Just wanted to give a quick shout out from the Holy City. Our hostel has access to some form of a wireless network, so I just wanted to make a post from just inside the Jaffa Gate in Jerusalem.
A more comprehensive post will follow this week – assuming I survive Israeli customs and airport security!
After that exhausting two-day weekend, 4 a.m. on Sunday came way too early in the morning to dig. The good news of the day, however, was that our Area supervisors threw us a barbeque/bonfire at night on the edge of the kibbutz. Sure, they got yelled at by some of the kibbutz residents who thought we were going to burn down the entire place, but we got some pretty good hotdogs, beer, and sweet potatoes.
Refueled on good food for the week, we continued digging our way down. I got transferred out of my square on Monday to help take down some of the remaining baulks for our area. The goal for the week was to remove all of the baulks so that the entire square was showing the H9 level (the level of destruction previously mentioned) so a photograph could be taken. In the end, we got extremely close, but the new batch of volunteers are going to have to take down the last foot of one baulk and sweep the area before photographing it early this next week.
Overall, our area was a pretty good success. The square I mainly worked in went down at least an entire meter (which equates to 16 cubic meters of dirt/pottery/artifacts removed) and I helped to remove two baulks (another 10-12 cubic meters of dirt). The final view of area H was pretty impressive and I feel as though I really left my mark on the area. It was a lot of work, but well worth it.
During the week, some interesting artifacts did appear. In my area (but not my square) a bronze ax head was found; and in Area K, a small gold amulet was found by John (who I had travelled to Nazareth and Akko with the weeks before). It’s not exactly Indy loot, but it was still rather fascinating.
Then on Thursday, I said goodbye to all my new Megiddo friends, many of whom I will see back at GW in the Fall. Rafi and I then made the bus journey to Haifa where we are currently staying with his aunt and uncle. The first full day (Friday) we managed to sleep until 1 p.m. in an effort to catch up on some sleep. We spend the day lounging about, but explored the city a little. Then today we spend a good amount of the afternoon at a Shabbat lunch with a neighbor and then sometime at the beach by the Mediterranean. We tossed the baseball around for awhile (which made us appear uber American) and then went for a swim. The problem with swimming at this beach: jellyfish. While walking the beach we saw at least 50 jellyfish on the shore, but for some reason did not connect that the same jellyfish might be in the sea. Anyway, within five minutes of swimming, Rafi and I managed to sting up our legs pretty well (him worse than me). I had never been stung by the jellyfish before, and I really never want to be stung again. Oh well, I guess you live and learn. The evening was spent on food, Scrabble, and repacking my suitcase for a trip to Jerusalem tomorrow and the eventual journey home early Tuesday morning. I still do need to find a scale and I’m crossing my fingers both bags are under 23 kilos (50.6 pounds).
This will probably be my last blog entry from Israel, as the hostel in Jerusalem probably won’t have internet. Check back on Wednesday (July 9th) when I hope to write a final wrap up of my entire trip and have the link to my pictures posted online.
Thanks to everyone who has been reading, and I hope you’ll check out the entry later this upcoming week!
Ok! Now that the dig and my rigorous schedule is over, I have a little time to update! I’m going to go ahead and collapse the second weekend of the dig into one post and the final week of digging into a post tomorrow. Just to make it easier to read.
Last weekend’s adventures started on Thursday after the dig when we headed to Akko, a city that is most famous for its time during the Crusades. Here we visited the citadel, the mosque, and traversed the underground tunnels built by the Knights Templar. This tunnels date to the 11/12th centuries, but remained undiscovered until 1996 when a women complained about plumbing problems and the city workers stumbled across them. Sort of funny how we stumble across these ancient things. The architecture was very impressive, and I heard a rumor that invading forces had to outnumber the city’s guards 10 to 1 in order for the city to finally fall. We also got to chill on the beach by the Mediterranean Sea and enjoyed a very nice dinner right on the sea. It was actually a pretty relaxing trip, unlike the next two days to come.
On Friday, we awoke at 6 a.m. (sleeping in a little) to take a bus provided by the Expedition to Ashkelon and Gezer, two other important Israeli archaeological sites. Gezer was more my favorite, as it has a six-chambered gate (just like Megiddo) that supposedly ties the sites together as being chariot cities fortified by King Solomon (this may not actually be the case due to dating problems, but that’s another story). In reality, however, going to these two sites made us very thankful to dig at Megiddo. Ashkelon was right on the sea, but incredibly humid, while Gezer was even hotter than Megiddo and much more a hike to the top of the tel.
