Wednesday, June 17, 2009

2nd Day of Digging

First of all...check out the post on our trip to Jerusalem....i have posted two more albums..one of Jerusalem and one of the Mount of Olives...its the one titled Boker Tov!!

So for our second day of digging we woke up at 4:15 am and were surprised to find that nothing was too sore. We head to the Tel and everyone falls into their role. Even though we eat a pb & j sandwich before we leave I find myself starving before 2nd breakfast at 8:30. Today my team is learning how to take levels (measurements). We use surveying tools and the idea is to see how far above sea level our levels are based on a predetermined heigth of instrument.
Adams team finds the top of a wall pretty early on in the day and they think it connects to other hellenistic walls. My supervisor and Dr. Ortiz like to joke with us and before long I am yelling up to adam's square " honey, let the makoosh do the work for you".....with some prodding from my supervisor. Adam yells back down "if you have time to watch me working, then you need to get to work". Dr. Ortiz observes it all and says "Adam may need somewhere else to sleep tonight".
As I have said before we have baulks ( ill point these out in pictures later) around our squares and we are going to start taking them down tomorrow. Therefore today we have to dig down into our square and in hopes of finding more of the rampart that holds up Solomon's case mate wall.
Another team on a higher field has taken down a baulk and while doing so found two pillars and a scareb ( seal). Evereyone is excited to see where this leads since pillars were normally only used in palaces and temples.
From second breakfast on there are two Israeli helicopters circling a small feild nearby. My supervisor, Dan, says they come over sometimes during the summer digs and hover to see what we are doing.
By the end of our day Adams square has unearthed a corner of the wall and moved a meter of dirt. My team has found nothing but pottery peices, animal bones and teeth. We are still hopeful though.
Tonight a man from Neve Shalom is lecturing is about the goals of this community and then they are having a welcome dinner for us at the pool.
Adam was nicknamed today "Won Ton" by a professor here from Ashland Bible College....he is slowly giving everyone nicknames. Adam is wearing a Kevu hat that is shaped like a Wok and everyone at the Tel really likes it. Adam says he feels like he is working on the transcontinental railroad and that leads to the declaration of his nickname. Its better than other names that have been given......Crap Magnet- to a guy who stepped in camel poop and then stuck his hand in bird poop within an hour of each other and then there is Wrong Turn- our busdriver..thats self explanatory.
I finally slept a full night last night and therefore I am giving up naps during the day...well at least today.
Ill post dig pictures as soon as I can get our Mount of Olive pictures up.
Boker Tov= Good Morning in Hebrew

2 comments:

  1. I can tell your energy level is up - more spunky in print and in person! Nothing like a little verbal repartee between dirt slingers to keep the mood light. Now, I wonder what your nickname will be lovely Wife of Won-Ton????

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for sharing such wonderful pictures and information. It is almost like being there. Keeping you in thoughts and prayers

    ReplyDelete