This morning seemed leisurely with breakfast at 8 a.m., washing pottery and bone fragments at 9 a.m. and attending a workshop on reading pottery fragments at 10 a.m. Assaf, one of the two archeologists on the team, invited everyone who was interested to stay as he went through the rest of the previous day's finds. Working with him was his post doc, Alexandra.
After lunch we want to the dig site and stood amazed at all the progress made by the second shift (which dug yesterday afternoon and this morning). Fifteen wine amphorae have now been unearthed, all in various stages of being broken--by earthquake? Fire? (We've been finding charcoal at regular intervals.) Invasion?
Dave and I worked in another section of the site, 'articulating' the 'fine sites' where the amphorae are lying. It is with meticulous and patient care that an area is articulated, painstakingly scraping one thin layer after another of dirt.
It was absolutely electrifying to see these wine jars slowly emerging from the earth where they have lain hidden for literally 3,500 years. The last eyes to see them were Canaanites living in antiquity. As I placed my hand on the side of the wine jar next to me, I thought of the last hand to touch it, the hand just before mine, an ancient hand, spanning millennia to make contact with mine. What was that person thinking about as they adjusted this wine jar, balancing it into place with all its companion vessels? What must it have been like for them to live in this beautiful palace of long ago?
Also uncovered today was the white plaster floor, still smooth and lovely, preserved against all odds. The students bantered back and forth about how they would name the jars ("SidJARtha, JARkovsky, JARdonnay" along with "Fred," and other arcane offerings. They are wildly intelligent, all of them, and good company.
Tonight we all sat around in the grass and talked about Biblical Archeology. I spoke for the importance of the Bible and the practicality of using it as a reference. I also said people (those who are offended by the phrase 'Biblical' Archeology) do well to disengage their emotions from it, because it truly is a remarkable and unique document which still gets a wide readership. The Bible is a bridge between regular people and archeology.
Tomorrow morning it's 4:15 for us again, and a workshop on how to work a "fine site" in the afternoon. The time is going do fast!!
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