Following the field trip, we were dropped off at the Tel Aviv airport where we caught a taxi to Jerusalem. The Old City of Jerusalem was absolutely impressive. The streets were tiny and packed with street vendors, but the whole are was so alive. It was a pain to navigate, but I loved it nonetheless. During the afternoon, we followed the Via Dolorosa which was supposedly the route Jesus took from his sentencing to death on the Cross. It was a very somber journey, but very cool to do. This ended at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, which apparently is the most holy site for Christians (which I actually didn’t know). The church itself was huge, and was beautiful to explore. I wasn’t allowed to go into the tomb they had build (according to legend it is built on the same site) as I had shorts, but the rest of the church was amazing. As night fell, we made our way to the Wailing (Western) Wall. This was one of the highlights of the trip, especially since it was at the start of Shabbat. The wall was packed with Orthodox Jews dressed in suits and celebrating the Shabbat. Ben and I managed to make it all the way to the front and actually touch the wall. The people there were very friendly, and we talking with quite a number of them. The wall itself was impressive, but seeing the Dome of the Rock right behind it made us ponder a bit about the political implications of this wall. Jerusalem is such a diverse city with all three major religions existing together, and one can only wondering how they manage to live so close but have so many problems. On a lighter note, we stayed on the roof of a hostel (for only about $10) had had an amazing view of both the Church and the Dome of the Rock. I actually fell asleep starring at my feet and the Dome.
On Saturday, Ben and I woke up at 3 a.m. (after going to sleep at 1) to catch a taxi tour of the Dead Sea region. After going through two Israeli military check points, we arrive at Masada around 5 a.m. This is the site where supposedly 700 Jewish rebels killed themselves rather than surrender to the invading Romans in the first century AD. We wanted to hike up the Snake Path (2 km long going up 250 meters) to see the sunrise over the Dead Sea. I made it up 3/4 of the hill before the sun rose, but I got some great views. We then explored the archaeological ruins up top before making our way down the path. Boy was that exhausting, even with all the physical activity I had been doing. From Masada, we made our way to swim in the Dead Sea. This was also once of the major highlights of the trip. Everyone has seen the pictures of people reading newspapers and floating, but it’s really hard to describe. According to my travel book, the Dead Sea is only 70% water and 30% solid salt/bromine/iodine/ect. It is nearly impossible to go under the surface, and you really just float on the surface. We also found some mud and coated ourselves in it (it is supposedly very good for the skin). I really feel that’s the closest I’ll get to weightlessness, as you just float right along. We then stopped by En Gedi (a beautiful nature preserve) and Qumran (the location where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found). Both were really great, especially En Gedi, which really seems like Eden compared to the surrounding desert. We then got dropped back off at Jerusalem, where we caught a bus back to the Kibbutz.
Overall, it was an amazing, but exhausting weekend. I’m so glad that I got to see all of
those sites, but the schedule didn’t make the next week of digging any easier, but more on that tomorrow.
Happy Fourth of July to Everyone! It’s a bit different over here in Haifa, as I don’t see any fireworks or BBQs. I’ll write more tomorrow!
So, as with most my blogs, I’ve fallen behind. It’s been a crazy week over here in Megiddo, and I’m just getting read to head out to Haifa to stay with my friend’s family. I’m hoping to update from there – covering the last week of digging and last weekend (with Jerusalem and the Dead Sea). Stay tuned!!!
Day 11: June 25th, 2008
Well, nothing too exciting happened today. At the site itself, we just continued to remove another 2.4 cubic meters of dirt in our seemingly vain attempt to find a floor in our square. Rumor has it that we are taking down the baulk between our square and then one next to us. That allows us to gain access to our “bathtub” which is located in the middle of the baulk. It should be pretty exciting – a good way to end the week. The only difficult part of today was that I was in charge of dumping the 200-300 or so buckets of dirt today on the dirtpile. We did four bucket lines, and since the usual dumper wasn’t there today, I stepped up into position. It was a good workout, but my lower back is just killing me.
