| Collection: | Corinth | |
| Type: | Basket | |
| Name: | Nezi Field, context 729 | |
| Area: | Nezi Field | |
| Title: | Cleaning of gunk slump in NE of area | |
| Category: | Deposit | |
| Notebook: | 1106 | |
| Context: | 729 | |
| Page: | 0 | |
| Date: | 2012/04/21 | |
| Stratum: | Inclusions: stone, tile | |
| Description: | The soil color is mixed. The soil compaction is loose. The soil is moderately sorted. It is mixed- see description. | |
| Notes: | After completing excavation of context 717, our stout pick-lords, Panos and Tasos Kakouros, felt that this area continued on a slope downwards from W-E. Director of Excavations, Dr. G.D.R. Sanders, recommended attacking the gunk slumping down from the edges of our context first. The gunk slump, or merk, is largely expected to be the result of the difference in elevation between our current level and the earlier excavations to the N and E. Our gunkectomy should allow us to approach the apparent continuation of 717 without modern slump, or merk. Fellow gentleman supervisor Oswald was caught by the poetical bug and versified upon the occasion a few lines of inspired doggerel, to wit, "When gunk does slump/ and makes a hump/ we must remove/ the crazy funk." The removal of the gunk slump (or merk, or nerp) revealed a wall at (and past) the extreme NE of our area. Our bold pick-men Panos and Tasos followed it through the gunk slumping across it a ways before it passed under (or perhaps, through) our scarp on the E edge and, running east, under modern buildup over the 1960s excavations. Gentleman supervisor Connor wandered to the E, looking for more traces of this wall, but if it continues much at all past our area to the NE, it is lost under dirt and flora. Speculation wildly, it could be related to three other walls to the NE, drawn thus in sketch (sketch in handwritten notes). Further exploration of this area in the future might show the relations of our area to that N and NE of it, and perhaps even find a home for the column that has been, perhaps not floating (as columns tend to do a poor job at this) but tempting, perhaps, since its appearance on the first day of excavation. Immediately to the N of our own NE corner, a large, rectangular stone, clearly worked, that had been considered the NE edge of our area, emerged from the gunk slump scarp and proved to be a single stone, not obviously related to any other features, at least superficially. The stone seems to be of a type with the larger stones in the N of Nezi region. Though the men's buoyant mood continued, we named it Disappointment Rock, after our frustrated hopes for more impressive stone works in the area. To the N of our scarp in this area, and to the W of Disappointment Rock, vigorous brushing and trowel work revealed the gunk-mired foundations of a continuation of a wall running under our scarp from N-S. It seems to run at roughly a 90 degree angle to the one discussed earlier and the final corner of a splendid room might nearly be ready to rise from a fountain of gunk and 717. Only time and excavation will tell for certain. The wall appears to be cemented, however, and may date to the Late Roman period. Rather than continue exploring in this (most promising) area, we are returning to the west, to areas still laboring in the Byzantine or Frankish periods. | |
| Context Pottery: | Coarseware. Mid-Byz, amphora. 1 bodysherd. ; Fineware. Arretine1 rim. plastic gladiator head; Fineware. Hellenistic glazed, krater. 1 rim. (saved to lot) .1st c BC? | |
| Pottery Summary: | 2 frag(s) 0.1 kg. (0% saved) fineware. | |
| 3 frag(s) 0.2 kg. (0% saved) coarseware. | ||
| 2 frag(s) 0 kg. (0% saved) cooking ware. | ||
| Period: | Early Modern (1831-1949 AD) | |
| Chronology: | 20th century | |
| Grid: | 276.47-274.06E, 1009.5-1013.54N | |
| XMin: | 274.06 | |
| XMax: | 276.47 | |
| YMin: | 1009.5 | |
| YMax: | 1013.54 | |
| Site: | Corinth | |
| City: | Ancient Corinth | |
| Country: | Greece | |
| Masl: | 86.04-86.77m. | |
| References: | Report: Nezi Field 2012 by Andrew Connor and Simon Oswald (2012-04-03 to 2012-04-20) |