I Know You're Good...

So I must apologize because I have only been telling you about half of my trip. The entire reason that I am visiting the Holy Land is because of the dig, and my blog has not shown much about the thing that consumes most of my time here. I hope that you already have some idea of how the dig started out with the “reservoir” (I use quotation marks because it most certainly is not a reservoir), but so much has changed since the first few days at the site. We started to dig on a Tuesday with pick axes and terias (hoes), speedily working in order to reach the bottom of the “reservoir,” six meters below, within our time frame. I now know how ridiculous this sounds. I have learned so much about the culture here, but I have also learned so much about the people with whom I have been working.
I knew that archaeologists use educated speculation, but I believe that my dig supervisor at the time has forgotten the educated part. Termite means well and has plenty of dig experience dating back to the sixties, but he lacks the formal education that the professors have. I now know that there is absolutely no way that the site could be a reservoir for reasons that you probably don’t want to spend your time reading. By Thursday we reached the bed rock, beneath only two feet of heavy, compacted soil and rocks. Was this the bottom of the “reservoir?” Either way, we were reaching the bottom of something, so we opened what is called a critical locus.
Now I must take a little time to explain some archaeology. A locus is any layer within the square that we dig. It has a beginning and ending elevation, and there can be multiple loci in a square. We start digging in what is known as a surface locus, and we can change loci depending on the soil color change. Each loci receives a specific number so the artifacts in any given locus can be registered and recorded properly. When we start to reach the floor or bottom of the square we open a critical locus, in which case, digging becomes very slow and meticulous. We ended Thursday in the middle of sifting gufas (buckets) of soil in the hopes of finding an artifact that was missed in the square.
Later that afternoon, Collins and I were notified that we were being transferred to a new area: the tomb. After digging without any big finds with a supervisor who constantly talks to himself, we were finally going to have some excitement. Apparently, Collins and I were a hot commodity, as we could move a lot of dirt in a hurry and reach the bottom of a “reservoir,” tomb, or whatever. If it wasn’t enough that we were going to dig in a tomb, our new dig supervisor was the best that anyone could ask for, Byron.
Now for some more archaeology. When I say that we were digging in a tomb, I don’t mean that we were excavating in the sense of discovering and removing human remains, as exciting as that sounds. Proper burial is extremely important in Jewish eyes, especially for the orthodox and even for those who died two thousand years ago. If word got out that we were opening graves a protest would ensue and/or the IAA would shut down the entire dig. We dug in a portion away from the actual burial chamber which no longer contained human remains anyway. Our objective was to reach the bottom of the tomb in a small one by four meter probe. We didn’t find many artifacts, but then again, we weren’t expecting to. After digging with “all deliberate speed,” as Byron often puts it, we reached the floor of the tomb.
Remember how our Jerusalem trip almost didn’t happen because we were supposed to work at the site on that Saturday? Well, the non-Wofford members of the dig team stayed in Galilee and cleaned up an area that is thought to be a grape press. Of course, when they did not finish, it became our responsibility to clear the site. Aside from removing heavily compacted soil out of the collection vat in the stone ground for the grape juice, we also had to brush the entire area clear of dust and dirt. Sometimes I think that archaeologists simply aren’t practical. With the proper tools (i.e. shovel and leaf blower) this three day process could have easily been completed within half an hour. I often joke that just since we’re digging up artifacts from the first millennia doesn’t mean that we have to use tools from that time period.
Now on to the interesting digging. The “reservoir” and tomb are located on the northern side of the tel of Khirbet Qana, and either site does not contain many signs of occupation. Our new site would be at the very top of the hill where a Roman and Byzantine house once stood. The terms Roman and Byzantine do not refer to those who occupied Khirbet Qana, just when it was occupied, during the Roman and Byzantine periods. We know that Jews lived at our site during the Roman periods, but a big question that we have hanging over our heads is who lived there during Byzantine times. The house that we are now excavating in has been inspected many times during the previous years with multiple other squares. Our new assignment was to excavate the eastern baulk of square twelve in field one.
Again we would be working with “all deliberate speed” to reach the floor of what would be a hallway or small room as we could see a door jam and small step at the bottom of square twelve that was uncovered nine years ago. The first day or two were slow as they usually are, while we dug through the top locus which is usually very thick, dark, and clay-like. The roots of the plants at the surface don’t make our task any easier. After a few days of good finds, pottery shards, glass…the usual, we opened a locus that had many intact pieces of vessels. Full handles and parts of rims, sometimes both in the same shard, would surface one after the other as we slowly dug with our trowels. One day we filled two buckets of our pottery, and fairly large pieces of glass started to appear as well. I even uncovered the base of a glass goblet with part of the stem still attached.
Now this was more like it. I finally started to feel like we were doing real archaeology, and suddenly the horribly bumpy ride up the tel in the back of a truck seemed well worth digging at our new site. We then soon reached what appeared to be the base of a wall or the start of a stone platform. Because of the new structure dividing our square, we had to separate into two loci, one to the north and one to the south. I usually worked on the northern side were the stairs and the door jam led. I have been determined for the entire trip to find a coin, and I was sure that I would uncover one when I reached the floor. My heart sank as the metal detector remained undisturbed while being waved over my locus. Oh well, there could still be a beautiful mosaic floor underneath the few centimeters of earth. Nope. After a few more hours’ work, I brushed away the last remaining dust on the simple, cobble stone floor. Not the find of the century, but I was the first person to set foot on that floor in over one thousand years.

