ANCIENT CORINTH - 2007

Anc. Corinth. G. Sanders (ASCSA) reports the completion of excavation in the S part of the Panagia Field. Colluvium, laid down in the LNeo, was encountered over the entire area opened to date. Ot and Emod. cemeteries covering the N part of the field currently make further work here impractical. Excavation of the monumental L4th Ct AD building partially revealed in previous seasons was completed, with the exposure of the westernmost 16.5m. At least 6 rooms were laid out in pairs, with anterooms to the S and main rooms to the N, on an E−W axis. Only the foundations (of poor quality, large, roughly dressed limestone blocks), a cellar, a scrap of flooring and the foundations are preserved. As the upper part of the blocks of the outer face of the N wall are finished, the ground level here was lower than to the S where the same course was unfinished. Rooms in the W suite are ca. 7m w. On the E side of the larger N room is a cellar, 2.8 x 1.6m, accessed via steps cut into a leaning ashlar in its NE corner. The cistern was filled in the M3rd Ct with a deposit rich in pottery. The 2nd suite is only ca. 4.7m w. The main room preserved a fragment of watertight pebble and mortar flooring sloping down towards the SW and, to the SW, part of a dipping basin in the same material. The quantity of grape pits found suggests that this room served as a wine press and the cellar to the W perhaps as a wine store. Below the floor of the putative pressing area was a votive deposit of 22 miniature vessels, each of a different form. A careful search for grave cuts was made to ensure there were no further tombs of the Geo cemetery (see now C. Pfaff, Hesperia 76 [2007], 443−537). The edge of the excavated area was blowcreted to prevent collapse of the baulks. It is intended to cover the area with geomaterial and backfill to the level of the LRom domus floor.
Research resumed in the area S of the S stoa, where in the 1960s H. Robinson revealed a complex of Med houses. Phasing of the architectural remains was undertaken using the old excavation notebooks plus excavation in critical places. A pit to dispose of burnt material contained an African red slip form 50 bowl (M4th Ct AD), decorated glass and a marble portrait head carefully buried face-down. The pit was located immediately in front of a threshold. A deposit immediately predating the Med construction programme suggests that much of the area remained out of use from the M6th Ct to the MByz period. Deposits of decayed mud-brick produced large quantities of small coins. One layer contained 3 legible coins of the E6th Ct and an almost complete Phocaean red slip form 3C bowl (450−475 AD). A complete Hel pithos was reused in the LRom period, accommodated in a deep hole dug into the LRom floor.

A new area opened to the S of Robinson’s excavation was intended to reveal more buildings of his Byz phase. A large area was opened, revealing the tops of Med walls and pits, but much of it was disturbed by agricultural activity and wall robbing during the E19th Ct, resulting in the reduction and redeposition of Frankish occupation remains. Among the finds was a gilded metal object decorated with a fortress.