This morning Iddo invited me to grab some tools and descend into a locus in Alla's area that had been opened to find some evidence of Ramat Rachel's water system. Many other loci had also been opened for this purpose this year but this one had hit on a curved plaster wall that volunteers had followed down approximately 3 meters. They hoped to find a plastered bottom but had first come upon 2 graves from a later era (probably Roman) cut through the fill and the floor the water reservoir.
Before I got there, the remains of one grave had been removed (there is a careful process for this) but the other they chose to leave alone, intact. My task was to help remove remaining fill to reveal the floor. The floor is a smooth gray plaster continuous with the walls and it was great fun exploring this ancient reservoir. At least 3 other areas spread a good 20-30 meters apart have revealed this same structure and is a testament to the large quantities of rain water the ancients were able to accumulate to use for the gardens and baths and other ordinary uses in evidence at this site.

August 25th, 2010 Wednesday

So, I apologize for failing to post a blog this year. All the headings changed to Hebrew on me and the computer connection has been fitful or deeply slow at times, making my updates take for ever.

Today I managed to find the right link to get to the blog dashboard so I will post a few photos and make a couple comments.

Today was the final day for my particular area. We cleaned the area so photos can be taken and tomorrow we'll take some measurements of rocks and walls (and even name some of them). I suggested we use helpful terms like, "Donna" but apparently only more mundane terms such as "Wh004" or "D220" are under consideration.

My supervisor, Iddo, has endured having me for his record keeper for the past 2 weeks. I track areas that we open and close (often giving a new number to a layer as we move down through the area.) I also record each pottery bucket for each new "locus" [smaller locations] and tag them so when pottery is cleaned it is still clear what came from where. In addition, I have learned to take height readings, positioning the 'leveler' each morning and recording it's height in relation to known GPS height coordinates marked in the site. Then each day the changing heights of loci are recorded. While interesting and straightforward the potential for error seems to dog me as loci lists and bucket lists look similar and like all good scribes it's easy to transpose numbers, especially when I'm interrupted to take a measurement or record a new different kind of find (e.g. bone or ash or seals or a stamped jar handle) or help with a bucket line (dumping dirt).

At the end of each day I spend an hour or 3 in the office helping to record the day's activities into the computer's file maker program. As a result my free time has been greatly reduced and I confess to spending time SKYPE-ing with a certain husband more often than I spend trying to update my blog.

I spent this afternoon (well after breakfast) emptying buckets in a new area and then hauling wheelbarrows of dirt to this year's dump site. My new area director is a young woman who has a complicated site to supervise. Although there are many loci, many are quite small and deep and can handle only 1 or 2 people at a time. I am praying that tomorrow is not more of the same for me as the task I have is extremely boring and rather grueling labor. However, I fear Alla is not quite sure what to do with me. we shall see.

August 2010

I Return to Ramat Rahel for two last weeks of digging. This year I managed to convince another Drew student, Amy Jones, to join me and she's bringing her husband, Tristan. The 3 of us will travel for 2 days prior to arriving at Ramat Rahel.
August 12-13 travel for(ever) about 14 hours plus airport wait time to Israel.
August 13-15 Visit northern Israel
August 15-27 Dig
August 28-29 hmmm
August 30/31 Return

Final Post

Well, we're back and this photo will be the last post (unless you want a detailed description of recovering from jet lag....) It is taken from the Scottish Church that sits just southwest of Jerusalem's Old City Wall.

Finds of the Week

Photos on this page show finds unearthed during our last week of the dig.

Photo 1: Roman era glass bottles (for perfume?).


Photo 2: Gold earrings


Photo 3: My Iron age lamp (dates from 680-620 BCE).

Photo 4: An acquaintance.

Last Day on the Dig

A final photo of our area (and its pile of debris) before we refill our site. Our shade is let down at night to prevent people from falling into 3 foot deep holes.

The last morning we continued to clean up our area, filling and emptying buckets to remove our piles of accumulated soil and debris. (And in the process eliminating all signs of our work.) At the end of the morning the courtyard was once again a courtyard and accessible through the excavated 'gate' area.

Photos showing the progression of work done on the gate area over the 4 weeks.
Photo 2: (Above) uncovering the stones hidden by the gravel in the pathway.
Photo 3: (a reverse image from photo 1) the stones cleared of debris and the iron railing and retaining wall removed (on left).
Photo 4: A cut showing the layers of flooring and soil below the stone flooring.
Photo 5: Areas not covered by stone flooring are excavated while 3 sections of stone flooring are removed.
Photo 6: A wide stone wall uncovered at west end of flooring. (View is towards courtyard and away from stone floor.)
Photo 7: Roman era pottery found below portion of eastern wall and flooring, providing an 'earliest' date for structures above.
Photo 8: Further excavation below removed stones, uncovering an earlier floor. Half of the earlier floor was removed in an effort to gain pottery samples for dating the level.

The 2nd to last Day...

Work is beginning to wind down here in some of our areas - like mine. Most of our team spent today moving dirt from the pile we generated earlier into already excavated areas to return them to their original appearance (minus the pottery!) Team members counted 865 buckets of dirt moved today. We also spent time removing plants that were beginning to regain their footing in areas excavated in previous seasons.

I was given the cushy job of continuing to dig through an area in the courtyard that has produced so many l'melek [belonging to the king] stamped jar handles and my pretty oil lamp. Today we simply moved dirt from one side and dumped it into another that was no longer being excavated. Sue did find one stamped jar handle.

Since this is the last planned season for excavating at Ramat Rahel, some areas are continuing to try and answer some questions - like where was all the rain water stored that was used in the many Jewish ritual baths, the Assyrian and Persian era gardens or the Roman Bath. The photo is of some of those trying to find some answers.

Yes, the handsome man is John. The photo is taken while I stand at ground level looking down. I think he's figured out this wasn't the spa vacation I had promised...