| Collection: | Corinth | |
| Type: | Basket | |
| Name: | Temple E, Southeast, context 347 | |
| Area: | Temple E, Southeast | |
| Title: | Fill of grave, 2nd lens from top | |
| Category: | Deposit | |
| Notebook: | 1108 | |
| Context: | 347 | |
| Date: | 2014/05/19 | |
| Lot: | Lot 2014-035 | |
| Stratum: | Common tile, much human bone, some rounded to subrounded medium to coarse pebbles, little glass, plaster, iron, and bronze. | |
| Description: | Top slope of the context is level. The soil color is dark reddish brown. The soil compaction is firm. The soil is poorly sorted. It is clayey silt. | |
| Notes: | This context is the second lens of fill in the grave located north of gr 2014-04 (the grave east of the threshold), east of the bench-like structure 302, and west of the NW pier (Structure 23). This fill was differentiated from the overlying context 308 as it was darker, with more small fleck-like inclusions. It is redder than the fill under the bench (dep. 335) to the west and includes human bone, unlike this 335 fill. Excavation commenced toward the north end in an attempt to locate the head of the skeleton, as the feet were previously observed in the bottom of grave 2014-04 to the south. Removal of grave fill proceeded lower in layers when the head was not immediately apparent. 20/5 : At elevation 85.09, I started to find a layer of fill containing more thickly concentrated horizontally laid tile fragments. These were possibly laid down on top of the burial after partially filling the grave, though bone was not present directly underlying them. As the matrix did not change, the context was kept constant as well. This tile concentration's bottom was at elevation 85.03. A water sieving sample was obtained from the area in around and slightly under these tiles in the area that should be around the head an dtorso of the inhumation to test for the inclusions of grave goods in this grave. At an elevation of around 85.00, more bone started to be concentrated though it still does not appear to be articulated. Bone concentrations line the sides of the grave cut, so that 2 joining fragments of a femur were found on opposite edges. At about this level, a broken knife is present on the east side of the grave, which could be associated with the bones. Knife: 123.60 | 1073.24 | 84.98 As on 16/5 a hole was broken into this layer into a subterranean hollow, it seems very apparent that bioturbation has been very active in this fill, so it is possible that this edge-concentration of bone is due to animal or insect disturbance. It could also be due to the practise of pushing the bones of previous inhumations to one side prior to the inclusion of a new primary burial in a grave, if this pattern continues below. 21/5 : Excavation continued to uncover human bone today, including exposing most of a pile of disarticulated elements along the east edge of the grave cut. There is no indication as of yet whether these remains are piled on or next to a primary burial, though if they are, they are at a much higher elevation than the underlying burial would be. The only sign of a primary burial associated with the articulated feet is a skull close up against the NW corner of the grave. Ant activity is very clear in this north 1/4 of the grave, with many subterranean hollows present, including within/behind the skull, and the cranial vault is accordingly quite crumbly and fragmentary though the facial skeleton is particularly well-preserved, with ethmoid and nasal bones intact. It is therefore possible that the skull has rolled to this position or was moved there through bioturbation. If it is in place, then it appears that the messy w-wall of the grave cut is again in question. Very few artifacts were recovered from this area around the bones, though a couple glass fragments and nails were found and some pottery. Many tile fragments and a number of stones are in the fill laid on the human bones. Skull, skeleton 375 (BL 2014-16) - high point - 123.28 | 1073.60 | 84.99 nail by femur in BL 2014-15 - 123.43 | 1073.28 | 84.93 A sediment change to softer, blacker matrix is apparent below the skull and bone pile, so it appears that if an articulated skeleton is present, it will be part of this lower fill. 22/5 : Today I decided to re-expose the feet to determine whether only the portion of the skeleton which underlies the grave fill of gr.2014-04 remains articulated, or whether the bone pile is the original primary burial, pushed to one side during later activity. I was able to trace articulated tibiae and fibulae leading past the 188 grave cut and deeper into the soft, black matrix. Jody brings up the possibility that this color change could be due only to the decomposition of the primary inhumation, though at the present time I am unconvinced, as this color change corresponds with the apparent bottom of the pile of disarticulated secondary human remains along the east wall of the cut as well as a large amount of tile fragments. Also, in the grave to the south (gr.2014-04), the fill surrounding the secondary bone pile