Caesarea and J-town

Well, after getting here Thursday afternoon it has been pretty much non-stop. The weather has been beautiful because there have been many clouds and a constant breeze to cool you down. Beginning with Friday, I went out into the field with the survey crew to get into the groove before the others either left or joined the dig. There were 8 of us in all, so considering the large number, around 18, last year, this was a little different. We mostly surveyed in fields that had already been harvested and some high weed areas with a dash of unkept orchards thrown in. Around 10 which is 2 a.m. your time, we took a break from working since 6:30. The guys laid down as you can see in the pics on Facebook, and Jason and I just played with rocks and explored. I happened to find an olive press/grape press area, but since they haven't surveyed that area yet I cannot post the picture. After break time we went into an almond orchard and continued to survey. It was considerably warmer than it has been all weekend mainly due to the lack of clouds that day. On my last transect (straight line I walked), I found a large coin just laying there. Quickly I picked it up and then proceeded to rub it with my fingers. It turned out to be only 50 years old, but it was the first coin found on the survey so they were proud to have it. On Friday night we didn't do much but come back to Neve Shalom and rest.

Saturday morning we woke up and had breakfast here, consisting of eggs, cheese, cereal, and fish. I didn't eat the fish though; fish for breakfast, gross!! Then we slathered the sunscreen on and headed past Tel Aviv into Caesarea Maritima. Herod built a harbor with break water walls surrounding to protect the ships and also the city. It was a massive structure with the first use of a hydraulic concrete. He would mix volcanic ash with water and it would set up under the water to form the foundation of his harbor. Needless to say there are no natural harbors anywhere along the Israel coast. This city was adorned with every part of any Roman city, baths, plumbing, and many spectator sports. As you can see from the pictures there is much that remains even though it is close to the sea. One of the attractions is the amphitheater. This theatre is mentioned in the Bible when Herod the Great's son does not deny being called a god and God struck him with worms and was eaten up. So, after spending three hours of the day looking down picking up pottery and taking pictures, we headed to Tel Aviv to eat at Volcano Pizza and Ice Cream. As you can see from the pictures it was wonderful! There is even two well now one piece of mine left in the fridge. Perhaps there will be none after today. We then came back here and I talked to Kinzie and the kiddos. They are safe and enjoying Alabama as you can see from the previous blogs. I then fell asleep early due to a food coma.

Sunday I hitched a ride to Jerusalem and spent most of the day shopping. I bought Eli and Kinzie some goodies that I am sure they will love!! Funny story, Earlier on in the week I went to Jerusalem to grab a SIM card for the phone so I could call home. We happened to see some other folks from Southwestern that were there on a mission trip. I was proceeding to talk to one of them and a gentlemen from the shop we were standing in front of came out and was insisting to sell them a scarf. I was a little annoyed and turned to the man and said, "is that on sale for a dollar". He then slapped the back of my neck twice and said, "you are very funny" then went into his shop. Well, then the day we were back in Jerusalem I went with my friend Lucas and we continued to shop. I saw an interesting shop off the beaten path that was adorned with all sorts of fabrics. We were looking around and the owner came around the corner. He forced us into his tiny shop and we asked some prices. After realizing he was charging 300 shekels for a 40 shekel item, we tried to leave. Then he continued to attempt to bargain with two guys that wanted nothing to do with buying a scarf until he eventually bargained himself down to 40 shekels. Finally, we just decided to walk away instead of our nice-guy approach that kept us there for 20 minutes being attacked. Upon our departure the guy said some stuff in Arabic then he said in English, "you disgust me!" So, needless to say our time in Jerusalem has not fared well with the local shop fellas.

Today was a different experience because we had to wake up at 4 a.m. which is 8 p.m. your time. So when you are getting ready for bed just remember I will be sweating while you are dreaming. We went out into the field and came to a burnt field which is nice because you don't have to worry about plants obscuring the possible finds. However, it was extremely unique that this field had hardly any pottery in it. It was located so close to the tel that you would suppose it would have tons of pottery. Especially since we would be able to see every piece. We did find nice tomb that had partially collapsed with nothing inside except dirt to the ceiling. After spending time to process that we moved on to a field that had some large shrubbery and littered with boulders. While looking mainly for snakes we found a few small features. One of them happened to be another tomb. This one had a small opening but a large inside. Again with nothing of worth except dirt and collapsed walls possibly. It is interesting to think of all the work they would put into creating these burial chambers, hewing them out of the bedrock only to leave bury their family there. Many of these tombs have been robbed out by bedouins or other passer bys looking for a quick buck. Hey, you could even be owning one of these antiquities.

I will end this blog by simply asking the questions, "what have you done today?" "was it worth it?"

p.s. Don't forget the pictures