CATALOGUE: GROUP B 23

THE GEOMETRIC PERIOD

16-4: L. 0.205 m.; d. of disk 0.011 m.

Pair of apparently identical pins, badly corroded.

16-3 broken into three pieces, 16-4 into two, and lacking its point.

The upper ends of the shafts project about 6 mm.

above the flat round disk-heads and are round in section, tapering upward, and decorated by a pair of grooves. About 3 cm. (on 16-3, 0.027 m., on 16-4, 0.034 m.) below the ends, a round knob on each shaft, slightly less in diameter than the flat disk-heads. A raised ridge around the shafts above and below the knob. Between disk and knob the shafts plain and round in section; below the knobs the shafts become square in section (each face 3 mm. wide) to a distance of about 2 cm. The squared sections are finished at their lower ends by pairs of fine grooves on each face;

below begin the tapering shafts of the pins, round in section.

Cf. 17--6 and 7; see also below, p. 49.

16-5 and 6 (T 1627-1628). Pair of Bronze Pins. P1. 6.

16-5: L. 0.38 m.; d. disk 0.038 m.

16-6: L. 0.375 m.; d. disk 0.039 m.

Flat round disk-heads of thin bronze set 0.024 and 0.023 m. below the upper ends, which protrude through the disks and are decorated with bead-and-reel mouldings. On 16-5 three beads alternated with four triple reels; on 16-6 four beads, the lower three separated by triple reels, the uppermost separated from the one below by a double reel, and a single reel at the top. Below the flat disks the shafts are square in section to a length of about 10 cm., the square shafts adorned by large knobs set off by smaller ones above and below. The knobs set off from the shaft by grooves at each side, the outer edges of each groove slightly raised. About 2 cm. below the lowest knobs the shafts become round in section, the lower ends of the square shaft finished by a single shallow groove on each face. The shafts, round in section, taper downward to very sharp points. The upper parts of these pins appear to have been cast, the lower hammered.

16-7 and 8 (T 1629-1630). Pair of Bronze Pins. P1. 6.

16-7: L. 0.252 m.; d. disk 0.012 m.

16-8: L. 0.253 m.; d. disk 0.012 m.

Flat round disks of thin bronze set 7 mm. below the upper ends of the shafts, which project through them and are decorated each by two grooves, the shaft between the grooves rounded into a bead. From the disks to the knobs below (15 mm.) the shafts, cast square in section, have been hammered to an octago- nal section. The biconical knobs set off above and below by grooves and raised ridges. The shafts below the knobs square in section to a distance of about 2 cm., the lower edges of the square sections finished by pairs of fine grooves on each face. The pins below round in section, tapering to sharp points. The upper

parts of the pins appear to have been cast, the round and octagonal parts below to have been hammered.

On the bronze pins, see below, p. 49.

16-9 (T 3592). Coarse Hydria. P1. 6.

H. 0.453 m.; max. d. 0.365 m.

Coarse Corinthian clay with sandy bits, slightly pinkish in tone. Handmade, stroke-polished, unglazed.

A pair of pointed knobs on the shoulder at the front.

Similar to 14-1 and 16-1; see below, p. 41.

16-10 (T 1620). Geometric Skyphos. P1. 6.

Art and Archaeology, XXIX, 1930, p. 199, fig. 4.

H. 0.066 m.; d. at rim 0.125 m.

Mended from many pieces; small bits missing from one side.

Buff Corinthian clay; thin black to brownish glaze, rather streaky and somewhat peeled in places.

Low base, concave underneath, and wide shallow body with slightly flaring rim. Rolled handles.

Glazed inside and out except the bottom, panels under the handles, and reserved panels in the handle- zone front and back which are bordered below by double horizontal bands, at the ends by sets of parallel verticals, and filled with horizontal stacks of chevrons. The rim reserved outside and decorated by a glaze band at half its height. Inside the lip a reserved line crossed by four sets of parallel verticals.

A similar skyphos, called "Late Geometric,"

Weinberg, No. 75, p. 27, pl. 12, See below, pp. 40-41.

GROUP B

Plans 1 (4 C-D), 2.

Eight graves, Nos. 17-24.

The second group of graves is not so clearly and definitely delimited as the first; there was no enclosure wall around it. The group consists of eight burials immediately to the north of the enclosed plot dis- cussed above. The graves are disposed in one fairly evenly spaced row of four at the south, consisting of (from west to east) Graves 17, 18, 19, and 20; the plan suggests that a second row had been started from west to east (Graves 21 and 22) and that there- after the exact positions of the earlier burials had been lost and the two latest graves, 23 and 24, had been put down anyhow, though with the same orientation. The southernmost row of four graves seems certainly to have been made with reference to the north wall of the enclosure: not only are they laid out at about an equal distance from it, but also the two outer graves, 17 and 20, approximately continue the lines of its east and west boundaries.