My plans are continuing to shape up for the weekend, so I’m really looking forward to that. It’s going to be another long day at the dig tomorrow, but I’m pushing through it for an exciting weekend! It’ll be a busy and tiring weekend too, but I’m looking forward to it.
Well, I’m off to the pub now to watch Germany vs. Turkey and to celebrate Ben’s birthday. Four am is still going to be way too early, but I’m not in Israel too often.
Day 9/10: June 23/24, 2008
The last two days can pretty much be summed up with that quote from one my square-mates Daniela. During that period, we have found over 5 buckets of pottery shards, which are great fun to find at first, but then just get annoying. Not only do we have to stop using the pickaxes and hoes to collect them, but every day we have to take an hour to wash all the shards. Even whole pots (like Daniela found today) are less exciting, just because of the sheer hatred of washing pottery.
Enough complaining, as we actually managed to go down another 15 centimeters both days. In total that’s removing 2.4 cubic meters of dirt between the hours of 5 am and 1 pm. It’s a lot of work, but actually is a great way to relive stress. I have really enjoyed getting to know my new square-mates when I was traded back on Friday of last week. I feel as though this new team is a great fit, and hopefully they feel they picked up a good player before the trade deadline (sorry, I’m missing my SportsCenter and baseball games over here, so I needed some sports references).
Lectures have been pretty good the past couple of days, including one on the relationship between theology and archaeology. It sparked a couple of interesting debates, and given the Biblical importance of Megiddo, it’s an important topic of discussion. The food as also been decent, but when you’re starting, I think everything is good.
My upcoming plans for the weekend (remember they start on Thursday afternoon here) are to head to Jerusalem and sleep on the roof of a hostel on Friday night (after a day trip to two other archaeological excavations) and then spending Saturday at Masada and in the Dead Sea region. I’m really looking forward to the sunrise view from Masada, as I’m sure it will yield some beautiful pictures. I need to find out how to post them on this blog so everyone can seem them. If not, I’ll upload them to Flicker/Shutterfly when I get home to a faster and more reliable internet connection.
Well, I best be headed off to bed, as I’m losing energy (both physically and on my computer battery). More tomorrow, hopefully on my selection of a senior thesis topic.
Cheers all!
– Anthony
Another catch up post:
Day 6: June 20, 2008
While our first “weekend” was only one day (1 p.m. on Friday to 8:30 pm on Saturday), we certainly made the most of it. Ben (from Vanderbilt) managed to secure us a cab from the kibbutz to Nazareth and a hostel for the night, so Ashley, Caleb, Lisa, Alexander, Ben, Joel, Tiffany, and I all made out way to Nazareth around 3:30 p.m. after a full day of digging. It was a bit of an adventure, since the cab driver did not speak English, but we survived and were taken directly to the hostel. Given that my only previous experience with a hostel was the two horror movies, I was pleasantly surprised by the conditions of the place. Apparently, the entire hostel used to be an Arab mansion and thus was very nice, almost castle like. We dropped our stuff off and made our way to the Basilica of the Annunciation, which is the supposed site where the angel Gabriel appear to Mary announcing that she was pregnant with Christ. It was a beautiful church from the outside, but we could only get into the basement were there are ruins from a 5th century Byzantine church. Located beneath the main sanctuary with a hole in the roof, we could hear the mass going on above us. After shopping at some vendors, we made our way to dinner and I enjoyed a chicken kabob – my first Israeli meal outside of the Kibbutz – it really was great. Given our full day of digging, we decided it was best to sleep a little early that night after drinking some beer back at the hostel. Our hostel had a gorgeous view of Nazareth – especially at night.
Day 6: June 20, 2008
Suprisingly, I got to sleep until 6:30 a.m. today - a nice extra two hours of sleeping in. The reason for getting up early was that Ben had found out about a mass at the Basilica of the Annunciation, and I thought I would attend with a couple of the fellow diggers. We got there right at 7:15 only to discover that the mass was being done in the basement in front of the ruins and in Korean! One of the girls was Catholic, however, so given the standardization of the Catholic mass, she could explain what exactly was happening.