Sorry that I don't have pictures. I'm having a little trouble getting them onto my computer. I will definitely add them when I get home.

Holiest City in the World

It was questionable whether or not we would actually make it to Jerusalem after our first full week of working on the site. Originally out plans to visit the city were called off because we traveled through the Galilee on the previous weekend when we were supposed to work. The new plan was to work at the site on Saturday since we had only excavated for four days. Luckily, Byron put his foot down and recognized his own and our need for some R and R away from the Kibbutz. Plus, working over the weekend would complicate and possibly compromise some of our travel plans. Friday afternoon, after a morning of working at the site, we headed down the Jordan River Valley for Jerusalem. We watched the scenery out the van window change from somewhat fertile land to complete desert. We came close enough to the Dead Sea to view it from a distance from about three hundred meters below sea level, and then climbed up to the city on the hill, five hundred meters above sea level.
The Israelis have set up checkpoints throughout the country to control traffic during high risk times. The situation is highly complicate, but in trying to prevent terrorism, the Israelis have also made everyday life a struggle for many. Our driver, Jimmy, the same one who greeted us at the airport, has been barred from a specific region of the country because he is Arab. As a result, he hasn’t seen his parents in over five years. Through the few checkpoints that we have passed with Jimmy, I have noticed it in his face; he truly hates the soldiers at the road blocks for the trouble in his life.
Anyway, we almost finished out climb up to Jerusalem when the van overheated and stalled while in line for one of the checkpoints. We then proceeded to carry our bags to the checkpoint where we were greeted by a few suspicious Israeli soldiers. The Israeli government has not had the best history with strange people with bags, so understandably, we were questioned and asked to present our passports. After waiting for five Israeli minutes (ten or fifteen minutes real time), a new van drove us into the city and then to the Seven Arches Hotel. The Seven Arches sits on top of the Mount of Olives, and has an amazing view of the Old City of Jerusalem from the eastern side.
Almost every city in Israel is split into two sections, an Arab side and an Israeli side. Out hotel sat on the Arab side of town. When we started hearing loud bangs around the city, our American, media-driven minds first thought “violence.” It turns out that fireworks are very common within the city, and shooting a gun into the air is a completely acceptable gesture of celebration in Middle Eastern culture. Crime rates are actually much lower here than they are in the States. I even often jokingly yet truthfully point out that I am more concerned about spiders, scorpions, yellow jackets, and snakes at Khirbet Qana than I am about terrorists in Jerusalem. As you can imagine, the Israeli side of Jerusalem is more Western or European while the Arab side is Middle Eastern. The Arab side of town’s economy struggles, and the Israelis have almost completed one of many barriers in Jerusalem that cuts off the two sides of town. The only thing is, this wall was placed several kilometers into the Arab side instead of at the actual border. But you don’t need a wall to tell you what side of town that you are in; you can tell the difference by just looking at your surroundings. Sorry for the long explanation, but I’ve already learned so much more about the political and cultural conflict that is destroying this country. Expect more later, but back to my experiences…
After resting a little at the hotel, we were off in a taxi to an Arab restaurant. Most Arabs are extremely hospitable, and the food and service were the best since the Lufthansa business class. The food that we have at all the Arab restaurants is generally the same, but it never gets old, and it certainly provided us with enough energy for the next day. In the morning, we wasted no time getting started after breakfast. We walked down the very steep Mount of Olives, stopping at a Church which displayed an Early Roman tomb complete with authentic ossuaries. We also noticed the many many many graves surrounding the Temple Mount of the Old City. In Jewish, Christian, and Islamic beliefs, the entryway to heaven will be at the temple mount. These graves are just the first row seats to the Resurrection or end of days. We also stopped at the Church of All Nations which was just as beautiful as the previous and the next Churches; it even boasts that it contains the garden in which Jesus prayed and was arrested.