The enclosure wall must certainly have been visible when these graves were made. These four burials, then, were made in a row along the outside of the enclosure, and are consequently not only later than the graves within it, but also earlier than the second row of four graves farther out toward the north.

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A large poros slab overlay Grave 19 and may possibly have served as its marker (though it may equally well have been a slab displaced in later times from the enclosure wall); none of the other burials seems to have been marked. We may surmise that when the second series of burials was made it was known that a row of graves already occupied the area immedi- ately to the north of the enclosure, and that due allowance was made to avoid disturbing the earlier burials. Grave 24, the most irregularly placed of these, is probably also the latest. Unlike the others, it is not a simple earth burial in a cist. The sides of the grave cutting were lined with slabs of very soft poros or sun-baked clay, a sort of primitive forerunner of the sarcophagus.

The eight graves of Group B are grouped together also because of certain similarities. All of them are oriented north-south, whereas the Geometric graves which lie to the west and north have a different orientation. Five of the eight graves were covered each by two slabs of sandstone, one over the grave proper and the second over a sort of extension or compartment at the head of the grave, into which the offerings had been put. All of the graves lay relatively deep, though the ones at the east (20, 23 and 24) were at a perceptibly higher level than those at the west. The deep graves are perhaps the older;

the burials were probably made in order from west to east in the first row, 17, 18, 19, 20, and then a second series was started farther to the north, also from west to east, 21, 22, 23, 24. The pottery from the graves seems to bear out the sequence suggested by their positions. Six of the eight burials contained vases or had vases standing outside which may be attributed to them with reasonable certainty. If, as has been suggested, the row of four graves at the south was made with reference to an already existing enclosure wall around Graves 14-16, then the earliest burial, of Group B, Grave 17, must be about contem- porary with or perhaps slightly later then Grave 16. The latest of the graves of Group B produced kalathoi very like the Early Protocorinthian type;

the group then belongs to the first half of the eighth century, down to the middle.

It is possible that Group B is merely an extension or a continuation of Group A; but in the absence of any certain evidence to prove it the two groups are treated separately. Group B is in itself a compact unit which may with probability be assigned to one family GRAVE 17 was oriented north-south over the grave proper; the smaller (1. 1.10 m.; w. 0.78 m.; th. 0.13 m.) east-west over the compartment at the head of the grave.

The grave was full of earth to the top.

Inside dimensions 2.88 by 0.85 m.

Skeleton: contracted, lying on its right side with head toward the south; largely disintegrated, but the left forearm lay across the middle of the skeleton, while the right seems to have been bent upward toward the shoulder.

Contents: under the large cover slab with the skeleton a bronze ring, 17-9, near the right side of the grave; it had evidently been on one of the fingers of the left hand. There was a certain amount of charcoal and burned matter scattered through this part of the grave.

Under the smaller cover slab at the south end of the grave and beyond the skull were found a small oinochoe, 17-2, standing upright and a large one, 17-1, lying on its side. On the floor under the big oinochoe a pair of long bronze pins, 17-6 and 7, crossed; also a bronze fibula, 17-8, and a short iron object, 17-11. A second pair of pins, of iron, 17-12 and 13, shorter than the bronze ones, also lay beneath the oinochoe. A third pair, 17-14 and 15, lay on the floor of the grave, one near the south end, the other just to the south of the skull. The earth in this part of the grave contained a heavy admixture of charcoal and burned matter, and also a number of coarse sherds. A few bits of bones, probably of animals, were also mixed with the earth; bones and charcoal, perhaps from a sacrifice or funeral feast in which the pins may have been used as spits, had been thrown into the grave before it was closed.

Outside the grave and close to its northwest corner stood a large stemmed krater, 17-3, at a depth of 2.50 m. Beside it at the south and at the same depth, stood a coarse hydria, 17-5, its mouth stopped by a Geometric skyphos, 17-4, which in turn contained a bronze cup, 17-10.

Catalogue: Five vases, 17-1 to 17-5, two from inside the grave, and three from outside.

Five bronzes, one from the grave itself and four from the area to the south of the skull.

Five objects of iron, all from inside the grave above the head of the skeleton.

