"dc-title","Icon","dc-description","Collection","UserLevel","dc-creator","Name","dc-subject","dc-publisher","Id","Redirect","Type","dc-date","Chronology"
"First Session Summary","","We, Stella Diakou and Cavan Concannon, from March 30 to April 16th, 2009, began excavation in the northwest area of Nezi Field. The corners of our excavation area are as follows: SW corner - E255.41 and N 996.48, NW corner - E255.40 and N1014.89, NE corner - E263.89 and N1013.85, and SE corner - E263.38 and N 1006.08.  We worked under the supervision of Guy Sanders, Alicia Carter, James Herbst, and Ioulia Tzonou-Herbst. We excavated with Panos Stamatis (pick man), Stavros (barrel man), and Sotiris Raftopoulos (shovel man). ; ; In 2008 a large context was defined but only partially removed with context 411.  Our objective was to finish excavating this context (which we did with contexts 434, 436, 439, 440) and unite the stratigraphy of the northwest corner of the Nezi field.  We sought to continue investigation of Turkish, Frankish, and Byzantine remains uncovered here, along with early modern activity that disturbed these earlier remains.  The overall goal of the Nezi field excavations has been to show the relationship of this entire area to the area immediately to the north which was excavated in the 1960s under the the direction of H. S. Robinson.; ; Early Modern (1831-1949 CE); ; Throughout our excavation area we excavated a number of agricultural deposits containing 18th and 19th century pottery, mixed with 13th and 14th c. material (contexts 434, 435, 439, 442, 443).  The mixed nature of these deposits, coupled with the fact that they cover most of the area of excavations, suggest that this area was plowed and used for  agricultural purposes during the early modern period.  Added evidence for this conclusion is the removal of an early modern wall in the 2008 excavations, which served to mark the boundary between agricultural fields in the area.; ; Earlier than these agricultural deposits, but still during the early modern period, we have a number of dumped fills to the W of B54 which seem to be the result of intentional human action. This is indicated by the fact that the pottery in these deposits date from the 12th to 14th centuries, yet they are laid on a 19th century deposit (458).  The mixed character of the deposits shows that they were probably dug out sometime in the 19th century and redeposited.; ; We excavated three deposits that we interpreted as dumped stones (447-449). They seem to have been intentionally laid down, perhaps from wall-robbing activity in the area.  There is evidence in the area for the robbing of several walls (366, 332, 306, B54) but we cannot associate these piles with any particular wall-robbing activity.  They may have also been placed here after other digging activity in the 19th century.; ; Another indication of human activity in the early modern period is an ash layer (454 and 455).  This deposit was found sitting on the 19th century deposit (458) that underlay most of the area W of B54.  It consisted of a layer of loose ash that was laid on a hard packed layer of limestone and ash.  This may have been related to cement-making activities in the area.  It has been suggested that ash and burnt limestone from a nearby kiln were thrown here and later contact with water hardened the lower layer (455).; ; The key to our dating of this area was a deposit (458) that was overlaid by several piles of stones and the deposits of 12th-14th century dumped fill.  We realized early on that context 458 was running under much of the area W of the robbing trench (B54) running N-S on the E end of our area (at approximately E264) and so we carefully removed the deposits that overlaid it.  Though we expected a Frankish or Late Byzantine date for context 458, pottery analysis determined that it contained 19th century materials, which forced us to change our understanding of this area.  The extent of the deposit and the number of deposits that were dumped on it suggest that this may have been a usable outdoor surface in the 19th century. ; ; In the course of our excavation of early modern deposits in the northeast part of our area (443, 458) we uncovered a floor which was constructed of hard packed red soil (not yet excavated), which had been partially revealed in 2008 with the removal of 411. This floor was cut at a later point by cut 272. Three stones forming a wall stub on the W side show a clear alignment with the red floor.  There appear to be remains of a pit (not yet excavated) that cuts the red floor and there is also an ashy deposit which may be a hearth where it meets the robbing trench (B54) at the E limit of our area. The floor has not been excavated yet; therefore, we cannot assign to it a definite date. The 19th c. deposits (443, 458) that overlaid the floor can give us a terminus ante quem for its construction. ; ; Frankish (1210-1458 CE); ; The most significant evidence for Frankish activity is the robbing activity (cut 451) at the intersection of walls 366 and 332. The excavation of that area and the dating of the pottery from the deposits that filled the robbing trench (450, 453) showed that walls 366 and 332 were robbed sometime in the 13th-14th centuries. This area was specifically chosen because of the availability of good corner blocks from the walls. The excavation revealed that the walls were not fully robbed down to their foundations; instead we were able to find the continuation of walls underneath the bottom level of the robbing trench. The date of the robbing trench gives us a terminus ante quem for the construction of walls 366 and 322. Further excavation in this area is necessary in order to determine the relationship of this robbing trench with the N-S robbing trench (B54) and the existence and extent of the foundation trenches of these walls. ; ; During the excavation of this Frankish robbing trench we uncovered a white ware jug which has been interpreted as a foundation deposit for wall 332.  The jug was revealed in the scarp of the robbing trench with the removal of context 453, but it is more likely that the jug is associated with the fill of the foundation trench on the W side of wall 332.  This foundation trench has not yet been excavated or revealed.  We expect that the cut for the foundation trench will be revealed with the removal of the reddish floor surface W of wall 332.; ; The deposits (456, 465) that covered structures 477 and 478 (a possible partition wall at the corner of the N-S robbing trench [B54] and wall 366) and floors 480 and 481 may be slightly earlier than the robbing trench (451).  Pottery from these contexts has so far yielded dates in the 12th and 13th centuries.; ; Another area of Frankish activity has been identified near the original intersection of walls 366 and 306 (now both robbed).  Wall 470 is overlaid by deposits that date consistently to the 12th and 13th centuries (469, 473-475), which makes the date for the wall’s construction some time before the end of the 12th century.  Wall 470 is only extant on the E side, where three roughly hewn stones show the outer face of the wall.  The width of the original wall to the W is not known, which makes it difficult to understand its relationship to walls 366 and 306.  ; ; Late Byzantine (1059-1210); ; The earliest activity in our excavation area is dated in the Late Byzantine period. We have fragmentary architectural remains and deposits dating to this period, including drain 426, a pebbled floor just S of cut 272 (roughly E258-260), structures 477 and 478 and their associated floor (480 and 481). The possible connection of this latter floor with the red floor that was uncovered south of the robbing trench (roughly E263/N1006) might lower the construction date for walls 366 and 332.; ; In the course of the 2008 excavation drain 426 was uncovered in approximately the center of the northwest area of the Nezi field. The excavation of contexts 460, 461 and 462 revealed the continuation of the drain toward the north and it showed that the drain postdated the pebble and cement floor just S of cut 272 (roughly E258-60). The excavation of part of the fill of the drain (462) gave us a date in the 10th-11th centuries. If the dating of the drain fill remains consistent in future excavation this will give us a terminus ante quem for the construction of the drain and the pebble and cement floor. Alternatively, the excavation and dating of the floors can give us a terminus post quem for the construction of the drain, since the drain’s construction cut the floors. Our excavation in the area of the drain showed that later on the drain fell into disuse and was partially destroyed and overlaid with 18th c. deposits (463 and 464).; ; Conclusion; ; Our excavations in the Nezi Field revealed a variety of deposits dating from the Early Modern to the Late Byzantine period.  The architectural remains that we uncovered showed evidence of later destruction and robbing.  We uncovered a truncated structure surviving as a patch of pebble and cement flooring with an associated drain in the Late Byzantine period.  We revealed evidence for wall robbing in the Frankish period.  Further, the excavation of a variety of deposits indicates that this area was used as a dumping yard and then as an agricultural area in the Early Modern period.;  ; Finally, with the removal of context 474 at the NE corner of wall 470, our excavation inadvertently stumbled upon a well that we think may be of Byzantine date.  Having removed some large stones from the area (474) we disturbed the soil below enough that our pickman’s foot broke through the surface, discovering the well.  Filled after it went out of use the water moving through the drainage system below probably brought the level of the fill lower over time, leaving a ceiling at the mouth of the well.  The well head is still well below the current excavation surface and so it will need to be excavated later.","Corinth","","","Nezi Field 2009 by Stella Diakou and Cavan Concannon (2009-03-30 to 2009-04-16)","Corinthia | Ancient Corinth | Central Area | Nezi Field","","Corinth:Report:Nezi Field 2009 by Stella Diakou and Cavan Concannon (2009-03-30 to 2009-04-16)","","Report","",""
"Nezi Session II 2009","","Introduction ; ; We, Stella Diakou and Jody Cundy, from April 27 to May 15, continued excavation in the west area of the Nezi field. The corners of our excavation area are as follows: NW corner: 1015N, 255.5E, NE corner: 1014N, 264E, SE corner: 999N, 266E, SW corner: 999N, 2555.5E. We worked under the supervision of Guy Sanders, Alicia Carter, James Herbst and Ioulia Tzonou-Herbst. We excavated with Kostas Arberores as pickman, Stavros * as barrowman and Vaggelis Kollias as shovelman. ; ; Most of the agricultural layers below the plough zone were removed during excavation in session I. Our goal in session II was to remove any remains of early modern activity and bring the area down to the occupation layers of the house (wall 305, 306, 365, 366, 332, 313, and 334). The overall goal of the Nezi field excavations is to show the relationship of this area to the excavated area to the North (North of Nezi). ; ; Early Modern (1831-1945 CE); ; During session II we excavated only one early modern deposit. We excavated a refuse pit (cut 486), located south of the Giambouranis’ house, which contained early modern mixed with redeposited earlier material. The pit was truncated at a later point by the construction of a 19th century boundary wall (cut 272). It is possible, based on the proximity of the pit-cut 486 with the Giambouranis’ house, together with the general activity of the Giambouranis’ that the pit was actually opened by them. The excavation of the pit fits well with the excavation of the early modern deposits during session I.; ; Frankish (1210-1458 CE); ; In the northwest corner of our excavation area we exposed a collapsed circular built well (structure 495). The fill of the well below the lowest preserved course of roughly hewn limestone blocks has not been excavated. The upper most fill (492) of the cut for the construction of the well (cut 493) produced 14th c. material whereas the second lens (494) contained tumbled blocks from the built well along with 13th c. material indicating a collapse of the upper courses of the well and a possible date for its destruction in the 13th century. ; ; In the southwest corner of the excavation area, west of wall 306, a destruction lens of collapsed rooftiles was exposed in session I. This destruction layer was disturbed with the opening of a pit (cut 501). It is possible that this pit represents an effort to sink a well that was abandoned when they hit bedrock. The excavation of the pit fill (499, 500) produced late 13th c. material. This gives us a putative terminus ante quem for the destruction of the room west of wall 306 and north of wall 376. From the pit fill (500) we uncovered a bronze earring with copper wire decoration (MF 2009-09). ; ; Also postdating the use phase of the house is the robbing out of the northwestern corner of the house formed by the intersection of walls 306 and 366 (robbing trench cut 497). The homogenous nature of the fill of the L-shaped cut indicates that both walls were robbed out in the same event. The robbing trench fill (496) produced a late 13th c. date. ; ; A major activity during the Frankish period in our excavation area was the opening of a sequence of six intersecting pits cut through the red clay floor associated with wall 313 to the east and wall 332 to the west. The fill (508) of the latest circular pit (cut 510) produced late 13th c. material. The function of pit cut 510 is unclear; the diameter is consistent with a well cut, though the depth (0.52m) and stopping point would contradict this interpretation because the bottom of the pit consisted of a loose matrix with no impediments to further digging if their intention was to sink a well. Pit cut 510 was cut into the fills (511, 512) of a larger oval pit (cut 513) which also produced late 13th c. material. The finds from this pit which include an intact horse cranium and articulated sheep/goat vertebrae with both the sacrum and innominate, indicate that it was probably used as a refuse pit. Pit cut 513 cut the fills of two earlier pits; pit cut 517 and pit cut 526. The later of the two, pit cut 517 was a shallow circular pit that yielded a lot of building material together with late 13th c. pottery (fills 515, 516). The earlier pit cut 526 was another circular and relatively deep pit that produced also later 13th c. material (fills 518, 521, 522, 523, 524, 525, 544). Pit cut 526 is cut through