matched that documented around the primary articulated inhumation. This would suggest a contemporary interment of the primary and secondary remains in grave 2014-04, and a separation of burial activities in grave 2014-07. I therefore proceeded to expose completely the secondary bone deposit for photographs and to determine whether any of these disarticulated elements extend into the lower fill. Tomorrow, I think I would like to explore the relationship of the primary burial to the fill that is underlying the area where the bench-like structure (302) was placed, as I am currently less secure in the idea that this grave cut was cut along the edge of the bench, as the skull is very close up against the west edge (though it could have been displaced from its original position), and a few other bones are pushing this boundary. Very little other than human bone was recovered, though tile is present in fairly large quantities along the matrix change, and some potteyr was collected along with it. Very little glass and a few nails were also recovered. Nail 1 : 123.62 | 1073.26 | 84.89 Nail 2 : 123.23 | 1072.27 | 84.94 The primary inhumation is assigned skeleton no. 375 and BL 2014-16. 23/5 : Today, I first mapped the location of those bones that are visible for both the disarticulated bone pile as well as the primary burial. I then proceeded to explore the extents of the primary burial, especially the most westerly point of the shoulders, in an attempt to determine whether the burial really does undercut and therefore preceed the bench structure. The ventral humerus did not extend far into the scarp, indicating that the defined cut was consistent, though it is possible that the humerus and other bones of the shoulder indicate a more westerly point for the grave cut than would be feasible if it were to have been cut along the bench, as it may have rather far undercut it if this is the case. A small scrap of very friable crush was recovered directly overlying the sternum in the concerns that it could have been the remains of a necklace, and sent to conservation. Nicole is not optimistic that it is anything other than dirt, however. Other than this, very little material other than bone was collected. 26/5 : The scrap turned out to be only dirt. Today I photographed and removed the majority of the secondary bone pile, in the process uncovering the cranium under the femur. These were numbered as per a printed photograph as they were lifted. The cranium seems to go further down, and to possibly be entwined with the articulated skeleton's pelvis, and so was left in situ. The remainder of the bones, including all of the primary inhumation, was left for next session. 2/6 (session 3) : Today excavation resumed on this grave, and the majority of the primary inhumation (torso through pelvis) was exposed. I also expanded the grave cut to the west, exposing more of the disarticulated bone pile on the right side of the primary inhumation. This indicates that the bench-like structure (302) was undercut a bit by the grave cut, though not enough to necessitate the grave having been cut first. The bones on the west side of the primary burial are roughly articulated, so may not have been disturbed by the later grave cut for skeleton 375, or were roughly pushed aside rather than gathered to be piled over the later burial. 3/6 : Today excavation and recording was minimal on account of rain. 4/6 : Today the torso of the primary inhumation was mapped and the remainder exposed and photographed so it can be lifted tomorrow. Another skull and more disarticulated skeletal material was exposed along the west side of the body extending into the west wall of the grave cut (317). It appears that 317 disturbed an earlier grave built against wall 21 and later built over by the bench (302). After removing the primary inhumation, I will attempt to differentiate between those elements that belong with the secondary inhumation an dbone pile (391) which was mostly placed on the east side of the primary inhumation to remove and associate those elements with 391's bone lot, and bones belonging to the still earlier burial. A sample for flotation was taken from the sediment inside and surrounding the pelvis (sample 2 of 2). 5/6 : Today the remainder of this grave was mapped and the primary inhumation lifted and laid out by its anatomical identification in trays. The spine and pelvis did not fare as well as the remainder of these bones and crumbled quite badly as they were lifted, despite attempting a variety of lifting techniques including wrapping the spine in tin foil to stabilize it or liftin gthe pelvis as a block. The cranium for the secondayr burial was also removed, and only appears to be half complete, with the right and left temporals partially preserved but no vault present from the more anterior portions of the calvarium. One quite large chunk of rock is partially embedded in the broken cavity within, as are a number of ribs. Points were taken on a number of skeletal elements as follows: Disarticulated element by head: 123.39 | 