17-1 (T 2455). Geometric Oinochoe. P1. 7.

H. 0.246 m.; max. d. 0.179 m.

Intact. Buff Corinthian clay with fine creamy surface; black glaze shading in places to dark brown, elsewhere silvery and metallic, but badly worn and peeled.

Low base, very slightly concave underneath;

plump rounded body with high narrow neck, trefoil mouth, and vertical band handle. A pair of pointed knobs on the shoulder just below the neck, one

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CATALOGUE: GROUP B 25 slightly to the left of the center of the front (the

spout of the mouth), the other a little to the right of the side axis of the vase.

The lower body glazed; above, fine bands to the level of the lower handle attachment. On the shoulder six latticed triangles, each outlined at either side by double diagonal lines. The handle-panel bordered at one side by triple verticals, but not set off at all on the other side: the vase was evidently painted from right to left and there was not room at the end to border the handle panel. This is also shown by the last triangle at the left, which is noticeably smaller than the others and bordered by only a single diagonal beside the handle. The neck and mouth banded, the handle decorated with ladder pattern. The inside of the mouth unglazed.

On the pottery, see below, p. 42.

17-2 (T 2456) Geometric Oinochoe. P1. 7.

H. 0.099 m.; max. d. 0.095 m.

Complete. Buff Corinthian clay; black to brownish glaze, in places silvery and metallic.

Very low ring foot and squat body with the level of greatest diameter just above the foot; high narrow neck, trefoil mouth, band handle.

Body and neck banded; at the level of the lower handle attachment a zone filled with short parallel diagonal lines slanting toward the left on one side, toward the right on the other, to leave a small reserved triangle at the center of the front. On the handle ladder pattern; the mouth glazed outside only.

A similar oinochoe Weinberg, No. 76, pl. 12, Late Geometric.

17-3 (T 2686). Geometric Stemmed Krater. P1. 7.

A.J.A., XXIV, 1930, p. 412, fig. 6.

H. 0.431 m.; d. rim 0.368 to 0.376 m.; max. d.

0.434 m.

Mended from many pieces; small bits and chips missing. Buff Corinthian clay with a slightly greenish tinge. Black glaze, brownish where thin and very badly peeled.

Wide flaring base and ribbed stem (8 ribs) support the somewhat pointed body; vertical rim, very slightly flared. The opening at the top somewhat oval, wider from front to back than from side to side.

Horizontal rolled handles tilted upward and joined at their tops by flat vertical bands to the rim.The base glazed save for two reserved lines near its outer edge and three at its inner. The ribbed stem and the body glazed to the handle zone, the latter with two sets of triple reserved lines dividing it into approxi- mately equal zones; similar reserved lines below the handle zone. Reserved panels occupy the center of the handle zone front and back. These are bordered at the bottom to their full width by triple zigzags below triple bands. Above these the ends of the panels are stopped by columns of zigzags between triple (outer) and double (inner) vertical lines. The

central parts of the panels are bordered below by single steep zigzags and double horizontal lines, above by triple parallel zigzags, shallower, and triple horizontal lines. The center on one side filled by three sections of hatched meander running left, on the other by two similar meander sections and one of simple key pattern. The meander panels stopped at their ends by single vertical lines. The meanders were evidently painted from right to left as shown by the crowding of the third section on one side and the substitution of a (narrower) key pattern on the other.

All the space between the ends of the panels and the handles glazed save for reserved areas beside the ends of the handles, decorated with double lines curved to outline the attachments themselves. The horizontal handles decorated on their outer faces with double bands above and single below, the space between filled with diagonals slanting toward the left at one side, toward the right at the other, leaving a triangle where they meet which was filled with diagonals slanting toward the right. Ladder pattern on the vertical straps. Three bands on the outer face of the rim; its upper face reserved and decorated by fourteen sets of twelve short parallel dashes. The inside entirely glazed.

Similar stemmed krater, Late Geometric, Wein- berg, No. 73, pl. 12.

17-4 (T 2689). Geometric Skyphos. P1. 7.

H. 0.072 m.; d. at rim 0.116 to 0.12 m.

Mended from many pieces; small fragments missing, especially from one side. Buff Corinthian clay; black glaze, slightly metallic and somewhat peeled. The opening above slightly oval, wider from front to back than between the handles. Shape like that of 14-2 and 15-2. Glazed over all, except for the bottom, panels under the handles, and a reserved line inside and outside the lip.

17-5 (T 2688). Coarse Hydria.

