Corinth Excavations 2007 Season
Panayia Field
Excavation in the southern part of the Panayia Field was completed in 2007 when colluvium, laid down in the Late Neolithic period, was encountered over the entire extent opened to date. Unfortunately Ottoman period and Early Modern cemeteries, known to cover the north part of the field, makes further work in the field impracticable without new storage facilities for human bone material.
The work remaining in the Panayia Field included the completion of the westernmost 16.5 m. of a monumental late 4th century building partially revealed in previous seasons. The building consists of at least six rooms laid out in pairs, apparently anterooms to the south and main rooms to the north, on an east-west axis. Only the foundations, a cellar, a small scrap of flooring and the foundations are preserved. The foundations are built of large roughly dressed soft limestone blocks of poor quality. The upper part of the blocks of the outer face of the north wall are finished indicating that the ground level here was lower than to the south where the stones of the same foundation course were completely unfinished. The western suite of rooms are c. 7.0 wide. On the east side of the larger north room is a cellar, 2.8 by 1.6 m. Access was by a step ladder cut into a leaning ashlar in its northeast corner. The cistern was filled in the mid-third century with a deposit rich in pottery. The second suite is only about 4.7 wide. The main room preserved a fragment of watertight pebble and mortar flooring sloping down towards the south west and to the south west part of a dipping basin in the same material. Given the number of grape pits found in water sieving operations, there is good reason to believe that this room served as a wine press and the cellar to the west perhaps acted as a wine store. Below the floor of the putative pressing area was a votive deposit of 22 miniature vessels, each representing a different vessel form.
A careful search for grave cuts was made to ensure there were no further tombs belonging to the Geometric cemetery (see Pfaff, Hesperia 2007). To protect the site, the entire edge of the excavated area was blowcreted to prevent collapse of the baulks. It is intended to cover the entire area with geomaterial and to back-fill to the level of the Late Roman domus floor.
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click for Panayia Final State Plan |
Nezi Field
Also in 2007 excavation began in the Nezi Field adjacent to the archaeological site, south of the South Stoa. Here, Henry Robinson revealed a complex of medieval houses in the early 1960’s. Work concentrated on phasing the architectural remains using the old excavation notebooks and by careful excavation in critical places. A pit to dispose of burnt material contained an AfRS Form 105 bowl (mid-4th century CE), decorated glass and a marble portrait head carefully buried face-down. The pit was located immediately in front of a threshold. A deposit immediately pre-dating the medieval phase construction program suggests that much of the area remained out of use from the mid-6th century to the Middle Byzantine period. Deposits of decayed mudbrick produced large quantities of small coins. One layer contained three legible coins of the early 6th century and an almost complete LRS Form 3C bowl (450-75 CE). A complete Hellenistic pithos was reused in the Late Roman phase. A deep hole dug into the LR floor specifically to accommodate it.
A new area opened to the south of Mr. Robinson’s excavation was intended to reveal more buildings of his Byzantine phase. Although a large area was opened work in 2007 revealed the tops of medieval walls and pits. Much of the area was disturbed by agricultural activity and wall robbing during the early 19th century. This resulted in the reduction and re-deposition of the Frankish phase occupation. Among the finds was a gilded metal object decorated with a fortress.