the fill of an earlier pit (cut 528) with which it shared a northern boundary. The fill (530, 531, 532, 533, 534, 535) of pit cut 528 gave late 13th c. material. It seems that the pit was not filled to the top immediately but rather left open for a relatively long period of time as pieces of the red clay floor, into which the pit was cut, were recovered from the fill of the pit c. 0.25-0.40m below the elevation of the floor. The function of the pit is not clear; the pit has a depth of at least 1.7m and cuts bedrock at the lowest revealed part of the cut which might indicate that it is a well. However, its diameter of 2m seems too large of such a feature. The lowest excavated fill produced a lot of building material. Pit cut 528 has not been excavated to its full extent. Pit cut 528 is cut into the fill of an earlier oval pit to the north (pit cut 527). Pit cut 527 is the earliest pit in the sequence. The fill (514, 509, 519, 541, 542, 520, 543) of the pit gave pottery dating to the 3rd quarter of the 13th c. ; ; The extensive disturbance in the area has caused slumping of the layers in and around the pits. The overlapping pits in this area seem to indicate a preference for digging pits in already disturbed areas where the soil is less compact. All the pits are imagined to have cut from the red clay floor such that they postdate the use phase of the floor and its associated walls 313 and 332. It seems that by the end of the 13th c. at least this part of the house was not in use. ; ; Byzantine ; ; Two fills (502, 503) were excavated in the room bounded by walls 364, 332, 305 and 306. In the center of the room there is a concentration of rooftile fragments and whole tiles that may be associated with the rooftile collapse to the west of wall 306 (not yet excavated at this time), creating a destruction horizon. Two lenses of fill that were removed partially obscured the rooftile destruction east of wall 306 and produced material dating to the second half of the 12th c. Further excavation is necessary to determine whether the rooftile concentration east of wall 306 represents redeposited material or in situ collapse. ; ; An inscribed sherd of a Byzantine pitcher was recovered from cleaning context 484 and inventoried as C 2009-04. ; ; Conclusion ; ; The area south of wall 366, east of wall 313 and north of wall 305 appears to be approaching layers contemporary to the destruction phase of the house. It is expected that the area north of wall 366, surrounding the N-S drain 426 still preserves later disturbances and further excavation should concentrate in this area.","Corinth","","","Nezi Field 2009 by Stella Diakou and Jody Cundy (2009-05-19 to 2009-05-20)","Corinthia | Ancient Corinth | Central Area | Nezi Field","","Corinth:Report:Nezi Field 2009 by Stella Diakou and Jody Cundy (2009-05-19 to 2009-05-20)","","Report","",""
"Courtyard of Byzantine house and rooms to north and northwest, Late Roman to Frankish levels","","North of Nezi (Green) Report 2009: Scott Gallimore & Will Bruce; ; The following summarizes results of excavations during the first session of 2009 at Corinth in three areas north of Nezi Field in the area previously excavated in the 1960s under the direction of H.S. Robinson: the courtyard of the Byzantine house, the room immediately north of courtyard, and the room immediately northwest of courtyard.; The excavations in all three rooms were supervised by Guy Sanders (director) and Alicia Carter (field director). Our pickman was Athanasios Magourakis, our shovelman Kostas Arberoris, and our barrowman Panos Stamatis who replaced Sotiris Raftopoulos in the first week. The main priority for this session was the room north of the courtyard which is located between E265.30-E270.50, N1035.60-1039.20. This room was excavated in 2008 during the second session by Nathaniel Andrade and Jody Cundy, and had been previously investigated in 1961 by Steven Lattimore as part of Room 12 (NB 230, f.170). It became necessary for us to excavate parts of the courtyard, which is located between E265.20-E273.50, N1027.85-1035.70, in order to reach Byzantine levels within the room north of the courtyard, as deposits and other features in these two spaces are related stratigraphically.; The courtyard was excavated in all three sessions in 2008 and was originally uncovered during the 1961 season (Room 12 NB 230; NB 235; NB 229). After reaching earlier levels (possibly Roman) in the room north of the courtyard, we moved excavation to the room northwest of the courtyard, located between E260.90-E264.60, N1034.85-N1038.75, in order to reach contemporaneous levels. This room was excavated during the second and third sessions of 2008 by Sarah Lima, and also during 1961 by Charles Williams (NB 253, f.10). The goal of this year’s excavation is to expose the walls and features of the Byzantine house for future consolidation and presentation. Our report will be organized chronologically by room.; ; ROOM NORTH OF COURTYARD (March 30-April 8; April 13-14); ; Frankish: ; Most of the Frankish levels of this room had been previously removed and were only encountered at the very beginning of excavation. The first action of this session was an archaeological cleaning, which removed pottery and materials dating to the late 13th century (5911). The only other Frankish features encountered in this room, were three superimposed walls (5473, 5913, & 5914) which were removed according to a permit obtained this year. These three contexts were actually all components of the same wall from different phases: 5473 was the superstructure, with 5913 & 5914 as foundation levels. If any floor levels were associated with these walls, they must have been excavated during the 1960s, since the earliest floor from the 2008 season (5585) is late Byzantine.; ; Middle-Late Byzantine:; Late Byzantine levels were encountered throughout the entire room, the latest being from the 12th century. Twelth century levels extended in both the eastern and western halves of the room. In the western half, following the removal of the Frankish walls, the first 12th century context we encountered was leveling fill 5921. Also removed in this area was a small tile platform (5930), which had been revealed by the 2008 excavation. The majority of the 12th century contexts found in the western half of this room consisted of a series of small leveling fills (5921, 5927, 5931, 5933, 5936, & 5962). A floor surface which may have been associated with these leveling fills was excavated in 2008 as context 5585. ; The northern foundation trench (5960, cut 5961) for wall 5463 was also encountered during excavation; a portion of this feature was also identified in 2008 as context 5573. Beneath some of these leveling fills, context 5963, however, was part of an intact floor surface, which dated to the late 11th - early 12th century. We took samples for flotation from this floor as part of a new vigorous strategy of flotation analysis initiated this year at Corinth. Recovered from this sample was a large quantity of bone, some eggshell, and even fish scales (specialist report not yet compiled).; In the eastern half of the room, 12th century levels included a small pit (5926), several small leveling fills (5939, 5941, 5942, 5944, 5945, 5948, 5955, & 5958), and a threshold block (5865), which was removed. The floor surface with which this threshold could have been associated is context 5800, stretching from the doorway into the courtyard. ; The last 12th century context in this room was a leveling fill (5948) located in the northeast part of the room, the removal of which revealed an intact clay hearth (5975, 5976, cut 5977). The contents of this hearth were also water sieved, but nothing substantial was recovered. The only plausible floor surface, which could be associated with hearth 5975 would be context 5963. This floor was greatly truncated and did not come into contact with the hearth itself, but could conceivably agree stratigraphically.; The majority of the contexts encountered in this room dated to the late 10th –  11th centuries. This seems to indicate that this was a period of intense activity in this room. Many of these contexts were apparently leveling fills (5969, 5970, 5973, 5980, 5981, 6001, 6003, 6009, 6015, & 6026), the most remarkable of which was context 5981, a large assemblage of broken tiles, originally thought to have been evidence of a roof collapse, but later determined to be a substantial leveling fill, since the tile assemblage did not cover the entire floor surface and the tile fragments did not join; the small size of the tile fragments and the fact that none of them were intact led us to believe this did not represent a destruction event.; Two more partially intact floor surfaces (5989 & 6033) were recovered from this area. The first, 5989, covered the entire southern half of the room and consisted of compacted earth. The second, 6033, is believed to have been a construction floor (i.e. a compact floor surface created during a construction phase, on top of which an actual floor was laid), and covered the western half of the room. Numerous small finds, including many nails, were recovered from these two contexts. We also uncovered the western foundation trench (5993, 5994) for wall 5990. Wall 5990 was previously labeled W38, as a part of the plan from the 1960s.; Two robbing trenches were identified near the entrance of the room, in the southeast corner. One (5998, 6000) may represent the removal of a threshold block in the 11th century. The second robbing trench (6011, 6014) is likely evidence of the removal of part of the superstructure of a late-Roman wall running N-S, which is now labeled 6016. Within this robbing trench was stone feature (6020), which contained a fragment of marble sculpture (S2009-1).; More of wall 6016 was revealed when context 6026 & 6093 were removed. The entire course of this wall was left unexcavated, since it predates the chronological focus of this excavation. However, the E-W jog of this wall appears to be a continuation of wall 10111 in the room northwest of the courtyard. The relationship of these two walls will be discussed further in the section below re: Room Northwest of Courtyard.; We expected to find the foundation trench for wall 5562 at the northern limit of this room. With the excavation of context 6093, what appeared to be the foundation was exposed, which indicates that this wall was built without a foundation trench, but was constructed as a terrace. ; ; Early Byzantine-Late Roman:; After reaching 10th century levels in the room north of the courtyard, contemporary with the construction period of the house, and the stated goal of the excavation, the decision was made by Guy Sanders to see whether 8th or 9th century levels existed beneath the 10th century occupational level. This decision was made to try and recover useful pottery assemblages from this period, which is poorly represented at Corinth. After excavating two contexts (6090 & 6093) we determined that the 8th & 9th centuries were absent, and we had reached a late-Roman level. Thus, excavation ceased in this room.; ; COURTYARD OF BYZANTINE HOUSE (April 9-13):; ; We moved excavation into the courtyard, and we excavated some two dozen contexts in this area when it became clear that the exposed surface of the courtyard overlaid one of the deposits (6077) in the room to the north of the courtyard. ; Our excavation of this area shed some light on the construction history in the courtyard. The latest features we encountered were two walls. We removed a small N-S wall (5442), its foundation 6069, and their two foundation trenches (6056 in the east, and 6060 in the south). These walls and their foundation trenches appear to have been constructed during the 13th century. We also removed two leveling fills (6064 & 6067) west of wall 5442, which were likely deposited in the 11th or 12th century. We removed the superstructure of E-W wall 5443, which abutted 5442 and is likely contemporary. Both of these walls were slated for removal in the aforementioned permit. We encountered the foundation (6072) of wall 5443, but we did not remove it because it appeared to be much earlier. The foundation trench for wall 5443 was excavated in 2008 as context 5905 (cut 5907).; We also revealed more of the southern foundation trench (6038, cut 6039) for wall 5463. Part of this context was excavated last season as context 5903. Another significant feature we encountered in the courtyard was a pit (6044) truncated by well 5684, which contained another fill 6050, dated to the 11th century by stratigraphy.; We excavated two leveling fills (6074 & 6077) which may be related to a pebbly surface excavated last year as context 5909. Context 5909 was one of several superimposed pebble surfaces, including contexts 5900 & 5902. This season’s context 6086 appears to be an earlier example of this phenomenon in the courtyard. This pebbly surface was truncated by pit; 6084/6085 cut to contain a small partially intact amphora, originally thought to have been a pitcher. This vessel was carefully excavated and its contents removed for sampling.; When we removed context 6086, which was truncated by wall 6072, wall 5463, and well 5684, we sampled its contents for water-sieving, and the remainder was dry sieved.; ; ROOM NORTHWEST OF THE COURTYARD (April 14-16); ; After completion of excavation in the room north of the courtyard, we shifted our focus to the west to the room northwest of the courtyard. Here we excavated leveling fills, a wall foundation, and fill inside a tile-built pithos, all dating from the Frankish period.; The latest feature in this room was a cobbled wall foundation (6100), the superstructure of which was removed last year as context 5604. Beneath this context was a firmly packed soil surface. ; We performed a cleaning inside a pit excavated last year as context 5644 to determine whether last year’s excavation had reached the bottom of this context. Within pit 5644 was a small fill (6097) and a robbing pit (6103, cut 6106) associated with wall 10111. We continued excavating pit 5644 as context 6115 (cut 6116), and it became clear that this was the fill of a subterranean tile-built pithos with a depth of ca. 1.10 meters. None of the actual structure of the pithos was discovered, but the fill and the cut made its identification certain. A comparandum lies in the room north of this one (context 5504), excavated in 2008. Within the fill of 6115 were found a well-preserved late-Roman Ionic capital, a stone mortar, and a large assemblage of Frankish pottery. As for reconstructing the use life of this pithos, our excavations up to this point can only inform us that the pithos was out of use by the Frankish period. ; Removal of the pithos fill (6115) also gave us insight into the construction history of two walls (10111 & its N-S jog 6130), which predate the construction of the pithos. These two walls extend to at least the full depth of the pithos (El. 84.63. 