After the mass, we rushed back to the hostel, checked out, and grabbed a cabto Tiberius – a city on the Sea of Galilee. We stayed there only briefly so that we could catch another cab to Taghba were we saw the Church of the Multiplication of Fish and Loafs (a church built upon the rock where Jesus multiplied the fish and loafs of bread) and the church built on the location where the apostle Peter was conferred. We were also able to walk down to the sea and try to walk on the water – don’t worry none of us were able to! Then from there we walked (at least 5 kilometers in 100+ degree, sunny weather with no wind) along the Sea of Galilee to Capernaum. I don’t know how the Apostles did it in sandals. This is an archaeological site where Peter’s house is supposedly located and one of the temples were Jesus had given a sermon. After finding the taxi we had called in the mass chaos of tour buses at Capernaum, we had our driver stop for 15 minutes at the Mount of the Beatitudes were Jesus also gave a famous sermon. The church was rather small, but the view from the top was gorgeous.
After making our way back to the kibbutz – we cooled down by the pool and just relaxed. Rafi (my friend from GW and a native born Dutch man) had to watch the Euro soccar match between Holland and Russia, so I decided to tag along. Bad call when the game starts at 9:45 p.m. and goes into two overtimes only for Holland to lose. Oh well, going to sleep at 12:30 isn’t that bad, right?
I randomly write these as a Word document jounral – so forgive the poor grammar and English.
Day 1: Sunday, June 15, 2008
Today, the Megiddo Expedition adventure begins. I was scheduled to leave SFO at 10:10 p.m. (PST); but due to bad weather in the Midwest, the plane was delayed coming in. The extra time, however, did allow me to grab a couple of games of Halo with my Crime Lab pals. Given the delay, my plane did not board until 11:10 p.m. This put me into Newark International Airport in New Jersey at 7:30 am (EST). I then proceeded to spend the next 8.5 hours strolling the concourses of Terminal C. Nothing exciting really happened, just strolling back and forth to stretch the legs. At 2:15 pm., I made my way to Gate 138. Once there, I was wanded and my back was searched – got to love strict Israeli flights. Once in the secured area, I met up with Jennifer, Ashley, and Becca – three girls also making their way to Megiddo. I had sent out an e-mail to all the people on my flight, so we met up. The flight from Newark to Tel Aviv was uneventful – I couldn’t sleep and ended up watching meaningless television show and movies. Once we landed (9 hours and 54 minutes later) – I unloaded and joined Becca, Jennifer, Ashley, Andrea, Tiffany, Joel, and Ben in the line for passport control. The line was massive, but they all went though before I did – so I just handed the woman my passport and she stamped it without a word. All of our baggage was waiting for us on the carousal without issue, and we breezed through the green line of customs. Once out of customs, Cline met us and we made our way to the bus. Just prior, I grabbed 500 NIS from the ATM – enough for a week or two. The bus ride to the Kibbutz was about an hour, and the scenery was nothing extraordinary. It actually reminded me a fair amount of California, which was surprising. The ride was passed pretty quickly with a conversation with Ben – who is a graduate student at the Vanderbilt University School of Divinity. Once at the Kibbutz, I was given room 12, where I proceeded to unpack. I then proceeded to wander around the Kibbutz, including the pool and store. Then at 7, we proceed to the dining hall for dinner (fries, breaded chicken, and pita & hummus). The food was actually pretty decent – I could get used to it. After dinner, we were assigned to our areas: I’m in area H. As far as I know, we are working on digging a trench to confirm some of the excavation results from the old Chicago dig in the early 20th century. I’m planning on passing out pretty early today (9:00 pm) as I have to be up and at the busses by 4:40 a.m. We’ll see how that goes…
Day 2: Monday, June 16, 2008
The first real day of the expedition! After waking up at 4:00 a.m. and dressing in the dark, I made my way out to the bus at 4:35 am. It was here that I met Rafi for the first time on Israeli soil. We headed up to Megiddo (~20 minute bus ride) and then trekked up the tel in, yes, darkness. After going through the Bronze Age gates, we took a right and headed to area H. At the beginning of this expedition, area H contains six squares. This type of excavation is a stepped trench method, which means that two squares were excavated then another two once the original squares hit their depth. One of our goals for the session is to begin work on another two squares to the north of the current squares. I began work in the farthest northeast corner. For the first 3.5 hours today, we worked on clearing the winter wash (the weeds that grow on the excavation during the winter seasons) and a path through the brush to our dump site. We had to wear jeans today, as there is a threat of snakes when working in the brush. Apparently there is a brown, poisonous snake in Israel, and it’s best to avoid them. We then walked back down the tel for breakfast which consisted of hard-boiled eggs; cucumber, cheese, and tomato sandwiches; cornflakes, and plain yogurt. At this point, though, everything tastes goods as we are all absolutely starving. After the break, we started to “clean” the square. This is the process that we do at the end of each day. It consists of sweeping and removing the loose dirt, leaving a clean floor. During this process today, I actually found my first artifact of the expedition: a bronze c-shaped ring. It was very excited, even though I originally thought it might be just a corroded piece of metal from the last expedition. I found lots of pottery sherds as well, but those litter the site, so they are not as exciting. During the day I was also introduced to the unfortunate consequence of digging – bucket lines. During the excavation, all of the dirt is put into buckets which need to be dumped. We form a long line and pass the buckets from person to person until they are dumped off the hill (about 60 yards away from the site.) It takes about 5-10 minutes each time, and is thoroughly exhausting.