We proceeded to walk up to the Old City and entered Saint Anne’s, a French Church that sits next to Roman ruins, supposedly where the healing water basin mentioned in the New Testament was located. As we made the trek through the city to find a good place for lunch, we were hit with the various shops and souvenir stands that are slammed side by side up and down the many narrow streets. After getting our fill of shawarma and falafel we headed up to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. This Church is shared by six denominations. It is very dimly lit inside yet extremely beautiful. There are many things within the Church that are believed to have a connection with Jesus, like his burial chamber and the stone slab on which his body was laid after being removed from the cross. It was especially interesting seeing people praying over the slab with pictures, crosses, and letters. Of course I don’t believe that the Church actually possesses these things because I have to be very critical while studying archaeology, but it was still amazing just being at an international center for Christians. Plus, the artwork and architecture can leave one speechless, like mosaics, paintings, and the huge dome.
Our original plan included seeing the Western (or Wailing) Wall of Herod’s original Temple Mount, but since it was Saturday, we would be unable to take pictures. Instead, we decided to cut our day in the Old City short and relax at a café just a short walk away. We were able to kick back and rest with a nice cup of Turkish coffee after a long day of walking. We then proceeded to walk back to our hotel after a long talk about the explosive, complicated situation occurring in this part of the world. Hiking up the Mount of Olives is a lot harder than walking down. I believe that our time was about nine and a half minutes, which is a time that we continually improved upon.
After a couple hours’ rest, it was time for dinner on the west (Israeli) side of the city. The Arab and Israeli sides of town are worlds apart that happen to be right next to each other. There is so much space and the buildings are more modern looking on the Israeli side. We arrived at Zion Square just after sunset, and the streets were completely empty. But we knew that the city would soon come alive as the Sabbath was just ending. We went into a restaurant for some pre-dinner drinks and came out to see the streets packed with people, all between the ages of about eighteen to twenty-five. This just might be my kind of town. It felt so weird to eat western food for the first time in about two weeks, but I didn’t let that stop me from enjoying my pizza at Gent’s Bistro and Bar. We had a little trouble hailing a taxi to return to our hotel for the night because we needed to go to the Arab side of town. The first two drivers obviously saw it as the bad side of town as they refused to take us. We finally had luck with the third and were able to turn in for the evening.
Early the next morning we taxied and raced our way over to and through the Old City to attend Sunday service at the Church of the Redeemer. The Lutheran Church was very welcoming, and we were even able to introduce ourselves during the service. There were even some other visitors who were excavating at the Roman city of Hippos. I became envious of them; however, I was immediately forgiven because I was in a Church. For the rest of the day we were able to shop around and bargain our way into getting souvenirs while Byron filmed more of the documentary at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Later in the afternoon, we dropped by to watch some of the behind the scenes filming. We all had a great laugh when we were informed that someone mistook Byron for Mel Gibson earlier in the day. The Discovery Channel crew even joined us one day at our dig site earlier the previous week. I don’t think that I was filmed, but I may have slipped into a shot while hauling dirt. We became tired again during the day and returned to the same café that we visited the day before to enjoy a Taybeh, a very good Middle Eastern beer. Before we knew it, it was time to drive back to our Kibbutz in Galilee. It wasn’t hard leaving the city as we knew that we would return the next weekend.