84.48). A portion of 6130 was uncovered during the removal of 6099 & 6107, but was not identified as a wall until 6115 was excavated. We hypothesized that wall 10111 is a continuation of the E-W wall (yet unnumbered) uncovered in the room north of the courtyard.; Apart from the excavation of pit 6115, the majority of the contexts excavated in this room was several fills from the Frankish period (6107, 6108, 6110) and several fills from the Late Byzantine period (6125, 6128, 6129, 6133, 6134, 6135, & 6137) in the western portion of the room. We did not encounter any floor surfaces, nor were any documented in last year’s excavation. If any such surface did exist at a higher elevation, perhaps it was excavated in the 1960s.; The fill context 6129 which was the final context excavated this session contained substantial amount of whiteware kettles which appear to continue into the deposit below. The date for this deposit based on these kettles (1100 ± 10) provides the best chronological marker for the construction history of the levels excavated in this room which must be Late Byzantine or later. ; ; CONCLUSION; ; All three of the areas excavated by Team Green during the first session are components of the Byzantine house under investigation in the area north of Nezi Field. They represent three independent, but interconnected spaces which appear to have undergone substantial modification during their use. Several late walls removed from each room demonstrate degrees of subdivision of these spaces which occurred in post-Byzantine times. Contemporary levels have not been reached in all three rooms making it difficult to offer any overarching conclusions about the relationships between these spaces, but the fact that several contexts stretch between rooms (eg. 6077 between the courtyard and the north room) suggests that during periods of construction they were not always necessarily treated as isolated areas.; With respect to the room immediately north of the courtyard, there is likely no need for further excavation as the level associated with the construction of the house has been identified and the current revealed surfaces most likely represent Late Roman contexts. The next step for this room should be the consolidation of the features in this space and backfilling it to a level of Byzantine occupation in anticipation of presenting this site to the public. As for the courtyard, this session’s excavations have helped to provide some clarification of the construction history in the north part of this room. The southern half of the courtyard requires more investigation before any excavation can continue in the northern half and this should begin with the removal of walls 10112, 5508, and 5784 in order to better define the boundaries of the courtyard and enable the excavation of the numerous fills and surfaces which are currently visible. In the room immediately to the northwest of the courtyard Late Byzantine levels have been reached and excavation in the next session should continue with the removal of the fills in the north and south parts of this room to attempt to reveal floors and to bring the level of this room down to its original construction. An additional goal of the next session should be to continue excavating in the room immediately west of the courtyard which would provide a clear picture of the history of the entire northwest corner of the Byzantine house.","Corinth","","","Nezi Field 2009 by William Bruce, Scott Gallimore (2009-03-30 to 2009-04-16)","Corinthia | Ancient Corinth | Central Area | Nezi Field","","Corinth:Report:Nezi Field 2009 by William Bruce, Scott Gallimore (2009-03-30 to 2009-04-16)","","Report","",""
"Nezi Session 2, 2009","","North of Nezi (Green) Report 2009 Session II: Scott Gallimore & Will Bruce; ; The following summarizes results of excavation during the second session of 2009 at Corinth in three areas north of Nezi Field in the area previously excavated in the 1960s under the direction of H.S. Robinson: the courtyard of the Byzantine house, the room immediately northwest of the courtyard, and the room immediately west of the courtyard. ; ; The excavations in all three areas were supervised by Guy Sanders (director) and Alicia Carter (field director). Our pickman was Athanasios Magourakis; our shovel-man was Panos Stamatis; our wheelbarrow-man was Sotiris Raftopoulos. For two days (April 29-30) Tasos Kakouros took over as our pickman, while Athanasios Magourakis was away. We began by resuming excavation in the room northwest of the courtyard, where we left off at the end of session one. This room is located between E260.90-E264.60; N1034.85-N1038.75. We excavated this room during the first session of 2009 (April 14-16), and it was previously excavated during the second and third sessions of 2008 by Sarah Lima, and in 1961 by Charles Williams (notebook 253). We then moved to the room immediately west of the courtyard, which is located between E261.10-E264.60; N1030.80-1034.90. This room was previously excavated during the second and third sessions of 2008 by Sarah Lima, and in 1961 by Charles Williams (notebook 253). Overlapping stratigraphy compelled us to move excavation into the southern area of the courtyard, which comprised E264.40-E270.50; N1027.90-N1033.40. This area was excavated in all three sessions in 2008, the first session by Josh Geiske and Laurie Kilker, in the second session by Jody Cundy and Nate Andrade, and in the third session by Jody Cundy and Megan Thomsen. This area was identified in 1961 as Room XII and was excavated by Steven Lattimore (notebook 230, 231), and by William Berg (notebook 229). The goal of this year’s excavation is to expose the walls and features of the Byzantine house for future consolidation and presentation. Our report will be organized chronologically by room.; ; ROOM NORTHWEST OF COURTYARD (April 27); Late Byzantine:; An important deposit containing a very unusual number of white-ware kettles was revealed resting on a earth floor in the room NW or the courtyard much like deposit 6129, which overlay it (excavated during Session I). The white-ware kettle deposit was concentrated between E263-264.50; N1037.5-1038.70 and comprised 75-76% of the pottery recovered from this deposit by weight. We determined, based on handles, that there must be a minimum count of 33 vessels. Almost none of these kettles showed any signs of use or burning. We tentatively hypothesized that this deposit represented a newly received shipment (in a box or cabinet?) temporarily stored in this location. The date for deposit 6145, based on the white-ware kettles, can be very accurately estimated at 1100 ±10, which serves as one of our best dating criteria in this area. ; ; The removal of this deposit brought us to the level upon which the white-ware kettles likely stood; however, we decided against excavating this context, as it would have required us to partially dismantle well 5876, a later feature which had been pedestalled. Levels contemporary with the white-ware deposit were also encountered in the southern area of the room. The level of the southern area of the room, based on the pottery recovered from cleaning 6150, made us confident that it was late 11th - early 12th century, and thus roughly contemporary with the northern half. In the south area, several fills of late-Byzantine date (6151, 6153, 6154) had been deposited for an upper floor level, likely excavated in the 1960s since no floor is noted in this area from the 2008 excavations. These fills covered a small semicircular cut (6156), the fill of which (6155) was serving to backfill a tile-built storage pithos. The pithos was truncated by wall 5725. Wall 5725  has not yet been approved for removal by  the Byzantine Ephoria, but an application should be made in the future, since this structure post-dates the contexts to its north. ; ; ROOM WEST OF COURTYARD (April 27-May 4); Frankish:; We moved into this room in hopes of clarifying the construction date of wall 5725 and determine its relationship to the contexts in the room immediately to the north. ; ;  A series of floors and sub-floor leveling fills were excavated in this space. The fills (6159 + cut 6161, 6162) appear to represent levelings for an unidentified floor, perhaps excavated in the 1960s, since no upper floor surface was noted during the 2008 excavations. Revealed by removal of these fills were two isolated patches of floor, one (6163) in the northeast corner, and the other (6165) in the northwest corner. These two patches perhaps represent the same floor surface, but were kept separate in the Harris matrix, since their elevations do not correspond. Associated with this floor were twelve leveling fills: (6167, 6174, 6176, 6179=6182=6185, 6189, 6192, 6203, 6178, 6207, 6214, 6218, & 6236). These floors and fills were laid up against wall 5725 because they overlay its unexcavated foundation trench. Context 6165 was cut by the foundation trench (5720) for wall 5762 in the west. Thus, this floor surface, if the same, postdates wall 5725, but predates wall 5762.The fills raised the level of the room approximately 30 cm., suggesting that, during the Frankish period, it was customary to construct a thick substructure before laying a floor. ; ; The removal of one of these fills (6203) revealed two distinct courses of wall 6228 (previously labeled 50kj in the 1960s records). The top courses (structure 6206) were much more crudely built and had no associated foundation trench. A mid-late 12th century sherd embedded in the soil matrix of upper courses made it clear that it was a later construction and thus we removed it on April 30th. During the 12th century the inhabitants may have added to the height of the wall on account of the rising floor level created by the addition of fills and floors.;  ; The floor level revealed by the removal of all of the aforementioned twelve fills was context 6237. We were able to excavate one fill below this floor (6239), but we ran into difficulty because robbing trench (6350) located immediately east of this room truncated the surface beneath fill 6239 (as yet unexcavated), and thus we had to shift our focus to the southern half of the courtyard. ; ; In a pit in this room, located in the southern part and truncated by the northeast corner of the Ottoman house, we discovered a small extension of the cut and unexcavated fill, which we excavated as context 6214 (cut 6215). This pit was excavated in the 1960s, but we have not yet identified which of the 1960s notebooks refers to it.; ; Magourakis believed he could discern the cut and fill of the the foundation trench of wall 5725 in the east scarp of Bothros 9 (NB 235, p.19), which disturbed most of it. Bothros 9 appears to be of Frankish date, based on Guy Sanders’ examination of the lot pottery (Lot 837). This foundation trench cut should be revealed approximately 0.10 m. below the current surface, so at an elevation around 84.45. ; ; COURTYARD (SOUTHERN PORTION) (May 4-May 15); Frankish:; We began by removing wall 5508, which dates between the late 13th and early 14th centuries and was pedestalled in 2008 as permission to remove it had not yet been received, making it by far the latest feature in this immediate area. The construction of this wall limited access between the courtyard and the space in front of the rooms immediately to the south. The only point of access after the construction of wall 5508 was in the southwest corner of the courtyard. Directly beneath wall 5508 was a tile fill (6243), which we related to the uppermost context in this part of the courtyard excavated in 2008 (5300). These equivalent contexts were likely leveling fills for a courtyard surface which had been excavated in the 1960s. We encountered another fill (6244) directly below the wall, for which we were not able to find an equivalent context from the 2008 excavation. Below these fills were the remains of two separate surfaces composed primarily of tile fragments. The first of these (6246) can be equated to the 2008 context 5324 in the courtyard and 5630 in the area south of wall 5508. The second (6250) was found directly below 6246 and likely equates to 2008 context 5685. A pattern emerged with respect to these numerous fills and surfaces whereby only shallow fills were laid down in between the numerous surfaces constructed in this part of the house. This is demonstrated by the next surfaces encountered, 6253 and 6259=6260=6262, for which the subsurface leveling fills (6265, 6266, 6268) only seemed to raise the surface level by approximately 6 cm. Another contemporary fill, 6280 which consisted primarily of cobbles and boulders corresponding directly to a 2008 context, 5674 was laid on surface 6289. ; ; The removal of the above fills and surfaces succeeded in also identifying the lowest levels of structure 10112 which was abutted on its eastern end by wall 5508. Structure 10112 was a Frankish addition and had the appearance of a large platform and may have served as a bench. Directly beneath structure 10112 was a fill (6281) which may have served to level the existing surface to accommodate the construction of this feature. Removal of fill 6281 revealed a cut (6283) along the southern and western boundaries of where 10112 had laid which had two overlying fills (6282 and 6287) and overall this could have represented some type of drainage feature. 6283 cut into two superimposed pebble courtyard surfaces (6355 and 6356).; ; Structure 10112 also overlay several more surfaces and fills to the south (surfaces 6271, 6293, 6289, 6290, 6295; fills 6304, 6316, 6294, 6298). These surfaces lay upon a series of foundation trenches. The first (6314, cut 6135) was the foundation trench on the northern side of wall 5285. Initially, this caused some confusion, since we believed this wall to be Byzantine. However, with the later excavation of pit 6409, abutting the north side of wall 5285, we found another foundation trench at a lower elevation from the wall’s construction, whereas 6314 proved to be evidence of a later addition. Next we excavated foundation 6322 (cut 6323), which was truncated in the south by foundation trench 6314. 