1073.58 | 84.92 L. scapula: 123.47 | 1073.43 | 84.88 R. scapula: 123.19 | 1073.38 | 84.87 391 cranium top: 123.63 | 1073.04 | 84.91 bottom: 123.61 | 1073.04 | 84.76 R iliac crest: 123.3 | 1072.99 | 84.84 L. femur (disarticulated, from skeleton context 473): 123.17 | 1072.84 | 84.89 Petrous from temporal: 123.3 | 1072.72 | 84.87 L. patella (estimated): 123.56 | 1072.51 | 84.83 mandible: 123.3 | 1073.47 | 84.87 cranium likely from truncated grave to west (skeleton number 473) (top): 123.25 | 1072.68 | 84.85 bottom: 123.42 | 1072.70 | 84.84 Bottom of 375 cranium: 123.27 | 1073.63 | 84.81 6/6 : Today the grave was completely excavated, including all sediment underlying the skeleton in the grave. The head of the primary inhumation and the shoulders were propped up as the grave cut was not as deep under the head and feet of the skeleton, but also because the head was resting on a number of small tile fragments, the largest of which was made of coarse, yellow-green fabric and measured 9 x 9 cm across. These tile fragmetns were roughly horizontally laid but packed in grave fill under the head and shoulders. Under the west side of the rib cage of the primary inhumation, a number of left hand bones were retrieved - I assume, left over from the 391 inhumation being incompletely removed before the 375 inhumation was laid in the grave. A similar concentration was found just to the south of the disarticulated 391 cranium, but of the R hand. I bagged these bones separately and placed them with the 391 bone lot (BL 2014-15). Under the grave fill, the next layer is hard and reddish, with frequent cement and plaster inclusions as well as some human bone. Along the west wall, a semi-circular black stain is present which contains frequent greenish-yellow clay inclusions as well as the remains of another skull (473) andmore disarticulated human skeletal remains, all highly fragmentary and found broken in situ. The preservation of the external table of these bones also differentiates them from the primary and secondary inhumations. This area appears in the west scarp to also extend under the area the bench (302) was prsent, and I believe represents the remains of a much earlier grave cut which was disturbed by this (317) grave cut, the bones left in place while the grave was used for the 375 and 391 inhumation burial events. After conferring with Jody over whether these bones could or should be left in situ for when this grave is excavated as a unit, it was decided I should remove those bones falling securely within the 317 grave cut and which were probably disturbed during the course of the proceeding burial events. I have decided to attempt to keep these bones separated along with the darker fill surrounding them and so have changed contexts. It is likely, however, that some bones that would rightly have been included in this context were removed during excavation of the rest of this grave. A large bucket of pottery was retrieved from this context, as was some marble fragments, tile fragments, a few faunal remains, and very little glass, iron, or bronze. A few fragments of painted wall plaster were also retrieved. Panagiotis and Angela sieved for me. | |
| Context Pottery: | Fineware. glaze painted I, slipped (1110-1130), bowl. 2 rims. (saved to lot) .non join 529; Fineware. plain glazed, unslipped (800-1100), bowl. 1 rim. (saved to lot) .; Fineware. Venetian I, bowl. 1 rim. (saved to lot) .; Coarseware. jar. 1 bodysherd. (saved to lot) .wavy combing; Coarseware. stamnos. 1 rim. 1 handle. 6 bodysherds. (saved to lot) .matte painted; Fineware. protomaiolica, slipped (1260-1325), plate. 1 rim. 1 bodysherd. (saved to lot) .; Fineware. archaic maiolica, slipped (1270-1325), pitcher. 1 bodysherd. (saved to lot) .; Fineware. protomaiolica, slipped (1260-1325), bowl. 1 rim. (saved to lot) . | |
| Pottery Summary: | 63 frag(s) 0.2 kg. (14% saved) fineware. | |
| 493 frag(s) 3.15 kg. (2% saved) coarseware. | ||
| 139 frag(s) 0.63 kg. (0% saved) cooking ware. | ||
| Context Artifacts: | wall plaster, black, 8; slate 3; iron, nail, square shanked, 10; glass, clear, colorless, bs, 9, rim, 2; glass, clear, colorless, thin walled beaker base, 1; glass, clear, colorless with applied blue threads, rim, 2 as MF-91-16 (saved to lot); glass, clear, black, thick walled, bs, 1; Cosmati flooring, 4 (saved to lot); wall plaster, lumps, 8; ceramic waster 1 (saved to lot); glass, clear, colorless, bs, 1 lamp as MF 11122; bronze, handle, 2 as MF 2014-33; wall plaster, red, 7; marble chip 30; wall plaster, red with tan stripe, 1; iron hinge? (saved to lot); glass, clear, colorless with applied blue thread on rim, rim 1; brown chert 2; rooftile frgts 16 | |
| Period: | Turkish I (1458-1680 AD) | |
| Grid: | 123.9-122.75E, 1071.96-1073.88N | |
| XMin: | 122.75 | |
| XMax: | 123.9 | |
| YMin: | 1071.96 | |
| YMax: | 1073.88 | |
| Site: | Corinth | |
| City: | Ancient Corinth | |
| Country: | Greece | |
| Masl: | 84.71-85.18m. | |
| References: | Images (9) Coin: 2014 150 Coin: 2014 152 |
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