| Collection: | Corinth | |
| Type: | Basket | |
| Name: | Temple E, Southeast, context 684 | |
| Area: | Temple E, Southeast | |
| Title: | fill of suspected osteotheke S of wall 20 | |
| Category: | Deposit | |
| Notebook: | 1109 | |
| Context: | 684 | |
| Date: | 2015/05/06 | |
| Stratum: | some charcoal flecks; less than 5% very small white inclusions; 5% medium pebbles (1-2cm) sub-rounded; tile fragments clustered (10-20cm); some roots and snails, very little very fragmentary pottery; some bones; some coarse pebbles/cobbles (5-7cm) | |
| Description: | Top slope of the context is slight down to the E. The soil color is dark yellowish brown. The soil compaction is loose. The soil is very poorly sorted. It is clayey sand. | |
| Notes: | Note that one box of bones was collected. This should be joined with 2015-04, since they almost certainly come from the same individual as 711. One lamp fragment was found and thrown. Since the context was excavated over several days, the following takes the form of a daily journal. See the summary in the end for a synthesis. This context was a continuation of 529, which had exposed two crania but had to be cut short because of lack of time. The goal was to see whether the context really is an osteotheke and see how many individuals there were and how they were laid out. Initially, no boundaries were found despite the records for 529 saying the edges were found in 2014. The soil seemed mixed: while the main matrix was consistent, there were tiny patches of reddish, blackish, and yellowish soil. The bones and tiles similarly seemed poorly sorted and clustered towards the W half and middle of the context. Very loose soil seemed interspersed with more compact soil, but not in a clear or consistent way. After some scraping, it was decided to simply start exposing the crania and tiles since no clear boundaries were found. During this process, on going down a couple of inches, a possible cut was identified to the SW part of the context. This cut was later confirmed - see below. May 7th: Ants were crawling all over the context, and some small but deep holes were noticed - it seems obvious there is some bioturbation happening. Some roots were also found. The edge of the cut remained elusive, but was found to the S and SW. It is now clear the bones, along with fragments of tile and pottery (10-20cm in size), are clustered closely together in about a 40x50cm area in the middle of the context. The tiles are on top, under, and to the side of the crania. However they were initially laid, they are now quite scrabled, so that there is no clear indication of eg a lining of a pit, etc. I chased the NW edge of the cut all the way to the corner of walls 20 and 21. Only then did I realize that what must have happened is that the wall had retained moisture and softened the soil around it. As further evidence, the NW boundary was diffuse. I therefore assume that the original pit was roughly circular, but I overexcavated a rectangular strip to the NW of it, in the corner of walls 20 and 21. Supporting this is one sherd that was found at a diagonal angle against what probably was the original edge, lining up with the rest of the outline of the cut. May 8th: Explored the E edge of the cut, which remains elusive. After delineating and pedestalling the cluster of material in the middle, an interim photo was taken and removal of some of the floating pebbles and small fragments of tile begun. Through this, a clearer idea of the deposit was got. The deposit consists of pebbles/cobbles 5-10cm in diameter, tile fragments 5-20cm in diameter, and a few pottery fragments. A few fragments of bone were also pulled, interspersed with the rest of the material. Removing some of the topmost layer revealed more pebbles/cobbles, but fewer fragments of tile. Two tiles to the N of the deposit are vertical and lined up in a way that might indicate a lining for the pit, but thus far this is the only indication for that. It was also noticed that a fragment of pottery seems to be actually penetrating the small cranium - a sign of heavy disturbance. The skulls were lifted on May 8th - see 711 and 713. This seemed to confirm earlier observations: the pit was haphazardly filled, with tile fragments and pebbles wedged against the skulls but not in a systematic way. The inclusions continue similar below the skulls - it remains to be seen how deep. May 11th: As some of the fill was removed, it became apparent that there were many more bones and at least the top half of 713 (the child) is articulated. The child skeleton lies below an adult scapula. It seems the child burial is (partly) articulated, while the adult burial is not. So far, only bones from the upper body of an adult have been found: it seems likely that the child burial disturbed the top half of an earlier adult burial, and the bones encountered were laid fown haphazardly on top and around the infant burial. Part of the skull of a third individual (child?) was also exposed to the N of the skull of 713. Because so far the only part remaining of this individual is part of the cranium, it was not fiven a separate skeleton number but will be boxed with disarticulated bones from 684. Most of the adult bones seem to be lying on top of 713 or at a higher elevation, but a couple seem close to the lowest level of 713. May 12th: Under the skull and ribcage of the child 713, a mandible and vertebrae were found. This is probably the missing mandible of skull 711, perhaps indicating where the original burial was and where it was disturbed. On excavating further, it became apparent that the mandible belonged to an articulated adult skeleton. Excavation was stopped because exposing the full skeleton would have required extending the excavation area considerably and removing overlying contexts within this extension. SUMMARY: The sequence of events can be reconstructed as follows: An adult was buried in the area partly under 684. Later, child burial 713 was dug. In digging the grave, the adult burial was disturbed. Its head, left arm, scapula, and some other bones, were removed and then laid on top of and around the child burial. The mandible, the spine, the right arm, and presumably most of the rest of the skeleton (as yet unexcavated), were not disturbed but remained in the ground, now underneath the child. During excavation, we could find roughly the edges of the cut (740) for the child burial, but could not find the bottom. Thus we overexcavated slightly into the articulated parts of the adult burial. There was no observable shift in the soil matrix or compaction, probably because they both used the same soil and were both equally loose because they were both grave fills. Excavation was stopped with only a few bones of the adult exposed, as excavating it would have required extending the excavation substantially. The skull 711 and the bone material boxed under 684 are almost certainly from the same individual, and should be studied together (as bone lot 2015-04). There was, however, a fragment of skull found which doesn't seem to belong to 711 or 713, and this was also boxed with 684. If the adult burial is excavated during a later season, special care should be taken to try to find parts of the boundary between cut 740 and the cut for the adult grave, and to realize the cut it probably not identical to the cut for the child burial. | |
| Context Pottery: | Fineware. protomaiolica, slipped (1260-1325), bowl. 1 rim. ; Fineware. metallic ware, unslipped (1275-1335), pitcher. 2 bodysherds. ; Fineware. veneto, bowl. 1 bodysherd. | |
| Pottery Summary: | 10 frag(s) 0.13 kg. (0% saved) fineware. | |
| 70 frag(s) 0.47 kg. (0% saved) coarseware. | ||
| 5 frag(s) 0.04 kg. (0% saved) cooking ware. | ||
| Context Artifacts: | glass clear colorless BS 2; misentered; glass clear colorless rim 1 | |
| Period: | Frankish (1210-1458 AD) | |
| Chronology: | 1st half of 14th century (pottery); Turkish I? (stratigraphy, see context 32) | |
| Grid: | 123.69-122.71E, 1073.89-1074.53N | |
| XMin: | 122.71 | |
| XMax: | 123.69 | |
| YMin: | 1073.89 | |
| YMax: | 1074.53 | |
| Site: | Corinth | |
| City: | Ancient Corinth | |
| Country: | Greece | |
| Masl: | 85.07-85.37m. | |
| References: | Images (4) |