6322 was the western foundation trench for wall 6313. Most of the wall appears to have been robbed out at a later period (robbing trench 5510). However, the discovery of foundation trench 6391 (cut 6392) on the south flank of the standing remains of wall 6313 proved that this wall is an older structure, and that foundation trench 6322, which was originally thought to be for this wall and the robbed portion, was in fact for an extension of the wall to the south. The robbing trench (5510) thus represents the removal of the later extension. ; ; Foundation trench 6322 truncated a small foundation trench (6331, cut 6332) for one of two piers placed at the southwest corner of the courtyard. The pier structure is context 6319. North of this pier is a second pier block (6337) with a contemporary foundation trench (6335, cut 6336). These piers appear to have been made for an entrance into the courtyard, a hypothesis confirmed by the fact that a threshold (6347) was uncovered beneath tile fill 6346, which was associated with an earlier wall and entrance. These features were initially believed to be connected with wall 6375, but this relationship is doubtful because the piers run NW-SE, whereas wall 6375 is exactly N-S.; ; Cut by the foundation trenches of the two piers was a surface (6339) and its leveling fill (6342). A small round posthole (6340, cut 6341) below 6342 was cut into surface 6344 directly north of pier 6319, which may represent the earliest Frankish attempt at a door partition into the courtyard from the southwest. These deposits may represent our earliest Frankish phases, but our pottery does not allow us to firmly determine whether they are early Frankish or Late Byzantine.; ; Late Byzantine:; The surface (6344) cut by the round posthole and a tile fill directly beneath it (6346) may be the latest Byzantine features in this area. They were laid upon the aforementioned threshold (6347), which indicates that the southwest entrance from the Frankish period had a predecessor in the Late Byzantine period. ; ; Also beneath fill 6346, was a series of fill contained within cut 6362: (6349, 6354, 6366, 6367, 6389, 6390). Several of these fills first appeared to be part of robbing trench 6350 for NS wall 6375.  Wall 6375 was revealed by the removal of these fills and, at one point, defined the boundary between the courtyard and the room immediately to the west. The north and south ends of wall 6375 were marked by thresholds 6347 in the south, and 6320 in the north, which was revealed in 2008 by the removal of context 5855. However, it was determined that cut 6362 truncated cut 6350 and that the associated fills were in fact part of the later cut (i.e. 6362). Cut 6362 also truncated two other features in this area. The first was a large bothros located in the western half of the courtyard, south of wall 6072 (fills 6372 & 6376, cut 6377). We have not yet ascertained the function of the bothros, but it seems likely that it is contemporary with the construction of wall 6375. The second, defined by cut 6385, was the foundation trench (6384) for wall 6072 in the western part of the courtyard. This foundation trench can be dated to the first half of the 12th century by stratigraphic relationships. On the north side of wall 6072 there was also a foundation trench identified in 2008 (5905, cut 5907), but it was determined that this was the foundation trench for the upper courses of this wall labeled structure 5443, and dated to the 13th century by stratigraphic relationships. ; ; Investigations of stratigraphic relationships of the contexts in the area directly south of wall 6072 also led us excavate a deep pier foundation, context 6359 (similar to those in rooms to the east and southeast), Excavation of components of this pier had occurred in session one as foundation deposit 6069 for wall 5442. At the bottom of this feature was a cobble fill, which was first believed to be a continuation of one of the fills within cut 6362, but the cobbles were confined to the area of the cut (6061=6055) first defined for foundation 6069. This second foundation (6359) was very deep and terminated at the bottom at what appears to be a Roman wall. Thus, we determined that this feature was a pier foundation, and that the area west of this was roofed at this time, and not part of the open-air courtyard. This hypothesis is supported by 6359’s alignment with wall 6318 to the south, which possibly is another small pier foundation. Its foundation trench (6328, cut 6329) was very deep and could not be fully excavated. It was cut by fill 6399 which was below the fills contained within cut 6362. The stratigraphy, however, suggests that 6359 is later than 6318 and would have been constructed at a time when the occupants of the house wanted to roof part of the courtyard.; ; Abutting wall 6313 and revealed by the fills contained with cut 6362 was another series of fills (6399, 6401, 6395) covering the area south of wall 5508. These fills were relatively deep (ca. 15-25 cm.) and appear to either represent episodes of dumping or leveling fills for surfaces at a higher elevation. Beneath these fills was a large semicircular bothros (6409, cut 6410) abutting the north side of wall 5285. A possible parallel for this bothros can be found on the north side of the courtyard abutting wall 5741, and is a semicircular bothros designated as context 5704 (cut 5702). It was also determined that bothros 6409 truncated a smaller bothros (6418, cut 6419) in almost exactly the same location. This smaller bothros truncated the foundation trench for wall 5285, which demonstrates that the wall was in place at the time these bothroi were dug, and that they likely do not extend into the room in the south, as was originally hypothesized.  ; ; Bothros 6409 also cut into a large reddish fill (6276=6423) which covered much of the area south of wall 5508. Two foundation trenches, however, cut this reddish fill. The first (6275, cut 6272) was located along the southern face of staircase 6296, which itself abuts the southern face of wall 5783. This staircase lay directly upon fill 6276=6423 and thus dates to the late 11th or early 12th century. This feature was pedestalled in order to be able to continue excavation, and will likely not be removed in the future, since it would have to be rebuilt when the house was consolidated for presentation to the public. The second (6301, cut 6302) is the western foundation trench for wall 5783, which appears to be contemporary with the northern foundation (5795, cut 5796) trench for this wall excavated in 2008. Beneath fill 6276=6423 was another fill context, 6429, which was cut into a pebble surface. ; ; CONCLUSION:; All three of the areas excavated by Team Green during the second session are components of the Byzantine house under investigation in the area north of Nezi Field. They represent three independent, but interconnected spaces which appear to have undergone substantial modification during their use. Our excavations this session have clarified many aspects of the construction history in this area of the house. It appears now that the rooms immediately northwest and west of the courtyard were divided during the Byzantine period by wall 5725, and may have originally been one large space. The relationship between the courtyard and the room immediately to the west has also been clarified by the excavation of robbing trench 6350 for wall 6375. When wall 6375 was removed during the Late Byzantine Period (early-mid 12th century) this opened the courtyard to the west and made obsolete threshold 6320. The removal of this wall seems contemporary with the pier foundations 6359 and 6318, which represent a roofing of part of the courtyard, thus diminishing the open-air area of the courtyard. Access to the courtyard was reduced during the late 13th or early 14th century with the construction of wall 5508, which left only an entrance at the southwest as a point of access. ; ; We made substantial progress in linking the southern part of the courtyard with the rest of the courtyard space to the north with the removal of wall 5508. Further excavation will be needed to bring these two areas down to contemporary levels. Excavation will also be needed in the rooms immediately to the west and northwest in order to make contemporary these three areas of the house, in particular the west room, which is still at Frankish levels. It is also important to clarify the relationship of wall 5725 to the construction history of these two rooms and determine whether it should be removed.","Corinth","","","Nezi Field 2009 by William Bruce, Scott Gallimore (2009-04-27 to 2009-05-15)","Corinthia | Ancient Corinth | Central Area | Nezi Field","","Corinth:Report:Nezi Field 2009 by William Bruce, Scott Gallimore (2009-04-27 to 2009-05-15)","","Report","",""
"2010 Session II Blue Final Report: Well Room (A), Room south of Courtyard (B), and Room South of the Byzantine House ( C )","","Corinth Excavations 2010 Session II; North of Nezi Room A; We, Cameron Pearson and Lincoln Nemetz Carlson, continued the excavation in the area north of Nezi opened by Rob Nichols and Martin Wells in the first excavation session of 2010. During the first week of the second session of the 2010 Corinth excavation season, May 4 – May 7 we excavated primarily in the northwest room of the Byzantine house—the ‘well room’ (6288)—bounded by walls 54, 5631, 6426, 10086, 10081, 10087, 55 and 6333 (E. 273.95-283.00; N. 1026.9-1034.78). Generally, current excavation in this area continues the work carried out during the 1960s by Henry Robinson (director) and William Berg III (supervisor).  Our objectives were to continue the work of the previous session and expose the drain structure 6727 in order to see if there was any evidence of a Roman north-south road in the area.; The following is a summary and interpretation of the first part of the second session of excavations. The director was Guy Sanders, the field director was Marty Wells, the pickmen were Thanasis Notis and Panos Stamatis, the shovelman and barrowman Sotiris Raftopoulos, and the dry sieve was operated by Iannis Senis ; Late Roman/Early Byzantine (300-801 CE); These layers are concentrated primarily in the center of the room in and around drain (structure 6827). In the Late Roman period, a sewer drain (structure 6827) was in existence, which has been dated to the late 4rd- 5th c. B.C.E. on pottery (6931, 6939, 6943) found between it and the cut for the drain (6737). It is oriented NW-SE, under the phases of the later Byzantine room and continued under wall 10086 to the east. It is unclear if it continued to the west. It is possible that it connected to the north-south drain associated with the Roman road east of room. The drain consisted of a combination of building materials: worked fieldstones, marble pavers and a collection of weathered and/or badly carved architectural members: two geison blocks, three half-columns cut lengthwise, and two unfluted (so far as is visible) cylindrical blocks, one with an offset empolium.  At some point the drain went out of use, and an extensive fill of re-deposited 8th c. material (6788) was deposited over it, followed by subsequent Middle Byzantine activity 6686 and 6682 in later periods.; Excavation west of the built part of the sewer revealed that there were no more covering slabs despite the walls of the drain curving southwest. The cylindrical rough-hewn block (not a column) with the offset empolium to the south was fully uncovered along with a badly carved half column and some worked fieldstones to the north.  They all lined the drain. It is unclear whether this part of the drain was ever covered or if it was robbed out at some point. One of the half columns was revealed lying near the bottom of the drain (cf.6867).; Based on the contexts (6931, 6939, 6943), between the drain (6827) and the cut (6737) the date of the drain’s construction is 4th-5th c. AD. It is unclear which roads or other drains it was connected to but it is likely linked with the unexcavated sewer next to the Roman road just above it to the east. It then goes out of use in the middle 6th -7th c. The top layer (6856) of the small mound that formed the western end of where the covering slabs had lain over the drain dates to the 7th c. but it could have fallen in from above as the slabs were not sealed by any means (the drain continued to the west but with no covering slabs). The rest of the fill  (6854, 6860, 6861), which was clearly from the wash inside the covered portion of dates to the middle of the 6th c.; One explanation for the different layers and types of soil inside the area where the drain was covered is that it was plugged up some time in the 7th c. The small mound toward the west of the covered area would have been created by the blocking. The half column found during the removal of the bottom fill (6867) for the drain (6827) could have served this purpose. The covering slabs to the west and any evidence of the dark silt (6854, 6861) not found outside of where the drain was covered (6832) would have been removed during this stopping up operation. The problem with this explanation is that there is no clear evidence that the soil (6867) at the bottom of the covered eastern section of the drain is earlier than the fill that hypothetically would have been used to fill up the western part (6832). Furthermore, in order for the stopping up theory to be validated, there would have be a good explanation as to why a century or two after its construction such trouble would be taken to plug it up.; A second idea is that the drain simply went out of use. However, this explanation has to account for why the soil in the covered portion of the drain contained layers of dark silt and wetter soil (6854, 6860, 6861), which were not found outside to the west (6832).  If it clogged up on its own there should be traces of this silt to the west as well. It is possible that the silt was removed while the covering slabs to the west were robbed out, perhaps in connection with the building of wall 6421 or its repair.; A third solution would have the drain simply never containing covering slabs to the west. James Herbst has suggested that there would have been a need for such drains to funnel out water before it flooded the forum to the south but it is doubtful that the drain would have been able to function without covering slabs. ; Of important note is that during a cleanup defining the edge of one of the Frankish piers (6841), a piece of Roman sculpture, most likely from a relief, was found. It consists of the right side of the face (S 2010).  ;  Conclusion; We have dated the drains (6827) construction (4th-5th c.) and the end of its use (7th c.) Notably, we did not find evidence for a Roman north-south road in or around the drain. It remains to be explained why the drain was built at such a late date. It if is associated with the road’s construction to the east it should be early (ca. 1st c.). For a clearer picture of why and for what purpose the drain was built at this time, comparanda from other Roman drains in Corinth will need to be studied. ; ; ; ; Corinth Excavations 2010 Room B; North of Nezi; We, Cameron Pearson and Lincoln Nemetz Carlson, continued the excavation in the area north of Nezi opened by Sarah Lima, Mark Hammond, and Kiersten Spongberg in session II 2009.  ; During the second week of the second session of the 2010 Corinth excavation season, May 10 – May 19 we excavated primarily in what we are calling Room B (the second room we dug this session which was called the East Room by the previous excavators) south of the courtyard in the Byzantine house— Bounded by walls 5403  to the south, 6300, 6027,  (threshold) 6285 to the east, 5483 to the west, and to the north 6267,  (threshold) 5671, and (foundation) 6245. Our objectives were to continue the work of the previous session and to search for any trace of a North-South Roman road. ; The following is a summary and interpretation of the second part of the second session of excavations. The director was Guy Sanders, the field director was Marty Wells, the pickmen were Thanasis Notis and Panos Stamatis, the shovelman and barrowman Sotiris Raftopoulos, and the dry sieve was operated by Iannis Senis.; Hellenistic 3rd Century; A series of ash pits were found in the southwest (6901, 6906, 6917) and one in the north (6924). All of these dated to the Hellenistic period with one late Roman contaminant in 6906 and three in 6926. Despite the contaminants, which probably entered these ash contexts because we mistakenly dug them before later contexts or due to overdigging, it seems most likely that in the Hellenistic period the whole area covered by Room B was an ash dump for some sort of industry. ; Late Roman 3rd C.; A large cut, as of yet undated, appears to run east-west through the center of the room. It could have been for a Roman wall along the south side of the east-west road. There is evidence for this cut in the rooms to the east and west of Room B. A small wall bit, most likely a foundation, (6968) might be what is left of the robbing out of this Roman east-west wall. The pottery on top of this wall bit (6968) dates to the 3rd c. AD (6966). Another possible small foundation for a wall (6937) runs north-south under wall 5403. The relationship between these two hypothetical wall foundations is unclear as they have not been excavated. We are also unsure if the tile dump 6916 is a structure at all (whether a furnace or another wall foundation?).  However, we can postulate that sometime from the 6th-8th c., the Roman wall was robbed out and filled with deposits 6967, and possibly 6982 and 6888 as well. Another problem left for future excavation is the relationship if any of wall 6933 to wall 6120. We had originally thought that wall 6120 was associated with paving stones 6190, which reached the wall. But since the Hellenistic ash is visible just below wall 6120 it is possible that this wall is earlier than the paving stones which are associated with threshold 5285 to the east, which the previous excavators had concluded was earlier than threshold 6261 on the north side of the room but has no precise date.   ; Conclusions; In Room B we hypothesize that a Hellenistic ash layer was probably cut for a wall of an east-west Roman road.  We exposed the cut which should be explored by the next team.  They should begin at the north west of the cut and try to decide what the relationship is between the cut and walls 6968 and 6933. We could not see evidence for the cut continuing on the area just east of wall 6933. There was a clear greenish layer passing form the western to the northern scarp of 6967, implying that the cut does not continue between walls 6933 and 6968. However, the paving stones at the bottom of fill 6967 appear to end at the northern edge of the cut, indicating that it does indeed continue along the lines of wall 6968 to the west. Other questions to answer are what is 6915. Is it a structure of a dump? Also it could be that wall foundations 6937 and 6968 formed a corner where the north south road met. What is their relationship?  ; Room C ; ; In the third week of Session II, we turned out attention to the room directly to the South of Room B, referred to here as “Room C.”  Room C was last investigated by Anne Feltovich, Catherine Persona and Emily Rush during the 2008 season. Room C, referred to as Room E by Feltovich, Person and Rush during the 2008 excavation, is bounded by walls 5403 to the north (formerly W 32), Wall 5435 to the west (formerly W 22), Wall 5435 to the South (formerly W 23) and 5346 to the east.  ; We were interested in looking into the relationship between the Room B and Room C, which appeared to be terraced above Room B, and for looking of signs of the N-S Roman road that may have ran through both rooms.  ; During the 2008 session, the previous excavators established that the wall dividing the room, Wall 5446, was the first wall in the room and the other walls in the room were built in this order.; ; a) Wall 5446 ; b) Wall 5403; c) Wall 5435; d) Wall 5434; e) Wall 5346.; Early on in the excavation, we discovered a wall (Wall 7001) running parallel with 5446 to the west of 5446.  Wall 7001 also seems to have been cut by the foundation trench for wall 5403 and thus is one of the earliest features of the room.  At this time, however, it is hard to say whether wall 7001 predates, postdates or is contemporary with wall 5446.  Two overlying early Roman Contexts (6997 and 7003) deposited between Walls 7001 and 6997 would seem to indicate that both walls predate the 2nd century AD.  Walls 7001 and 5446 also seem to be aligned with Structure 6916 (the furnace or tile dump) and Wall 6937 in Room B, but this might be coincidental.  Further investigation of Structure 6916 is recommended in order to establish its relationship, if any, to Wall 7001.; ; It seems that during the late 1st/early 2nd century AD, the area between Walls 7001 and 5446 and the area to the east of Wall 5446 (between 5446 and wall 5346) were filled with leveling deposits (6997/7031 and 7010/7021) which brought the surface of the room to the current extant height of the two walls (7001 and 5446).  At the present time, however, we do not have enough information to understand the intentions behind this action.; ; In the late 3rd/early 4th century AD, a pit (Cut 7020) was cut into the 1st/early 2nd century deposit (7010/7021) up against and to the east of Wall 5446 and a large amount of charcoal and ash was deposited (Deposit 7019).  The top of this pit of charcoal was cut by the construction of another pit above it during the 6th century AD (Cut 5380).  Fill to the west of wall 5435 (7003)  dates to the same period (3rd/early 4th century AD) as the charcoal and ash deposit, though it is unclear if the two deposits are related.  ; ; Excavations and cleaning also revealed a partial Greek inscription on the southern face of a block in Wall 5446.  Although we were able to make out and transcribe a couple of letters (as documented on Structure 5446 Context Sheet), the fragmentary nature of the inscription inhibits any further conclusions as to the nature of the writing.","Corinth","","","Nezi Field 2010 by Cameron Pearson and Lincoln Nemetz Carlson (2010-05-27 to 2010-05-28)","Corinthia | Ancient Corinth | Central Area | Nezi Field","","Corinth:Report:Nezi Field 2010 by Cameron Pearson and Lincoln Nemetz Carlson (2010-05-27 to 2010-05-28)","","Report","",""
"Green Session III, Room NE of Courtyard, North of Nezi","","North of Nezi (Green) Report 2010 Session III: Charlotte Maxwell-Jones; ; The following summarizes results of excavations during the third session of the 2010 season at Corinth in four areas north of Nezi Field in the area previously excavated in the 1960s under the direction of H.S. Robinson.  The room immediately northeast of the courtyard was the primary area of excavation and small architecture removal operations were carried out on two partition walls forming the east and southern borders of the courtyard, as well as on two threshold blocks east of the courtyard.; ; Excavation in these areas was supervised by Guy Sanders (director) and Scott Gallimore (field director).  Our pickman was Athanasios Sakellariou, our shovelmen Panos Stamatis and Pavilos Senis, and our barrowman and sieveman Vangelis Kollias.; ; The primary area of excavation, the room northeast of the courtyard, was bounded on the north by wall 7040, on the south by walls 5741 and 7038, on the east by the large pit from the 1960?s excavations, and on the west by wall 7039.  This pit was an irregular circle that left unexcavated material to its northwest and north.  The western and northern borders of the pit formed the eastern and northeastern boundaries of our excavation area, though the room originally extended farther east.  The coordinates of the excavated area are the following: North-1039.84, South-1036.05, East-275.28, West-271.06.; ; In excavating the room northeast of the courtyard, we left a martyr around stone feature 7092 which was later removed.  This is why many contexts were dug at separate times and have multiple numbers.; ; When we excavated the lowest contexts in this room, the excavation conditions became difficult due to a system of tunnels that extended under the trench, beginning at the bottom of the 1960s excavation pit.  These were probably animal burrows, and we found plastic and other modern materials in them.  We excavated carefully and did not have any contaminated ceramics, but were unable to collect and sieve all of the soil from the lowermost units due to the possibility of contamination.; ; Summary of Room NE of the Courtyard; ; All areas excavated in this space are Middle Byzantine, mostly 11th century, with only two small deposits from the 12th and 13th centuries.; ; The earliest architectural element in this space is the east-west wall 7040, which forms the northern boundary of this space.  Several fills and features were deposited in the area northeast of the courtyard when wall 7040 was the only known architectural boundary.  First, fill 7272 was laid down in the southwest, probably as a leveling fill.  Then fill 7269 was deposited in the northwest.  During this action, ceramic and tile feature 7270 was laid in this fill.  In the far northwest, abutting wall 7040, a small pit, 7268, was dug and filled with deposit 7267, likely a pit for dumped material of some sort.  Above these leveling fills and pits an earthen floor was laid, 7231/7262.  Whatever activity occurred in this area resulted in the incorporation of thin laminae of ash into this floor.  This floor was only found in the portion of the area west of wall 7200, though it is likely that floor contiguous with this was also in the eastern portion of the room and was either cut through at a later date or, if it sloped to the east, it remains unexcavated.; ; After these deposits and floors had been laid, earthen floor 7262/7231 was cut by the foundation trench for N-S wall 7200.  This foundation trench, 7199/7221/7224/7266, was relatively straight in the east and irregular in the northwest, possibly following the outlines of earlier pits whose original deposits no longer remain.  After the construction of wall 7200, fill 7198/7265/7220/7223 was placed in the trench.  This wall likely contained a threshold, approximately 1.80 meters in width, whose upper blocks were robbed, thus preventing us from ascertaining its original elevation.  After this wall was built, a thin lamina of charcoal filled soil, 7258, was laid over the foundation trench fill in the west at the same elevation as floor 7231/7262, which continued to be used as a floor after the space was divided by wall 7200.; ; After the construction of wall 7200, there are two distinct areas of occupation, though their complete architectural boundaries are unknown.  In the west, a small area is bounded by 7040 on the north and 7200 on the east.  The western border for this area was likely the easternmost N-S wall in the room north of the courtyard.  The eastern boundary likely led via a stone threshold to the second area.  This area is bounded by wall 7040 on the north and 7200 on the west.  I will first discuss the eastern area.; ; In the eastern area, the earliest deposit visible is the unexcavated red fill.  This was cut by the foundation trench for wall 7200 as well as by two distinct pits in the south that remain unexcavated.  This was also cut by pit 7278, which was filled by a deposit of building debris, 7277, then covered with a thin layering deposit, 7282.  It is likely that there were several layers of fill and flooring over this area that were cut down significantly upon the construction of wall 7200, but no deposits predating wall 7200 have been excavated in this eastern area and because of the large number of pits over the area of wall 7200, it is unclear which floors were in use while the threshold was standing, but it is likely that floor 7274 was among them.  All direct relationships between this wall and material east of it were lost due to these pits and robbing trenches.; ; The threshold blocks and wall blocks south of the threshold were robbed out by cut 7212, a shallow pit that cut floor 7274 as well as the foundation trench, which was then filled with deposit 7211.  This was then cut on its southeastern edge by pits 7219 and 7215, which were filled with deposits 7218 and 7214, respectively.  Deposit 7214 was cut by 7210, the foundation trench for wall 7038, which was then filled with deposit 7209.  Laid on top of deposit 7214 is a thin lamina of floor, 7213, which was likely deposited after the construction of wall 7038, which bounded the eastern portion of this area on the south.  From this point on, the eastern area has both northern and southern architectural boundaries.; ; Above floor 7213 are two more floor lamina, 7208 and 7206, floor laminae that are preserved only in small patches in the southeasternmost portion of this area.  These were cut in the far south by a small pit, 7130, filled by deposit 7129, whose purpose is unclear.; ; To the north of floor 7213 is a large area of reddish flooring, 7274.  It is probable that floors 7213, 7208, and 7206 once extended over this entire floor, which extends north to wall 7040 and as far east as wall 7254, of which so little remains that its chronology is unclear.  Floor 7274 was truncated on the west by robbing trench 7212.  