| Collection: | Corinth | |
| Type: | Basket | |
| Name: | Nezi Field, context 717 | |
| Area: | Nezi Field | |
| Title: | The Large Fill | |
| Category: | Deposit | |
| Notebook: | 1106 | |
| Context: | 717 | |
| Page: | 0 | |
| Date: | 2012/04/14 | |
| Lot: | Lot 2012-006 | |
| Stratum: | Inclusions: bone, tiles, small stones, large stones | |
| Description: | The soil color is yellowish brown. The soil compaction is loose. The soil is poorly sorted. It is clayey sand. | |
| Notes: | Excavation suspended momentarily since it now appears that red context 721 overlays this one. We will return to 717 after 721. We have now returned to 717. It rained quite a bit yesterday (April 19, 2012). Fill 717 is a wily devil and we have thus far set our men, the pick-wielding Kakouros brothers, upon it on three occasions. The first was halted after the shock discovery that context 721 probably overlaid it. This was, of course, prior to the disappointment that formed the descent of our former grand red layer into contexts 721, 720, and 725. After a pause to excavate these, and to gather ourselves emotionally, we returned to 717. An army helicopter circled a number of times. While everyone, supervisors and workmen, were cracking wise about austerity and gas prices, Panos and Tasos found the formerly elusive edge of this layer running parallel to wall 731 and then off to the east, from the southern edge up to the northern scarp all the way out to just SW of Disappointment Rock (for the nearby edges and Disappointment Rock, consult context 729). 717 grows deeper as it moves east, beginning with a very shallow layer S of wall 731 and a stretch of soil under 731, which is probably the foundation trench for wall 731, running east for about 1/3 of a meter. Confirmation of the foundation trench theory will rest upon excavation of this area, which will be the responsibility of a later team. In any case, 717 then dips somewhat, moving down to the east before hitting the scarp boundary still somewhat above the area reached by the 1960s excavation. There is a very handsome drawing of this in the handwritten notes. 717 was continued with context 735, which we opened out of an excess of caution. For a context of this depth, there was little in the way of small finds. The selection of stones, large and small, contained within was somewhat interesting, as 717 ended up being to the E of wall 731 and sitting directly above the foundations for another wall, a context number for which having not yet been assigned. The boundaries were fairly clear, as the north and east sides were scarp or gunk slump, and the west was wall 731 in most areas. After the excavation of 721 and 720, and the helicopter visit, the boundary to the SW was clarified. The context sat, meanwhile, atop an easily distinguished lower area, rising up in a sort of promontory we took to calling Point Sausage, the rise that formed the extreme NE of our area (ca. E 275.5-276, N 1012.7-1012.5) , after the stone we called Disappointment Rock was separated during gunk cleaning. Most interesting, however, was the area between Point Sausage and wall 731, which excavation revealed to be holding a wonderfully cemented wall, possibly dating to the late Roman period, and in a line with wall foundations running from the north, moving past Disappointment Rock to the west, and passing under our northern scarp. These foundations and our cemented wall may indeed be the same. Future excavation will reveal this, but perhaps not for a time, since there is quite a bit of excavation to be done in the western areas before one could in good conscience return to this area to excavate that wall. | |
| Context Pottery: | Cooking ware. concave thickened rim stewpot (800-950)1 rim. 8 bodysherds. (saved to lot) .sparkly fabric; Fineware. pre-Medieval8 bodysherds. ; Coarseware. pitcher. 2 rims. (saved to lot) .late variety; Coarseware. LR Amph. 2. 1 rim. 2 bodysherds. (saved to lot) .Late variety; Coarseware. bowl. 1 rim. (saved to lot) .late variety | |
| Pottery Summary: | 9 frag(s) 0.1 kg. (0% saved) fineware. | |
| 239 frag(s) 7.8 kg. (4% saved) coarseware. | ||
| 22 frag(s) 0.6 kg. (45% saved) cooking ware. | ||
| Context Artifacts: | glass clear green, bs 1; glass clear green, goblet, stem base 1 | |
| Period: | Byzantine | |
| Chronology: | 8th-9th centuries NPD | |
| Grid: | 276.06-272.88E, 1009.5-1012.32N | |
| XMin: | 272.88 | |
| XMax: | 276.06 | |
| YMin: | 1009.5 | |
| YMax: | 1012.32 | |
| Site: | Corinth | |
| City: | Ancient Corinth | |
| Country: | Greece | |
| Masl: | 86.3-86.87m. | |
| References: | Report: Nezi Field 2012 by Andrew Connor and Simon Oswald (2012-04-03 to 2012-04-20) |