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!!!
