blue vitreous glass embedded in slag (saved to lot)
Period:		Late Byzantine (1059-1210 AD)
Chronology:		late 11th-1/2 12th century (contimated from Frankish pit)
Grid:		278.24-274.74E, 1006.44-1009.38N
XMin:		274.74
XMax:		278.24
YMin:		1006.44
YMax:		1009.38
Site:		Corinth
City:		Ancient Corinth
Country:		Greece
Masl:		86.61-87.11m.