Trench 1K

Jennie Lindbergh

 

The 4 x 6 m L-shaped trench 1K was opened in 1996 to invesitigate the orchestra floor between the great trench 1D and Grimm's trench which cut across the position of the stage building. Below the disturbed surface deposit were revealed four phases of occupation. Post-medieval deposits included a number of what appear to be temporary hearths with a quantity of butchered bones, and an east-west wall at the north baulk roughly constructed of re-used blocks.The associated pottery dates from the 15th to 18th centuries. The Medieval period of the 13th to 15th centuries is represented by an east-west wall, dividing trench 1K from trench 1O, built directly on the surface of the Roman orchestra, a ceramic repertoire which includes imported wares and a quantity of Lemba bowls, and a black deposit which was possibly the result of industrial activity. The associated pottery dates from the 15th to 18th centuries. The Medieval period of the 13th to 15th centuries is represented by an east-west wall, dividing trench 1K from trench 1O, built directly on the surface of the Roman orchestra, a ceramic repertoire which includes imported wares and a quantity of Lemba bowls, and a black deposit which was possibly the result of industrial activity.

Although fragments of Roman and Byzantine pottery were recovered, very little remains of these periods. A 2 x 2 m sondage opened in the south-eastern corner of the trench revealed the Roman orchestra floor to be composed of an upper pink waterproof cement layer with fragments of coloured marble facing embedded into it, a pebbly cement layer, and then a white cement. This sequence either reflects repairs, or a post-construction waterproofing to accommodate aquatic spectacles. Below this floor with its rubble packing is the Hellenistic floor of tamped reddish earth with a sand and rubble fill.

Sondage revealing orchestra floor

Only very small fragments of pottery and painted plaster were recovered below the Hellenistic floor, but the deposit between this and the Roman orchestra yielded rim fragments from a local Hellenistic cup, and a fragment of an Attic black-glaze cup (of Type B), as well as some late Hellenistic red-slip and fragments of painted plaster. In the east face of the trench can be seen part of a structure consisting of two apparently vertical blocks covered by two projecting slabs. This feature rests on bedrock, and the Hellenistic orchestra floor appears to run up to it. Its nature can only be solved by further excavation. For the moment it lies under an aged and large terebinth tree which is a major feature of this part of the site.