This pot could not be located or identified in the storeroom at Corinth, but the notebooks indicate that it was exactly similar to 14-1, 15-1, and 16-9;

see below, p. 41.

17-6 and 7 (T 2457-2458). Pair of Bronze Pins. P1. 7.

17-6: L. 0.487 m.; d. disk 0.05 m.

17-7: L. 0.499 m.; d. disk 0.05 m.

A pair of bronze pins apparently exactly alike;

the point of 17-6 broken off and missing. The upper ends of the shafts project about 6 cm. beyond the disks and are moulded in the form of bead-and-reel, single reels between the beads. Below the disks the shafts are square in section (th. 4 mm.) and orna- mented each with a central biconical knob and a smaller knob above and below. Grooves beside the knobs; the square shaft ends beside each groove in a slightly raised edge. The lower ends of the square parts of the shafts finished by shallow double grooves

on each face; below these the shafts become round, tapering gradually to very sharp points. The upper parts of the shafts seem to have been cast, the lower hammered.

Cf. 16-3 to 8, and below, p. 49. Discussed by P. Jacobsthal, Greek Pins, pp. 1Of.

17-8 (T 2461). Bronze Fibula. P1. 7.

Art and Archaeology, XXXI, 1931, p. 226.

H. 0.036 m.; max. 1. 0.072 m.

Catch: W. 0.022 m.; 1. 0.021 m.

Four pieces: the pin in two fragments, the catch broken from the bow. Double-bow fibula, one end vertical, the other attached to an oblong flat catch- plate turned up along its lower edge to receive the pin. Triple-coil spring at the other end of the pin.

Very badly corroded and oxidized; no traces of engraved decoration on the catch-plate or the tops of the bows.

An "Attico-Boeotian" fibula; cf. C. Blinkenberg, Fibules grecques et orientales, p. 177, fig. 207, Type VIII, 7. No other fibulae of this type are recorded from Corinth; it is taken by Hampe, Friihe griechische Sagenbilder in B5otien, pp. 9f., pls. 8-13, especially No. 15, pl. 13, to be Boeotian. The developed and engraved specimens of this type are dated by him in the second half of the eighth century.

17-9 (T 2465). Bronze Ring. P1. 7.

D. inside 0.018 m.; max. d. 0.025 m.; w. 0.02 m.

Heavy bronze ring, thick at the middle, thin at the edges in two planes meeting at an obtuse angle (triangular in section).

17-10 (T 2690). Bronze Skyphos.

P. h. 0.039 m.; d. rim 0.106 m.

The entire lower part of the body and the foot missing. The vertical rim, inset from the rather shallow curving body, is preserved complete, with both handles. The horizontal handles, upward-tilted, made of heavy bronze wire (th. 4 mm.), hammered flat at the ends for attachment and fastened to the wall by single rivets run through both wall and handle.

17-11 to 14 (T. 2459-2460, 2462, 2464).

Two Pairs of Iron Pins.

The four iron pins are in very fragmentary and corroded condition. The second pair (13-14) some- what smaller than the first. All were of the same type as the bronze pins 17-6 and 7: long shaft tapering to a point, three knobs, the central one larger than the other two, and a flat round disk head set below the upper end.

17-13: P1. 7. P.1. 0.212 m.; d. disk 0.043 m.

The pin preserved with its point, very much swollen and broken into two pieces. Three knobs below the flat disk; the projection of the shaft above broken off.

17-11, 12, and 14 fragmentary.

17-15 (T 2463). Iron Pin.

P.1. 0.049 m.; d. 0.003 m.

Two fragments, the point broken off. The iron seems to have been beaten flat at one end and turned over to make a head. A small pin, much corroded.

GRAVE 18

Plans 1 (4 D), 2; Pls. 8, 102.

The grave was in part overlaid by another (420) at a higher level (depth 1.88 m.), a burial of the fourth century which did not go deep enough to disturb the geometric burial below.

Depth below surface 2.70 m. Orientation North- South.

Earth burial covered by two sandstone slabs, intact.

The larger slab (1. 1.65 m.; w. 0.95 m.; th. 0.18 m.), oriented north-south, lay over the grave proper; the smaller (1. 1.22 m.; w. 1.05 m.; th. 0.15 m.) lay east- west at right angles to the larger and over the

"compartment" at the head of the grave.

Inside dimensions 2.70 by 0.85 m.

The grave was full of earth to the top.

Skeleton: contracted, lying on its left side with the head toward the south. Evidently an adult, but much disintegrated. The skeleton lay beneath the larger cover-slab at the north.

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