Floor laminae 7213, 2708, 7206, and whatever deposits that were contiguous with then were cut by a large pit, 7205, which was then filled with a very thick layer of pebble flooring, 7202/7273 that extended west as far as the northernmost section of wall 7200.  Placed into this pebble flooring was an E-W wall, 7093, which abuts wall 7254.  This pebble floor extended west as far the line of the robbing trench/foundation trench of wall 7200.  It was in all likelihood in use while this wall was standing and this is the last deposit in the eastern area before wall 7200 is robbed and the architectural boundaries change.; ; In the western area, after the construction of wall 7200, fill 7229 was laid down, probably as a leveling fill, though it is possible that it was used as a surface.  This is the only fill laid down during this architectural phase, and it is unclear why there is so much more activity in the eastern area.; ; After the dismantling of wall 7200, Fill 7194/7252 was laid down.  This is a thick fill that was cut by a large pit, first 7189, which contained three deposits, 7192, 7191, and 7188.  This was probably a dumped deposit of construction material, including cobbles and roof tiles.  Cut into this fill is the first foundation trench for wall 7039, a N-S wall that forms the western boundary of the room northeast of the courtyard.  Shortly after this first phase, represented by cut 7133 and fill 7131, another foundation trench is dug, likely to make minor changes or repairs on this wall.  This trench, 7064/7070 is filled with deposit 7065/7021; ; After this pit, an earthen floor was laid down over the entire area, 7181/7251, which was contiguous with a rectilinear section of flooring in the north consisting of closely packed broken tiles abutting wall 7040.  Also contiguous with these flooring layers is floor 7173, another earth floor section made of slightly different soil. A posthole, 7246, and its fill, 7245, present in the northwest section of flooring point to the possibility of makeshift structures.  At the time this floor was laid, the known architectural boundaries are wall 7040 in the north, wall 7038 in the southeast, and wall 7039 in the west. Wall 7093, also an E-W wall, was built directly south of wall 7040, though its purpose is unclear.  The area west of wall 7093 was disturbed by two pit/robbing trench activities, pits 7135 and 7090, filled with deposits 7134 and 7090, respectively.; ; After this earthen floor is deposited, wall 5741 was built, forming the southern border of this room.  This is an E-W wall directly west of 7038.  It was laid in trench 7178, then abutted by trench fill 7177.; ; The earthen floor layers, 7180/7251/7183/7173 were covered in small patches of reflooring and leveling fills throughout the room.  Laminae 7174, and 7168 were laid in the southwest portion of the room and lamina 7167 was placed in the center of the room. Fill 7244 was laid in the northwestern corner and fill 7172 was laid in the northeast.  In the northeastern area of the room, on the edge of the large pit from the 1960s excavations, a series of fills are present.  The truncation from the large pit makes the nature of these fills unclear, but they are deposited over the large earthen floor deposit.  These are fills 7167, 7157, 7142, and 7110. These flooring layers/leveling fills were disturbed by several pits after their use phase.  Pit 7248 was dug in the northwest corner, which was then filled with a dumped deposit, 7247.  Pit 7243 then cut this pit and was filled with deposit 7241.  Pit 7147, almost 2 meters in diameter, was dug in the south, abutting walls 5741 and 7038.; ; After pit 7147 was filled with a dumped, bone rich deposit, 7146, earthen floor 7143 was laid in this room.  Filling the entire room, this was cut by pit 7118, which was then filled with deposit 7115.  Several leveling fills/surface laminae were deposited above this floor.  7139/7240 was laid down on the western side of the room, 7119 was laid down in the northern side, and 7121 was deposited in the southeast.  When these fills had been laid down, a stone structure, 7092, was constructed in the northwest corner of the room.  This required a partial dismantling of wall 7040 and was bonded with this wall, and its purpose is unclear.  It is possible that it is a bin of some sort.  When this had been installed, a large mixed fill, 7111, was laid down over most of the room.  This was a mixture of ashy and clayey soils, and it is possible that it represents the remnants of some sort of industrial activity.  We found significant amounts of slag and black ash, and while it is unlikely that industrial activities occurred in this room, they probably occurred nearby.  Substantial amounts of ash were found in the room directly north of this, also excavated in 2010. Deposit 7111 was not present in the 0.80 m south of wall 7040 because this area was excavated in the 1960?s.  At elevations higher than deposit 7119, there are no deposits in this northern area of the room.; ; Deposit 7111 was cut by 7109, as mall pit filled entirely with soft black ash, 7108.  Deposited onto fill 7111 and covering pit 7109 were several patches of floor laminae/leveling fill, 7104, 7102, 7101, and 7100.  It is possible that all of these patches as well as fill 7111 were used as surfaces, but if so, it was not for long enough to make them compacted.; ; Fill 7105 was deposited in the southeastern area of the trench.  Almost 40 centimeters thick, it is likely that this fill covered a significantly larger area, but was truncated by both the 1960s excavations to the east and a later cut to the north and west.  It is unclear how far east it originally extended, but above deposit 7111 and its leveling fills, there appears to be a difference in activity and use of space between the eastern and western portions of the room.  While there is a very thick fill in the east, there are several nice floor laminae in the west, 7098 and 7097.  The relationship between these areas was completely truncated by a large cut, 7083, and filled with a large, debris filled leveling deposit, 7075.  This brought the room to a level surface, but it is unclear why such a cut and deposit were necessary.  Above this large dumped fill, a leveling fill/floor laminae, 7057, was deposited.  At this point, wall 5741 was rebuilt or repaired, which required the digging of a foundation trench, 7053, and trench fill, 7054.; ; Above this is the only deposit containing Frankish material, 7049.  The stone structure, 7092, contained some late 13th century ceramics, but it is likely that the continued use of this structure, and not its date of construction, are the cause of this late pottery.; ; Summary of Architectural Removals; ; Wall 5649, a small rubble built partition wall east of the courtyard, directly east of the drain, was removed, revealing a well-constructed wall, 7141.  Only the top of this structure has been revealed.; ; Wall 5784, a rubble built partition wall along the south of the courtyard was removed, revealing  a surface that appears to run onto the courtyard, so no further excavation was conducted in this area.; ; Threshold 10114, which had been pedestaled in the area east of the room NE of the courtyard, was removed, and the soil and threshold below this, 7284, were also removed, in part due to the precarious nature of their position.; ; Conclusions; ; The deposits excavated this season from the room northeast of the courtyard represent activities and occupation during the 11th century and the early 12th century.  The 1960s excavations removed the deposits later than this, and those earlier remain unexcavated.; ; Given the thick fill evident in the scarps and visible throughout the entirety of the room at the close of excavation, it is likely that there was abandonment between the late Roman period and the Middle Byzantine occupation.  The thick fill is probably a leveling and construction fill prior to reoccupation.; ; The area of the room northeast of the courtyard was used intensely as a dump from the time of its reoccupation onwards.  It was also near to an area of industrial activity, and there was probably some overflow of work into this area.  If the nature of the stone feature 7092 were known, it could clarify our understanding of the later use of this room.","Corinth","","","Nezi Field 2010 by Charlotte Maxwell-Jones (2010-05-31 to 2010-06-18)","Corinthia | Ancient Corinth | Central Area | Nezi Field","","Corinth:Report:Nezi Field 2010 by Charlotte Maxwell-Jones (2010-05-31 to 2010-06-18)","","Report","",""
"2010 Session 2 Green Team Final Report: Rooms North of the Courtyard of the Byzantine House","","North of Nezi, 2010: Green Session II Final Report (Dominic Galante, Christina Trego); ; The following summarizes Green Team’s excavations in two rooms in the Byzantine house north of Nezi field during the second session of the 2010 excavation season at Corinth. These are the rooms north and northwest of the courtyard of the house. Excavations took place from 4 May to 21 May 2010. Supervising these excavations were Guy Sanders (director) and Martin Wells (field director). The excavation team included Dominic Galante (recorder), Christina Trego (recorder), Athanasios Sakellariou (pickman), Pavlos Senis (shovelman), Panos “Junior” Stamatis (barrowman), and Vangelis Kollias (sieveman).;  ; For the first week of the excavation (4-7 May), work was done in the room north of the courtyard ( N 1035.70-1039.30, E 265.40-270.60); from 10-21 May, work was pursued in the room northwest of the courtyard (N 1035.00-1038.70, E 260.70-264.90).  In the room north of the courtyard, our goal was to trace periods of usage and abandonment, especially in regards to the construction phases of walls (e.g. 5562, 6016, 6526, 6321).  In the room northwest of the courtyard, our goal was to excavate two tile-built pithoi and their surrounding contexts in order to understand the usage of the room in the Frankish and Byzantine periods, as well as take the room down to the middle Roman levels excavated by Scott Gallimore in the room west of the courtyard in the first session of 2010.; ; ROOM NORTH OF THE COURTYARD; ; During the first session of the 2010 season, Scott Gallimore excavated a ramp abutting the southwest junction of walls 6526 and 6016 (6491), which was covered by a dumped fill (6516, excavated in May 2009). The ramp is dated to the the 9th-10th centuries.  Gallimore believes that these two contexts could represent a period of post-abandonment for this space prior to its reorganization as part of the Byzantine house.  Second session work in this room concentrated on the southern half of the room, with some work being done in the NW.; ; LATE ROMAN; ; The earliest activities encountered in the room north of the courtyard in the Byzantine house were fills in the southern half of the room (6869, 6871, 6872, 6874). These fills are dated to the Late Roman (5th-6th century CE) and contain ash, iron, bronze, and nails. One item, parts of which came from 6872 and 6874, is particularly intriguing. It needs cleaning for more exact study, but it may be a lamp stand comprised of a central iron shaft connected to arms by means of a wooden joint; the arms appear to have iron hooks at their ends that may have been used to hang lamps. ; Rubble wall foundations (6876) were revealed during excavation of 6842 and 6850, running E-W on the southern side of the room. A block appeared under contexts excavated to the north of this wall, and perhaps represents a robbed out wall that joined with 6876 and ran N-S. The foundations were not excavated, and neither superstructure nor foundation trench was found; however, stratigraphically we might date 6876 to the 5th century CE.; Previous excavations had discovered Late Roman pottery in a pit fill on the northern side of this room, between (and disturbing) walls 6526 and 5562 (cf. cut 6536 and associated fills 6539, 6543, 6459, and 6460). This cut goes deeper than was excavated and possibly fills a cistern.; ; EARLY BYZANTINE; ; Little from the Early Byzantine period remains in the northern half of the room, although we did not do extensive excavation in this area. A cut dated to the 7th century CE (6836 and its fill 6835) may be a robbing trench for wall 6526, indicating that the wall was in existence by this time period.; There appears to be something of a gap in activity in this room from this robbing trench until the tile-built grave discussed below. There is one context dated by pottery to the 8th-9th centuries, 6846; however, this context stratigraphically is above a 10th century deposit (6868) and therefore must be updated. As explained below, we believe that the construction of the grave caused some disturbances in the stratigraphy.; ; MIDDLE BYZANTINE; ; A tile-built grave was discovered at the SW junction of walls 6526 and 6016. Four tiles were placed on top of the tile-lined grave on an E-W orientation in the corner of the two walls. The structure itself was 1.09m long, and contained the burial of a child. The skeleton was well-articulated and missing the left leg below the knee and all foot bones. Water sieving the grave fill revealed no grave goods. The fill inside the cut for the grave (6865 in cut 6859) can help date this grave: it is dated to the Middle Byzantine period (NPD). This fill is above 6868, which is 10th century in date; therefore we suggest a 10th century date. The amount of earth moved for the construction of this grave may have contributed to the stratigraphy of this part of the room: e.g., 6868 (10th century) appears below 6850 (6th century). The existence of this grave, placed deliberately in the corner of walls 6526 and 6016, demonstrates with certainty that these walls were constructed before the date of this grave. ; ; The 9th-11th centuries saw a significant amount of activity in this room, as revealed by our excavations and 2009 excavations. The southeastern area of the room, including the grave, was covered by a ramp (6491) of the 9th-10th centuries that was used to assist in dumping material in this room. Several fills dating to the 10th-11th centuries contained high amounts of boulder inclusions (6516, 6532, 6550, 6554), which may have come from dismantling walls 6526 and 6016. It is possible that these fills were used to level the area. A foundation trench (6831 with fill 6830) of wall 5562 is dated to the Middle Byzantine period (NPD) and possibly belongs to a second construction phase of the wall. We reconstruct two phases of this wall based on the usage of larger boulders on the upper sections of the wall, contrasting with sections of the wall below. Foundation trench 6567 (with fill 6568), excavated in June 2009, was also clearly a foundation trench of wall 5562. Based on the presence of two distinct building materials and two distinct foundation trenches, we propose two phases for this wall. The first of these must have been Middle Byzantine in date and the second in the 10th-11th centuries. ; ; ROOM NORTHWEST OF THE COURTYARD; ; The room northwest of the courtyard was last excavated during the 2009 season; this work covered all areas of the room, centering around a tile-built pithos on the east side of the room (6881), another tile-built pithos on the southern side of the room (on the northern side of Wall 5725) (6991), and a rubbish dump in the northwest part of the room (6112).; ; LATE ROMAN; ; The earliest construction in the room northwest of the courtyard in the Roman period is a plaster floor and rubble wall foundations (7032), also coated with plaster (the same as the floor on the west side, and painted plaster on the east side), in the northeastern half of the room.  