Corinth Basket Nezi Field, context 1245

Collection:		Corinth
Type:		Basket
Name:		Nezi Field, context 1245
Area:		Nezi Field
Title:		Pit east of wall 746
Notebook:		1107
Context:		1245
Page:		0
Date:		2013/06/17
Description:		The context shape in plan is sub-rectangular. The top break of the cut is sharp. The sides of the cut are mixed. The break at the base of the cut is varies. The base of the cut is tapered blunt point. Truncation: The southern extent is obscured/limited by the area's (arbitrary) southern scarp..
Notes:		This cut was first detected during the excavation of deposit 1238. Initially we thought that pit 1211 was a later pit cut within the larger, earlier pit 1245. However, in addition to yielding the same types of soil--all characterized as loose, soft and with large quantities of inclusions (bone, tile, stone, pottery, shell), we noticed that the starting elevations of cut 1211 and 1245 was the same (c. 4cm difference). This suggests that what was discerned as a smaller, later pit (cut 1211) was actually just part of the fill for a larger pit 1245. Pit 1211 happened to be dug first and separately due to the fact that part of the pit was exposed when we began excavating in this southern area, and it appeared at the time to be a contained pit cut within our top-most levels. After further excavation and analysis of the pottery, it became clear that our upper levels that appeared initially to have been cut by 1211 were actually leveling fills that spilled over into pit, and were therefore not cut by 1211. In sum, the cut we identified as 1211 is arbitrary; the fill(s) of pit 1211 are equivilent to those of cut 1245. 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.
Period:		Late Byzantine (1059-1210 AD)
Grid:		277.94-275.39E, 1006.39-1008.95N
XMin:		275.39
XMax:		277.94
YMin:		1006.39
YMax:		1008.95
Site:		Corinth
City:		Ancient Corinth
Country:		Greece
Masl:		85.77-87.11m.