Marathon Day of Touring

Our first weekend here, and I had already seen so much of Galilee, and we weren’t about to take a day of rest. Sunday morning we set off to the coast of the Sea of Galilee. It only took about thirty minutes to get there, and my first glimpse of the sea was almost perfect as we weaved our way down the hills in the bus. We first stopped at a Franciscan Church which lay right on the coast, making sure to take plenty of pictures and touch the water. We then drove a little bit further up the shore to a Greek Orthodox Church on the Mount of the Beatitudes. Pictures simply cannot describe the view of the lake and surrounding hills of Israel and Jordan and the beauty of the Church. All the while at the different sites, there are so many people around from all over the world touring in big luxurious buses. These tour buses are all over the country as you can imagine. I slowly begin to realize that the pictures that I take and accounts that I tell of my trip and the sites can hardly do the real thing justice. This becomes even clearer as I try to explain the site of Capernaum. The entire ancient city was made of basalt stones, a porous, black, volcanic rock. That is all but the synagogue which was built with fantastic white marble. Today, a UFO-looking Church sits atop the believed location of an early Byzantine Church which are usually distinguishable by the layout of an octagon.
As the day was starting to get extremely hot, it came as great news to hear that our next stop would be to eat lunch and then swim in the Sea of Galilee. The shore is extremely rocky, but the floor softens to mud after stepping out a few meters. The water is also warmer than bath water, but cools down at a greater depth. At this point I was thinking that this was turning out to be a great day: not too much touring and time to relax at the lake were Jesus fished. Yet, much to my disappointment, the day was far from over. Our next stop would be the site of Hippos, an elaborate Roman turned Byzantine city on top of a mountain overlooking the Sea of Galilee. The drive up the mountain was incredibly steep, and the absence of guardrails didn’t make any of us feel better. If that wasn’t enough, Hippos is in the territory known as the Golan Heights, which was obtained by the Israelis after the Six Day War. We were perfectly safe as long as we stayed on the path and behind the warning fences, but the area is still littered with land mines. But all of the obstacles were well worth seeing Hippos. I know that the Romans built and engineered greater things, but a city of that age on a mountaintop amazes me, and walking the same exact road that they built through the city is just that much better.
By then I was pretty tired, but we were told to press onward. Next stop, the Jordan River. There’s something wrong with that term because the Jordan is hardly a river, more like a creek, and it is even reduced to a trickle in some areas. This is due to the river’s use to fill huge reservoirs for the water that we use at the Kibbutz everyday. We actually pass one of these large lake-sized reservoirs everyday on our way to Khirbet Qana. I wasn’t baptized, but the water still felt great up to my waist as I jumped in to escape the heat. Certainly this must be the end of our day, but nope…we were off to the city of Tiberius to see the ruins of a synagogue. Seriously? I thought I was here for five weeks, not five days; we didn’t have to see all of the Galilee that day. Although the ruins were nice and displayed an amazingly well preserved mosaic floor, it had been enough. I had seen so much that day that I started to appreciate the ruins a lot less. Furthermore, we did not receive any instruction on the ruins and sites that we viewed. That was because Byron was off being filmed for a Discovery Channel documentary which will air this Easter Sunday…more on that later. Finally, it was time to rest up for a busy day at the site starting at 4:30 the next morning.

Birthday in Galilee

Because we did not have our permit to excavate at our site during the first weekend, we decided to do a little traveling on my birthday. Our first spot to hit was Jesus’ hometown of Nazareth, which is only about five to seven miles from our Kibbutz. Nazareth is extremely hilly as the roads wind up and down the city. We were first dropped off at a place called the Nazareth Village. It lies in the middle of the city and provides a visual tour of the type of Nazareth that existed in the first century CE. Although our guide was extremely knowledgeable, the whole thing seemed a bit to touristy for my taste, but I guess I have to get used to that feeling considering I am a tourist.
We then made the trek to the Basilica of the Annunciation through the traffic and the noise of the Arab side of the city. Somehow Patrick, Collins, and I managed to walk around the entire Church grounds before finally reaching and entrance gate. The interior was absolutely stunning with beautiful architecture, a huge dome, and amazing mosaics on the walls. We then enjoyed our first authentic Arab meal: shawarma, a pita filled with lamb, veggies, and humus. The vendors have a vertically rotating stick of meat which cooks as it rotates, just like rotisserie. They slice the hot lamb and stuff it right into the pita bread…delicious.
Our next stop for the day was Cana of Galilee (not our archaeological site). We stopped at a Church which was built on and displays the ruins of a Byzantine Church. We then visited one more Greek Orthodox Church before we finished our touring with some souvenir shopping at one of the many shops surrounding us. Although it was my birthday, it really didn’t feel like it, which was fine since I had already celebrated with my friends and family before I left. But while eating dinner in a very nice Arab restaurant, Richard stood up at my side of the table, handed me a glass of wine, and announced the news to the group. Termite was especially surprised as the waiters presented a chocolate cake which consisted of about 94% rum to the tune of the techno remix of “Happy Birthday.” Very little could top that.

