I feel very behind. The internet has been rather slow lately and I haven't quite had a chance to catch up here.
Well 20 June was the last day of our weekend. We were given the day off and told we could explore the crusaders castle which is next door to the rest house of which we have taken up residence. At 9am, Big John said that he would take whoever wanted to go with him and show them around a little bit. So When I got there at nine I said the magic word to get me in the door free and there was Dr. Mattingly and most of the group was there as well. Dr. M was explaining some of the history and other things related to the castle. That man is so smart I can hardly stand it. :) Anyway, after he was done, he told us to take the day to explore and maybe not see everything today, but use the opportunity we have to see it in different lights depending on the time of day. So I went along with Big John, Emily, and Don. We were the core group with Gerald joining us later. It was exciting to learn about the castle and the different rooms and what different things were used for. Also it was interesting to see that they are still doing excavations on the castle trying to open more rooms and passages. Perhaps I will be lucky enough to come back again in my lifetime and see what new things/rooms they have uncovered. It was so much fun because if this were in the United States, you would not be allowed to do many of the things we were doing. They would be "too dangerous," which is code for "we don't want a lawsuit in case someone stupid does something they shouldn't." but we were on the roof and walking near the edge to look down at the moat and just how high and nearly impenetrable this castle would have been. It was an exciting adventure, I'm excited for when I'll get to experience it again.
21 June, was the first day of excavation!! We got a wake up call at 4am (I didn't need it, I had been up since 315, due to my continuing jet lag), once we ate breakfast we boarded the buses and arrived at the site between 530-545am. This was too late however, the sun was already up and particularly blinding on the drive out to the site. But still-first day!! :) Once we got there we were the six of us who tagged along as volunteers were assigned our field/square assignments. I was assigned to field B, square P-8, with Ted as my supervisor. However, at the time I was a little disappointed because that was my last choice field to be in. I am working in the gate complex. For some reason that just didn't interest me at all. But, I do what I'm told and just work. Linda and I are the two workers assigned to field B. Have you ever just had those people that rub you the wrong way, but no one would ever know it by observing? Well, in my head, she and I just don't really get along very well. She does a lot of things that drive me crazy and oh I don't know. Well it doesn't matter. She is a really nice lady, I guess I am just a critical control freak.
After we set up the sieves, Ted has us start excavating. In the square we are working, we have a fallen pylon. So, to be able to be a front - end loader in to lift it out, we have to what is called "pedistooling." That is where you remove all the dirt surrounding the object to where it is just sitting on either a rock or soil pedistool. We did have to create a space under each piece (there are three) of the broken pylon so we can wrap a cable around it to be able to lift it out. The more I worked in this square the more I began to like it. There is a lot of excitement in that field. We are not necessarily going to find much pottery or many objects because of its location, but hopefully under the pylon there will be a bench that matches the other side of the gate. What is so special is, we are hoping that the fallen pylon preserved it and we will be able to find the bench with its plaster still in-situ (intact, in its original location). It was an exciting day for me though. I found my first object on my first day!!! I found a piece to the base of a basalt grinding stone. They were impressed that I found it and didn't discard it. It was one of my happiest moments thus far. Its not much to look at, but because of my overactive imagination, I was able to realize that it was something. (I did that several times, imagine in my head that this rock could have been something, when it reality, mother nature formed it)
That afternoon after lunch and a brief siesta, we had a session for pottery washing. Since my field only produced five sherds, I didn't wash a thing. Well, that's a lie, I did wash a ton of plastic crates. We use these to store our dried pottery and objects that we find. By the time we were done, I was a bit wet and dirty, but it was fun and frustrating (simply because it took much longer than it should have due to 6 people washing out of a group of over 20)
Well, I have been having fun and learning so much. Ted is a good teacher and offers to let me do anything I would like to learn to do. This really is a unique group of people to work with because of this. They don't treat volunteers as simply laborers, they teach them as eager human beings who are capable to learn and participate and do what they do. I'm not sure what God has in store for me during this trip, but once I figure it out, i'll be sure to report back to you.
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