Corinth Basket Nezi Field, context 455

Collection:		Corinth
Type:		Basket
Name:		Nezi Field, context 455
Area:		Nezi Field
Context Type:		Fill
Title:		Dumped Ash
Category:		Deposit
Notebook:		1103
Context:		455
Page:		0
Date:		2009/04/08
Stratum:		ash, lime, clay, sand
Description:		Top slope of the context is level. The soil color is light greyish yellow. The soil compaction is compact. The soil is well sorted. It is silt.
Notes:		Structure 455 has been identified as a hearth or fire pit and is located N of walls 366 and 332 and next to B54. The structure was completely overlaid by context 454 which was a layer of ash. Structure 455 can be best described as a hard surface made of clay and sand. It seems that the largest percentage of the material is clay. It has a roughly rectangular shape and up to this point it doesn't seem to be associated with any other structures (floors or walls). We are not able to determine whether the hearth/fire pit is associated with walls 366 and 332 but we hope that with further excavation of the contexts around it we will be able to understand its relationship with other structures. We discussed with AC the formation of the hearth/fire pit. Is this a surface created accidentally by the burning of material or is it a deliberate construction of a surface for burning? This is related to the use of the hearth/fire pit: was it used only once or did it have multiple uses, was it an accidental burning or a more controlled action? Given the high percentage of clay in the vicinity of the structure one could argue that the surface was accidentally created by burning material. The clay, present in the soil, was baked because of the fire and turned hard. However, the regularity of the shape and the fact that we don't have up to now more patches of this hard surface around it might suggest that the surface was created on purpose and furthermore that what we have here is a controlled activity. We believe that the surface was created on purpose even though we cannot yet determine how many times it was used or what was burnt there. We hope that the results from the water flotation samples from the ash layer (454) will help us clarify the construction and use of the hearth/fire pit. Later Notes, 9/4/09: The above notes were written on 7/4/09 after the removal of context 454 (ash layer) and the exposure of the hard surface that was identified as structure 455. In the preceding notes we present the discussion of whether it I an intentional structure or no and what purpose it served. On April 8 it was decided to excavate the structure and send a sample for flotation. While we were removing the surface, Guy suggested that what we had was not a structure but dumped ash. Burning was taking place somewhere else but the ash was thrown away here. The hard surface that we were digging was ash. In a way we had multiple layers of ash. It was then decided to change the structure form into a deposit form (from now on context 455) since what we had was dumped ash and not a structure. While we were excavating 455 we noticed that there were cobbles under the hard surface along with a few tile shards. Further excavation of the context for the removal of the hard surface by Panos showed that the sides of the pit seemed to be on a higher elevation than the center. 15L of the soil were sent to flotation in order to determine among other things whether we had ash or a different material. The flotation of the ash layer 454 by T.Webb showed that there was no organic material. Also there was not much ash in the context. What we had was plaster and T. Webb suggested that it seemed that they were burning lime. Now we are waiting for more analysis of the remains from the flotation of 454 to identify the material and from the flotation of 455. Guy mentoned that burning limestone is part of the process of making cement. So what we have here is a small 'industrial' area.
Context Pottery:		Fineware. slipped plain glazed (1100-1300), bowl. 1 bodysherd. ; Cooking ware. stewpot. 1 bodysherd.
Pottery Summary:		1 frag(s) 0.01 kg. (0% saved) coarseware.
		1 frag(s) 0.01 kg. (0% saved) cooking ware.
Context Artifacts:		Bone- indeterminate of Mammalia, md (Mammal - Medium) - 1 example(s).
Period:		Early Modern (1831-1949 AD)
Chronology:		2nd quarter to mid 19th c.
Grid:		262.58-261.57E, 1008.25-1008.99N
XMin:		261.57
XMax:		262.58
YMin:		1008.25
YMax:		1008.99
Site:		Corinth
City:		Ancient Corinth
Country:		Greece
Masl:		86.93-87.1m.
References:		Report: Nezi Field 2009 by Stella Diakou and Cavan Concannon (2009-03-30 to 2009-04-16)