The floor surface continues under Wall 10111 and on the southern side of the cut of the built pithos (6881), as well on the eastern side of Wall 7031.  As these features have not yet been excavated, the date of their construction is uncertain, but they were covered and associated with a destruction debris of burnt mud brick (7015) that is dated to the 5th-6th centuries CE, most likely from the superstructure of Wall 7032.  This wall is cut by the later built pithos (6881), but continues to the south of the pithos (unexcavated, but visible in the scarp), and may be connected to the robbed out N-S wall (6817), the robbing trench only of which was excavated in the room west of the courtyard (cut 6762), and which was also associated with fallen/slumped mud brick.  The earlier phase of construction indicated by this wall perhaps dates to the Middle Roman period, and may be associated with ashlar blocks in the room north of the courtyard (underlying walls 6526 and 6016, as well as the N-S spur running from 5562 and below 6526).  The farthest south ashlar block (N 1036.00-.50, E 267.20-70) uncovered between walls 6526 and 5463 had plaster on its western face, perhaps indicating the area to west was interior space, if the block is in its original location in association with the plaster.; ; The Late Roman period is represented by a destruction debris (7015) of burnt mud brick, as noted above, and contained large amounts of burnt pottery, iron and bronze, glass, and painted wall plaster.  Again, this may be connected to the slumped mud brick uncovered in the room west of the courtyard, as it appears these two room were one large space in the Late Roman period, and walls 10111, 6321, 5725 and 6130 were not constructed until the Byzantine period. The nature/cause of the destruction is unknown, but it does appear to signal the end of the Late Roman phase of use in this structure.  The burnt mud brick layer was covered by several fills of compacted, unburnt mud brick (7030, 7013, 7011, and 7002), which in turn were cut by 7012 (filled by 7005). Although the purpose of this cut is unknown, the odd wave pattern at the western bottom of the cut suggests perhaps it was used to remove something from the destruction and subsequent layers of mud brick.  A floor was constructed atop these mud brick fills (7000), most likely a compaction of the topmost mud brick layer, and was truncated by a foundation trench for a later phase of Wall 5562 (6970, cut 6971), an earlier version of which seems to date to the same period as the plaster floor and Wall 7032, as indicated by plaster on the lowest visible blocks in association with the floor and 7032.  ; In the southern half of the room, a leveling fill (6983) at the northwestern juncture of wall 5725 and 5724 and what may be the foundation trench of Wall 10111 (fill 6978) represent the Late Roman period.  More excavation is necessary to determine if the Late Roman phase has actually been reached (as indicated by 6983), and if the 6978 does indeed represent the fill of the foundation trench of 10111, and if it should be dated by the pottery (dated tentatively to the 5th century CE), or if it dates instead to the Early Byzantine period (since it was covered by fills dating to the 7th century CE, see below), and the fill represents earlier fills cut into and redeposited with the construction of 10111.  More excavation is necessary to securely date this, as 6978 was taken about 75 cm farther down than the fills to the south of it before excavation was terminated.; ; EARLY BYZANTINE; ; As with the room north of the courtyard, the Early Byzantine period is not very well represented in this room.  There are several dumped/leveling fills (all in the southern half of the room, 6969, 6925, 6932, 6905) that may date to this period.  6969 and 6932 were dumped fills, extending over a large portion of the room south of the east pithos (6881), and cut by both pithoi.  6925 and 6905 were deposited against  walls 10111 and 5724 and may represent leveling fills.  It is unclear if these fills should be taken to indicate use of the site in the Early Byzantine period (although 6925 and 6932 overlaid fill 6983, the possible foundation fill for Wall 10111), or if there was a period of abandonment from the end of the Late Roman period, until the Middle Byzantine (9th-10th century), as suggested by the lack of Early Byzantine remains in the house overall.; ; MIDDLE BYZANTINE; ; The Middle Byzantine period sees the resumption of construction and use of this area, with several foundation trenches for Wall 5562, the E-W wall extending along the northern boundary of the rooms north and northwest of the courtyard (cut 6959, 6957; cut 6945, 6951), Wall 6130 (cut 6947, 6946), and several dumped fills.; ; In the northern section of the room, under floor 6600, several leveling fills were excavated (6604, 6935, 6941, 6944), which all indicated activity in the 10th-11th centuries, and were cut by foundation trenches for Walls 5562, 6130, and 6321.  The earliest trench appears to be that for Wall 6321, and may be part of the original foundation trench (6973, fill 6965).  7030, the fill that contained mud brick and was associated with the destruction layer, appears to run under wall 6321, and also underlies the fill of this foundation cut.  It would appear that Wall 6321 (under which Wall 10111 also runs, perpendicularly) dates to the 10th century, although the construction of the east pithos (6881), as well as the robbing trench for Wall 6375 make the stratigraphy in the area directly abutting the western face of 6321 somewhat confusing.   A foundation trench for an earlier phase of Wall 5562 in the Byzantine period, 6959 (fill 6957), which was later cut by 6945 (fill 6951), cut these leveling fills.  A similar pattern emerged along the south face of wall 5562 in the room north of the courtyard, and seems to be on equal elevations and have similar dimensions (6568, 6831).  This would seem to indicate at least two phases of construction of Wall 5562 in the Middle Byzantine period – the first (associated with 6957, 6831), uses smaller, unworked stones with tile used to level the courses, and the second, later phase (associated with 6951, 6568) uses larger, roughly squared blocks.  ; A foundation trench for Wall 6130 (6947, fill 6946) also cut these leveling fills, and appears to be a bit high for the original foundation of the wall, but may relate to a second phase of use/construction (much like with Wall 5562), occurring the 11th century.  ; In the southern half of the room, much disturbed by the two pithoi, several fills extending across the entirety of the southern half of the room were uncovered, dated to the 10th century.  These may have been leveling fills for the construction of the rubble foundations (6100), removed in the 2009 season of excavation.  These fills were characterized by moderate amounts of animal bone, charcoal, and seem to confirm the hypothesis that this area was used for cooking/a tavern in the Byzantine period.  ; ; LATE BYZANTINE; ; The Late Byzantine period in the room NW of the courtyard is dominated by the presence of two built pithoi. The first of these, structure 6991, was located in the southern part of the room and had been built over by wall 5725; half of it lies in the room W of the courtyard. It was built of corbelled tile with a tile bottom over a leveling fill. No plaster was used in the construction and it was bonded with mud.  The fill inside this pithos (6512) was first excavated in May 2009, and on the basis of pottery the associated cut (6513) was dated to the 12th century. However, excavations of this season revealed fill of the 10th-11th centuries (6880, 6897) within the pithos and excavation of the structure yielded pottery of the 11th century. We therefore propose a construction date of the 11th century, with use of the pithos extending into the early 12th century and terminating with the construction of wall 5725 in that period.;  The second pithos is structure 6881, which has been identified by previous excavations as a well. Work of previous seasons excavated parts of this structure: a stone “well head” (5876) and tile corbelling lined with plaster (6493). Our excavations of 6881 and its fill also yielded tile corbelling lined with plaster. Therefore we reconstruct two construction phases, the later stone head and the tile corbelling. The former is dated to the third quarter of the 13th century, in the Frankish period. 6493’s pottery is 10th-11th century, the same as 6881. Two holes in the tile and plastering were observed on opposite ends of the interior of the structure, approximately 10cm wide; we believe these were to allow access (perhaps during the pithos’ construction), which was about 2m deep in this first phase. Excavation of the tile revealed some reused material, including a terracotta sima with egg and dart moulding from the South Stoa. Wall blocks, probably from wall 10111, were also reused in the construction of the pithos. Blocks were observed on the west side of the interior, repositioned to the curve of the structure (but still generally aligned with wall 10111) and with plaster applied to them. Similar blocks were observed on the east side of the interior of 6881, and more stone blocks were observed on the north and south sides of the scarp left from the excavation. These latter may represent yet another wall, and the northern projection of these blocks has been opened as context 7032. The pithos had a cement and plaster bottom, which was built over a leveling fill of tiles (6889).; ; CONCLUSIONS; ; The rooms N and NW of the courtyard in the Byzantine house represent different spaces, perhaps differently oriented in various time periods and not all of which were strictly domestic in use throughout the periods excavated this session. One of the most complicated aspects of these spaces is the number of walls that have been found. Just within the confines of the room N of the courtyard, there are three walls (6016, 6526, 6876) and there could be yet another. Because these walls have not been excavated and not precisely dated, it is difficult to say anything about their chronology and use with any certainty. However, it is probably that 6526 was built in the 7th century, and we do not believe that wall 6321 existed at that point.  Furthermore, ashlar blocks were found under parts of 6526, apparently in a N-S line towards wall 5562. Some plaster was found on these blocks. These may have formed a room in conjunction with 7032. The area of the room north of the courtyard may also have been used as a workshop during the Late Roman period, based on finds recovered from 6872 and 6874. ; ; In the room NW of the courtyard during the Late Roman period there was a destruction, as evidenced by 7015. This seems connected to slumped mud brick and robbed out N-S wall excavated in Session I of 2010 in the room W of the courtyard. This is further evidence that these two rooms were connected before the construction of wall 5725 (early 12th century), a supposition also supported by the existence of pithos 6991 directly under 5725. The destruction fill 7015 probably extended over most of the room, and certainly under wall 10111. This destruction may have contributed to the decline in use of this space during the Early Byzantine period.; ; The Early Byzantine periods sees a noticeable slacking of activity in these two rooms. There is some pottery from the 7-9th centuries, but these were all found in stratigraphically later contexts. Therefore, the actions these contexts represent must be Middle Byzantine in date. This may represent an abandonment of these areas, and this may be as a result of the Late Roman destruction (fill 7015) found in the room NW of the courtyard. ; In the Middle Byzantine period, we believe that pithos 6991 may be contemporary with the floor and white ware kettles (6145) and that it may have been built to service a cooking or tavern area. Pithos 6881 was constructed close in date with wall 5725 (which marks the end of use of pithos 6991), and that 6881 was a replacement for 6991. At this point, then, the room NW of the courtyard was divided from the room W of the courtyard. ; In the room N of the courtyard, the tile-lined grave of a child of the 10th century marks the resumption of activity in this room after little evidence of the 7-9th centuries. By this point both walls 6016 and 6526 have been built. It is likely that wall 6321 is built during the Middle Byzantine period and separates the room N of the courtyard from that NW of the courtyard. The 10th-11th century sees dramatic changes in the space, with a ramp (6491) being constructed over the area of the grave to facilitate dumping boulders from the superstructures of surrounding walls for leveling fill. These actions have been interpreted by previous excavators as part of the effort to organize the spaces around Nezi into a house.","Corinth","","","Nezi Field 2010 by Dominic Galante, Christina Trego (2010-05-03 to 2010-05-21)","Corinthia | Ancient Corinth | Central Area | Nezi Field","","Corinth:Report:Nezi Field 2010 by Dominic Galante, Christina Trego (2010-05-03 to 2010-05-21)","","Report","",""