After returning from the tel, I had lunch and then made my way to the shower. Looking in the mirror, I thought I was developing a nice tan, but in the shower, I realized it was just dirt caked on. Lovely! I then explored the kibbutz with Rafi – visiting the store, pool, and soccer field.
At 4:00 p.m. – we all met again at the buses to head back to the tel for a tour. Luckily, I was put in the group being lead by Cline. We walked though all of the current excavations, as well as the touristy areas, including the water tunnel, which was very cool. I took some decent photos and must make some notes on them. Even more exciting – Cline pulled me aside at one point to talk about the artifact that I found in the dig. Apparently word travels fast around here.
After an uneventful dinner, we made our way to the main office for drinks. I had a Goldstar beer (Israeli brewed beer) and was pleasantly surprised by it. After hanging out for 2 hours – Ben, Ashley, and I made our way to the Pub to watch some Euro soccer with some of the Brits and Norwegians in our group. It was a good time, but going to bed at 11:00 p.m. couldn’t be good for getting up at 4:00 a.m.
Day 3: Tuesday, June 17, 2008:
Four a.m. seemed to come that much earlier this morning – but it wasn’t too horrible. Bleary eyed, I made my way to the bus and up to the tel. Once at area H, I was disappointed that I was going to be separated from my bronze artifact yielding square. I was moved to the northwest corner, where Eddy, Adam, Seth, and I began taking down the outer balk to connect with the new squares that will eventually be added. It was supposed to be a violent excavation, but we eventually discovered a layer of large stones that we think may be part of a wall. Underneath this area, we also discovered the remains of a large pot, which large portions may remain intact. We proceeded to remove as much dirt as possible, but we slightly confused of the method. Hopefully we have the correct method down now and can successfully finishing the clearing tomorrow. I continued to drink more water today that I have my entire life, so hopefully I’ll remain healthy. This excavation stuff is quite the work out. Between the pick axes, trowels, and dustpans, you are on your knees, sitting down, standing, and bending over for the entire morning. Then you head out to form a bucket line (4 today) which is essentially weightlifting with buckets of dirt. I’m going to take a count tomorrow of how many black buckets we go though in one line. In all, we filled two buckets with pottery shards today, as well as two small bags: one with what looks like small animal bones and the other with flint pieces. The other highlight – unearthing a baby scorpion in the process. We tossed it down the hill, so it wasn’t that exciting – but still, a scorpion!
Hello Everyone!
Thank you to everyone that has sent me e-mails and Facebook messages! It’s great to hear from you all, but given that I only have 3 hours of free time during the day (including time for an incredibly needed shower) I thought I would post some random musing about my life here in Megiddo, Israel digging away in the dirt. The next couple of posts will be general catch up posts from the first week, but I hope to keep better up to date over the next week and a half!
For those of you who don’t know – Megiddo is a tel (a large mount of cities built on top of one another) and has been the site of 33 battles throughout history (including Josiah, Thutmose III, during World War I, and the Israeli War of Independence). Most commonly, it is known for its mention in Revelations as where the penultimate (second to last) battle will occur during Armageddon. For more information about the site, check out the Expedition’s web page: http://megiddo.tau.ac.il/index.html.
