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