The Site: Khirbet Qana 2008

So I’m sure that most of you are familiar with the New Testament story of Jesus’ first miracle were he turns water into wine for a wedding party. The Bible tells us that this story took place in a city known as Cana. There are actually two different Canas within Galilee, each a possible site for the setting of the story depicted in the Bible. Cana (Qana) of Galilee was the site chosen by pilgrims to represent the story, and today it is a large city with gift shops at every corner; a Myrtle Beach of Galilee, as we often refer to it. The only problem is that the pilgrims of the crusades often gave Biblical locations actual sites in order to establish a place for worship, not basing their location on converging lines of evidence. This remains true with other sites; we do not know exactly where Jesus was baptized or where he was born, but these sites still exist in order to attract worshipers.
The other site is known as Khirbet Qana (the ruins of Cana), and it is where our dig is located. It is NOT our goal to prove that our Cana is the real site of the New Testament miracle. In fact, archaeology is never used to prove or disprove anything about the Bible; and of course I’m speaking of the proper use of archaeology by real archaeologist, not archaeological ‘pornography’ (as Byron calls it) found in the Discovery Channel’s “The Lost Tomb of Jesus” among many other misrepresentations. Rather, our goal is to just understand more about the cultures and civilizations that occupied the area known as Khirbet Qana. It might not be as exciting as discovering the Holy Grail while shooting our way through Nazis, but it will just have to do.
While Cana of Galilee is a modern city in itself, our site is completely secluded. It takes a twenty-five or thirty minute drive on rocky, dirt roads through farmland and up a steep hill, also known as a Tel, to reach Khirbet Qana. A Tel is basically where civilization after civilization is stacked one on top of the other, eventually creating a hill. Our site is absolutely amazing and provides a view of beautiful mountains and a huge valley of farmland. It is obvious that a civilization existed on top of the hill as walls and other structures stick out of the ground. Pottery shards can be found everywhere on the site, and it is impossible to avoid them. They are distinguishable by their bright reddish clay color.
The team has split into three specific groups for three specific areas at the site. We usually get up at about 4:30 AM, leave for the site by five, break for breakfast at about 8:30, and work again until noon. My area that I am working on is a suspected reservoir. It is basically a large rectangular area with stone walls on each side. It is comparable to a large swimming pool, only it is filled with dirt and stones instead of water. Part of one of the stone walls has a layer of plaster which has been carbon dated to the Early Roman Period (around the first century CE). My site director, Termite, suspects that the reservoir has been through many reconstructions and might even date back to a Persian civilization; of course this is only speculation and not fact. We intend to reach the bottom which will be identified as a plastered stone floor and may be up to six meters or about twenty-five feet deep – that’s a lot of digging. By reaching the bottom of the reservoir, we will be able to calculate its total area, and therefore, the amount of water it could hold, and therefore, what type of population it had to support.
So far we have dug ten or fifteen centimeters and have found what is known as surface shards. Surface shards are just pottery shards that have stayed near the surface of the earth because of rain, while the heavier pieces stay buried. These pieces can’t tell us much, but we do know that they date as early as the Roman Periods. I especially like the shards that have a green glaze, typical of Arab pottery and probably from the twelfth or thirteenth century. We work in a square that is five by five meters, but we only dig in a four by four hole, leaving an extra meter to the north and the west side (called the baulk) which is used to view the stratigraphy. Stratigraphy is the study of the layers of the earth which help us date artifacts; for example, if a first century coin is found in a given layer of earth and a lamp is found in the same layer, then we know that the lamp is also from the first century. The other excavations consist of an opened and empty family tomb and an olive press and miqvah (ritual bath) dug into the hill, although I have my doubts that it is actually a grape press and a storage room. There is plenty more to come on our site later as more is uncovered.