"Yellow Session Three Final Report","","Yellow Third Session Report (Johanna Best); 2010; ; North of Nezi; ; ; Introduction; ; The following summarizes the results of excavation in the area directly north of the Byzantine House excavated in 1961, in the space bounded by north-south wall 5677 on the west (261.83E), east-west wall 5562 on the south (1040.23N), and north-south wall 5431 on the east (276.78E).  The northern boundary of the area under investigation is delineated by the scarp of the excavations and backfill from the excavations in the area to the south of the South Stoa by Oscar Broneer in the 1930s, and the subsequent excavations in the 1960s.  In the 2008 excavations, the northern boundary seems to have been placed at approximately 1044.50N, though the excavation team continued excavation up to 1045.70N.  The 2008 team acknowledged that the stratigraphy in this area was often difficult to understand, and so a primary goal of this season was to determine the true northern edge of the trench.; ; The excavation of this area was supervised by Dr. G.D.R. Sanders (director) and Scott Gallimore (field supervisor).  The yellow team consisted of Panos Kakouros (pick man), Vassilis Kollias (wheelbarrow man), and Agamemnon Karvouniaris (sieve man).  Johanna Best was the recorder for the third session, from 31 May  –  18 June, 2010.  This area was excavated in the second session of 2010 by Johanna Best and Kelcy Sagstetter, and in the first session of 2010 by Jessica Paga. This area was  excavated in 2008 by Thanos Webb, Amit Shilo, Christina Kolb, and Sarah Lima.; ; Our primary objectives in excavating this area include defining the relationship of this area to the Byzantine House to the south, clarifying the possible connections and relationships between this trench and the area south of the South Stoa, and understanding what was backfill from previous excavations in the 1930s and 1960s and what were unexcavated strata. The excavations of session 1, 2010 have led us to believe that this area was primarily an exterior space during parts of the Middle and Late Byzantine periods. The many large pits, ashy layers in the middle and eastern end of the trench, and the possible external floor surfaces caused us to hypothesize that this may have been an industrial area, a theory that I hoped to test in this third session. The work in session 3 has concentrated on the central and eastern sections of the trench; this session, the western limit has been defined by robbing trench 5802, the northern boundary is the scarp created in the 1930s, the eastern boundary is wall 5431, and the southern boundary is wall 5562/7040.  The western section of the trench remains at the level of excavation achieved at the end of session 1, as excavation there would require the removal of the 10-11th century marble tile floor (5710).; ; In each area of the trench, I will briefly summarize the results of the previous sessions of 2010, as well as presenting the results of session 3.; ; ; ; Western section: ; ; The western section is the area bounded by wall 5677 on the west, wall 5562 on the south, robbing trench 5802 on the east, and the northern scarp.; ; In session 1, Jessica Paga hypothesized that a 10th century concrete subfloor and marble tile floor (5710) was laid alongside wall 5677.  The function of this floor and its possible relationship to the Byzantine House to the south are yet unknown.  Following the abandonment of the marble floor’s use phase, several layers of fill accumulated across the surface.  Paga believed that this fill may represent a possible period of abandonment or disuse during the end of the Middle Byzantine and early Late Byzantine period.  At some point in the 11th – 12th century, this fill was overlaid with an external floor surface (6696 and 6698), which was subsequently cut in the 12th century by a built pithos (5504) and a bothros (5629).  At the end of the 12th century, a robbing trench (5802/7204) also cut the external floor surface (and possibly the marble tile floor).  In the 3rd ¼ of the 13th century, a Frankish rubble wall (5678) was installed, cutting both the external floor surface as well as the earlier marble floor.; ; In session 2, excavation did not take place in this area, but we hypothesized that the western and central sections of the trench (at least the area west of 269E and east of wall 5677) may have been united as one external floor surface in the mid-11th century.  As noted above, this large external floor surface (made up of 6912, 6696 and 6698) was cut in the 12th century by a bothros (5629) and a built pithos (5504) in the western section, and pit 6840/6891 in the central section.; ; No further excavations took place in the western section in session 3.; ; ; Central section:; ; The central section of this trench is delineated by robbing trench 5802/7204 to the west, the scarp to the north, walls 6789 and 6987 to the south, and wall 5562/7040 to the south.  ; ; In session 1, Paga noted that wall 6821 was surrounded by various 11th century deposits, including an ash deposit (6814), potentially related to the ash deposits further to the east.  As noted in the section above, the large external floor surface was cut in the 12th century by pits 6840 and 6891 and Frankish pit 5758.  The connection between these areas and the Byzantine House to the south was unclear, as the Byzantine House at this point was covered and filled with backfill.  She did note general evidence of industrial activity in the section, which became even more apparent in session 2.; ; In session 2, we were interested in exploring the industrial activity in this central section.  A pit filled with ash (6929) was revealed to the east of pit 6840 and north of wall 6821.  The fill of this pit dates from the 11th century, and includes a large circular stone block, believed to be a portion of a column drum.  The working hypothesis for the construction of the pit is as follows: pit 6929 was dug and filled in with layers of ash and dirt around a large stone in the 11th century.  At some point in the late 11th century, wall 6821 was constructed to the south of this pit and also a tile stack (7017) was built adjacent to it, upon which burning activities took place.  It is possible that 7017 is only a portion of a larger tile stack, which extended from the north end of wall 6821 to the edge of the pit.  We speculate that the ash in the pit came from this source, and that when the robbing of 6821 (robbing trench 6927) took place, the majority of this tile structure was also removed.  To the north of the pit, structure 7125 (possibly a continuation of wall 6821 to the north) had been both built and robbed out in the 11th century by robbing trench 7122.  ; ; In session 3, a clearly stratified sequence of soils has clarified some of the questions about dating for the central portion of the trench .  A roof tile collapse (7094/7193), located between walls 6821 and 6789, sealed  a floor surface that originally extended continuously between walls 7138, 6789, 7150, and 6821 and was leveled upon the laying down of fills 7281 and 7296.  The presence of large fragments of roof tile, many of them joining, suggests that the surface was at least partially covered by a shed roof in this area.  The pottery of the collapse dates to 11th century.  Between the collapse and the floor were found three coins, one of which dates to the reign of Romanus I (931-944 AD).  The continuous floor surface (7196), which dates to the late 11th century, had built upon it walls 6789, 6987, 6821 and 7125, (giving them all a terminus post quem of the late 11th century).  When the latter two walls were robbed out in the late 11th century, robbing trenches disturbed this continuous floor (robbing trenches 6927 and 7122 respectively).  The presence of the roof tile collapse suggests a change in function of this space at the end of 11th century to an interior space, at least in this central area.  The presence of collapse also supports Paga’s theory that there was some form of abandonment in the 11th century.  ; ; Excavation of the area just north of wall 5562/7040 has revealed an earlier iteration of this wall, 7150.  This wall, which must date to the 11th century or later, is abutted by 6821, and was – in part – covered by structure 6820.  The function of 6820 remains unknown, but it may have been used as a small storage area or bin.  Another wall, 7138 was revealed just to the north of pit 6840.  This wall had been robbed out by robbing trench 7153 sometime in or before the late 11th century.  It is unclear how far wall 7138 continued to the south, as it seems to have been truncated by pit 6840.  Interestingly, there seems to be another large unified surface (7216/7190) in the 11th century in the area between 270E and robbing trench 5802/7204.  Perhaps this served as an external floor surface, constructed at the same time the internal surface to the east (7196).  This external surface was cut by the robbing trench for wall 7138 (cut 7153).  ; ; The working hypothesis for this section is that in the late 11th century, a series of leveling fills (7281, 7296 and perhaps also 7222, 7227, and 7230) created a level surface for internal floor 7196 and external surface 7216/7190.  A series of walls were constructed at this time, including 7150, 6821, 6789, 6987, 7138, and 7125.  Later 7176 cut the external floor structure, and the floor surface suffered the collapse of its tile roof.  ;     ; As mentioned above, excavations in this area have had difficulty understanding the nature of the northern baulk.  Cleaning context 7235 was excavated to make the edge more clear; we have defined the area where the earlier excavations took place, and other areas further to the south where we believe contamination to be likely.  ; ; ; Eastern section: ; ; The eastern section of this trench is delineated by walls 6789 and 6987 to the west, the scarp to the north, wall 7040 to the south, and wall 5431 to the east.  ; ; In session 1, Paga dismantled Frankish wall 5430, which was built on top of wall 5431.  Although there was clear use of the area in the Frankish period, the precise function in this period is unknown.  Prior to the Frankish occupation of this section, Paga discovered several periods of Middle and Late Byzantine use, as represented by several deposits of fill on top of an ashy layer of soil (6747).  This 12th century ashy layer covered, and thereby post-dates, three walls: wall 6764, wall 6765, and wall 6775 (the latter two of which were removed in session 3).  Paga also uncovered feature 6807, an arrangement of tiles, set horizontally into a bed of yellow clay, all of which was covered by an accumulation of nearly pure ash, which she interpreted as a Byzantine hearth or an area for industrial dumping.  Paga also dug a 12th century rectangular pit (6760), created by the intersections of walls 5431, 6764, 6765, and 6775.  Within the loose and soft fill (6759, 6770), Paga discovered several cook pots, one 12th century white ware plain bowl, and large quantities of bone (including part of a human skull).  She thought that it is possible that the area was a disposal pit, and that walls 6765 and 6775 were built specifically to create this pit.  ; ; In session 2, we removed structure 6807 and found several layers of ash fill underneath.   Although we saw signs of burning in fill 6942 under the tile structure 6807, the quantity of ash in this area is probably best explained through dumping activity.  The source of the production of this much ash is yet unknown, but we speculate that there may have been industrial activity in the Byzantine House or in the area of the South Stoa (where a probable kiln site has been discovered).  Several contexts to the south of this structure were full of soft soil with more inclusions (bone, tile, and ceramics), and large stones, which probably indicates 11th century dump fill.  We were not able to dig the entirety of several contexts because they went too deep, and so were saved for excavation in session 3.  We hypothesized that the area between walls 6789, 6764, and 5431 was filled with dumping or leveling fills in the 11th century.  Wall 6765 must have been both built and partially robbed in the 12th century as it rests on fills 6962 and 5759 (dated late 11th century and mid-12th centuries respectively) and under fill 6747, which was dated to the 12th century.  We speculated that selective robbing on the northeast and southwest portions of 6747 was the cause for the creation of what appears to be an S-shaped wall.  ; ; Session 3 excavations in this section began with the demolition of wall 6765 (late 11th century).  Upon excavation we revealed another structure underneath this (7280), which we believe to be the earlier iteration of wall 6765, which seemed to separate the fills 6962 and 5759, disproving the theory from the previous session that the fill was the same.  Following this, excavation of earlier uncompleted contexts 6770, 6977 and 6962 were completed in contexts 7253, 7257, and 7261 respectively.   Demolition of wall 6775 and further exploration of 7280 continued.  A positive reconstruction of activity in this area suggests that wall 7280 was built, and then robbed out partially in robbing trench 7264.  Following this, the rectangular bin (cut 7256) was dug out and filled in with 7253.  Wall 6765 was built atop of wall 7280, and wall 6775 was built perpendicular to wall 6765 along the north edge of the bin, which continued to be filled in with context 7253.    This area then became an area for dumping ash and other materials from some form of industry nearby, as hypothesized above.; ; Conclusion:  ; ; In conclusion, the Middle and Late Byzantine period in this area is primarily identifiable by means of the various 11th century floor surfaces (both internal and external), the number of pits dug in the area, and the evidence of industrial activity.  The area’s small spaces, the presence of ashy deposits, and external floor surfaces suggest an industrial use.    Although there is not any direct access between this area and the Byzantine House in this period, it is clear that both spaces were actively in use at the same time, possibly by a single group of inhabitants.  ; ; Suggestions for further excavation:; ; 1)    Excavation of the marble tile floor (5710) and further excavation of built pithos 5504 could provide evidence of activity in the western part of the trench.; 2)    Removal of structure 7820 might allow a better understanding of this western section, and also the nature of this structure.; 3)    Excavation of the entire area down to the late Roman/early Byzantine transition to provide unity with other areas of excavation in the Byzantine House and to see if this area was also abandoned in the 6th or 7th century AD.","Corinth","","","Nezi Field 2010 by Johanna Best (2010-05-31 to 2010-06-18)","Corinthia | Ancient Corinth | Central Area | Nezi Field","","Corinth:Report:Nezi Field 2010 by Johanna Best (2010-05-31 to 2010-06-18)","","Report","",""