Most of our dig team is American right now, although we have four Brits (including Shimon, one of our directors), three Germans (including Shimon's assistant, Mareike), an Italian, a Venezuelan, an Austrian, and some Israeli nationals. During the earlier weeks, we had some Brazilians, a Russian, a New Zealander, a Canadian, and probably others I'm forgetting. The point is, only the Americans cared about July 4th, so we didn't have much of a celebration. Some of us discussed having a revolution but decided against it. :) One of our team members played rousing Sousa marches for about 90 minutes on his iPod instead. Happy Independence Day!
We store our tools and equipment across the street on the flat roof of Yousef's home. Every morning some of the team members go over there and haul the stuff back, passing it over a brick wall to others who are waiting. (And every day, we reverse the process.) The street level is several feet below the base of the brick wall, so we've been using a ladder to make things easier. Here's the Dirt Manager going over the wall to help.
Yousef's home is just down this alleyway -- not very far. These wheelbarrows are full of pickaxes and similar tools. The plastic basins and sieves are used for washing pottery.
Here are a two photos of the current state of a small part of the dig. The red and white pole is used for indicating a scale in photographs. I think each section is half a meter. The black and white pole on the ground with 10 cm markings is most often used in the photos.
We've really lowered the surface in this area and expect to take it down quite a bit more. The wooden boards are supporting a collapsed arch. The wood tripod in the upper right corner holds a device for measuring elevations.
Here's the arch from the other side. We'll see lots more of it in the coming days.
We made a couple of videos of our "bucket brigade" to illustrate how the dirt was moved from an excavation area to the Dirt Manager's processing place.
After we finished for the day, Pete and I headed to the Rockefeller Archaeological Museum. It's just northeast of the Old City, not far from our hotel.
Before Israel was reunified in 1967, this museum was operated by the Palestinians. The words "Government of Palestine Department of Antiquities" are still visible on this wall.
Each little courtyard in the museum was lit by a tessellated dodecahedron, which we thought was especially cool because of the lights we have in part of our house.
Tessellated dodecahedron at the Rockefeller:
The Rockefeller exhibits antiquities of Palestine from prehistoric times to the Middle Ages. It also serves as a storage facility for archaeological finds. It's an old-fashioned kind of museum; that is, the artifacts are all numbered and visitors have to look at a printed chart to figure out what's on display. This is quite a contrast to the modern experiential approach to museum exhibits. Here are just a few photos.
Which one is the antique? (I'm standing next to an anthropoid coffin from Megiddo.)
There were historic photos of digs from the past. This one, taken in the early 1900s, is from Beth Shemesh. Beth Shemesh is well-known from the Old Testament.
Two carved stone lintels were removed from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre during one of the reconstructions and are now on display at the Rockefeller. The eastern lintel is particular fascinating. It almost looks Nordic or Celtic. We made a panoramic video of it.... don't get seasick!
Here's a line drawing and a description of this lintel.
The western lintel depicts more typical Biblical themes.
Line drawing and description:
We all know the swastika form World War II, but here it is as part of an 8th-century Moslem structure near Jericho.
There was an extensive exhibit of beautiful carved wooden door panels from the Al Aqsa Mosque (on the Temple Mount). The panels are about 1300 years old!
Each panel is different.
We'll skip to a few of the outdoor exhibits. The inner courtyard is surrounded by displays. Yes, the sky really is that blue.
This tiled prayer niche is gorgeous. We forgot to note where it had been taken/copied from.
My feet look positively dainty. (I know, my jeans are covered in dig dirt.)
And finally, yet another view of the BYU Center on Mount Scopus.
We returned to the hotel and cleaned up in time to attend a lecture by Dr. Tina Wray. Her lecture was "Digging on the Edge of Hell: Tracing the Evolution of Gehenna to Hell." Gehenna is another name for the Hinnom Valley, which runs south and west of the Old City. The Tophet, where the Canaanites practiced child sacrifices, was in this valley. Through the centuries, fires were burning there continually, and there was the constant stench of garbage and human waste. These images were transferred to the concept of hell. We've attended Dr. Wray's lectures a number of times in the past, and have always enjoyed her perspective and insights.
Something about Israel is making you look so young and so dainty. The fountain of youth? Fun info about the Rockefeller connection.
ReplyDeleteI lost NINE pounds during that dig! Pete, not to be outdone, lost ten pounds!
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