Life at the Kibbutz

So I can imagine what most of you are thinking: What in the world is a Kibbutz? Before WWII, some Jews found it necessary to move back to the Promise Land. This is when they established socialist farming communities (aka: Kabbutzim) all across the land. During the establishment of the state of Israel in the nineteen forties, the influx of Jews to the Israel often found their home at a Kibbutz. We actually met a woman in Boston who grew up on a Kibbutz in the southern part of the country. I originally thought that our lodging would be comparable to a motel on the side of the road, but the Kibbutz is more like a gated community complete with its own pool, small grocery store, neighborhood, and hostel-type lodging. After digging, we usually have a lot of time to relax, either at the pool or in our rooms reading, journaling, or napping. The entire area is covered with stray cats and dogs. Patrick, my roommate, and I have actually befriended a specific cat who thinks nothing of hanging out in our room with us. We’ve already named her Anya; two guys living together with a cat…I think I know where this is going. I’ve made friends with the older and young adults participating in the dig as our rooms are right next to each other in three complexes, and the man in charge of the hostel area, Richard, is incredibly generous and offers to help out in anyway possible. One of my favorite things here that is different from the states is the toilets…two different things to flush and two different ways to flush them. We actually were just given our digging permit by the Israeli Antiquities Authority (IAA), so no more clearing brush for us. It’s finally time to dig.

Charlotte: Day 2

We must have gotten all of out bad travels out of the way because Wednesday/Thursday went much more smoothly than the day before. Our flight to Boston left at 11:30 AM, only a few minutes late. Before I knew it, it was already time to land in Boston, ahead of schedule. This was already too good to be true. There was plenty of time to grab lunch and relax before boarding our next flight to Frankfurt. We were unable to see the jet, but we knew that it was going to be big and nice since we were flying with Lufthansa, a German airline. My fear of flight almost dissolved upon boarding…extremely comfortable seating with the flight no where near being full and some familiar faces like Alex’s.
After takeoff, I decided to order a rum and coke and completely skip taking my Ambien, which I was specifically prescribed for this flight. I proceeded to grab my wallet to pay for the drink; the flight attendant stopped me and simply said, “No charge.” Wow! So I sat back and enjoyed the flight while watching “Horton Hears a Who” and “Run, Fat Boy, Run.” I also immersed myself in the Arab culture by listening to Arabic pop music while eating dinner.
We landed in Germany at 5:30 AM (11:30 PM EST) and enjoyed a very expensive breakfast. While waiting for our next flight, we counted how many men were wearing kapris…such a high number has not yet been calculated. So at about 9:45 it was time to board our next flight. There was just one small problem. Apparently, those working for Lufthansa in Boston neglected to give us an official boarding pass for the flight to Tel Aviv, although we thought that we had a perfectly acceptable ticket. It seemed at one point that we would not make it onto the flight, especially when it was time for departure and we were not on the plane. Finally, we were all given our passes and entered the gate. Then we all looked at our tickets to see where we were to be seated and saw the two most glorious words in the world of travel – “Business Class.” I thought that only happened in the movies, but you actually can get bumped up to better seating.
The Germans definitely know how to treat a person: free champagne upon finding our seat, a menu which mapped out our choices for a three course meal, vibrating seats that recline and practically lay down on the floor, and, of course, infinite leg room. I’ve been spoiled; I don’t think I’ll ever be able to go back to economy class. The view of the Alps was beautiful, only a little better than finally seeing the coast of Israel as we descended into Tel Aviv. The Airport was much nicer than I had expected, and we soon met up with our driver, Jimmy, who would take us to our ultimate destination. Unfortunately, our 45 minute drive slowly turned into a two and a half hour one because of a wreck on the highway. Although I am very impressed with the system of roads in Israel, the drivers are absolutely crazy. But we finally made it to out home for the next five weeks, Kibbutz Hasolelim. We then ate a delicious, unidentifiable dinner and rested up for and early start at our dig site, Khirbet Qana. We had arrived.